Chapter 163: The 1206 Season Accounts

The season’s accounts lay spread across the notaries’ leaves and the Barozzini’s books.

First came the sales, then the costs, and then the shares.

Twelve hulls waited at the Riva for the caulkers, the warehouse stood empty, and Caterina brought the key at her hip. The return cargo had already been paid for from the eastern sales, long before the ships reached the lagoon, so no one charged its cost a second time.

Even an honest ledger can be made to lie if an accountant counts the same expense twice.

Marina Badoer had the deepest purse in the house, and she spent accordingly, taking the most expensive goods. She bought 6 tons of raw silk at 4,600 a ton, for 27,600, and 3 tons of figured silk at 6,000, for another 18,000.

These were meant for the looms and brides of Venezia, where every respectable house seemed to have a daughter who needed marrying.

Next came 5 tons of Konya carpets at 6,500, totaling 32,500, and 4 tons of Azerbaijan carpets at 7,600, totaling 30,400, destined for palazzo floors and church steps. The sable and marten went for 90,000 a ton, so 0.4 ton cost 36,000.

Lapis, turquoise, and saffron were sold by the tenth of a ton, at 36,000, 24,000, and 60,000 a ton respectively, bringing 3,600, 2,400, and 6,000. They were the smallest lots in the house and the dearest by weight.

Marina’s share came to 18.7 tons and 156,500 grossi.

At the Golden Horn, Greek merchants had sold their silks to buy bread. In Venezia, the silk from this cargo would dress brides, while the sable would decorate patricians who had no such difficulty feeding themselves.

The Scotti brothers took 20 tons of pepper at last year’s price of 2,400 a ton, costing 48,000, and 40 tons of flax at 400, costing 16,000. Their total was 64,000, and they meant to send the goods over Mont Cenis to the fairs of Champagne.

Ginevra Frescobaldi bought 45 tons of alum at 720, for 32,400; 40 tons of madder at 480, for 19,200; 4 tons of indigo at 5,200, for 20,800; and 1 ton of crimson dye at 10,000. That made 82,400 in all, enough to keep the vats of the Arte della Lana busy.

Ranuccio Salimbeni took 35 tons of alum at 720, paying 25,200 for Siena. Between them, the two cities bought 80 tons of alum, against the 11 they had fought over the year before.

The price had fallen from 760 to 720, and each merchant swore he had been the one to force it down. Merchants are generous with credit when it comes to their own bargaining skill.

Father Ambrogio bought 6 tons of frankincense, gum arabic, and mastic at 2,900, costing 17,400, along with 15 tons of wax at 420, costing 6,300. His total was 23,700, destined for the censers, the illuminators’ pots, and the candle racks of San Pietro di Castello.

The Rialto benches took what remained. The spicers bought 70 tons of sugar at 300 a ton, paying 21,000.

The Commune’s salt keepers, whose Republic sold salt to half the Adriatic, bought 80 tons of Levant salt at 70, for 5,600, and called the purchase monopoly. The weavers took 80 tons of flax at 400, paying 32,000.

The tanners bought 15 tons of hides at 560, for 8,400, and 15 tons of oak galls at 450, for 6,750, making 15,150 altogether. The inkmakers took the other 30 tons of galls at the same price, paying 13,500.

The Aleppo galls had been bought in a ruined capital, but they would end up as the black ink on the Avogadori’s leaves.

The painters paid 7,250 for 5 tons of Sinope’s red earth at 1,450 a ton, and they paid for the name on the bag as well as what was inside it. The apothecaries bought 1.8 tons of rhubarb at 5,500, for 9,900, while the goldsmiths took 0.5 ton of amber at 20,500, for 10,250.

The comb-makers paid 15,500 for 1 ton of walrus ivory and 16,500 for 15 tons of boxwood at 1,100, a total of 32,000. The victualers took the last 7 tons, Sinope’s hazelnuts, at 400 a ton, for 2,800.

All 545 tons sold for 501,250 grossi, leaving the warehouse empty. The cargo had cost 312,578 at its sources, so the sales brought in roughly one and six-tenths times the cost.

There was money in silk and carpets, as usual, but even the hazelnuts had found buyers. A merchant could hardly ask for more than an empty warehouse and a crowd of people who wanted what had been in it.

Caterina opened the division of the shares with her pen.

She first set aside 3,000 grossi, because the strongbox had brought that money out of the household and the voyage had never earned it.

At the Golden Horn, the strongbox had stood at 83,662. The venture had therefore added 80,662, which joined the sales to make 581,912. It was all part of the same reckoning now, though the money had come from different places and not all of it had been earned.

Next came the costs, totaling 66,325. The free men’s wages took 49,650, paid on the pier when they landed. Marina’s twentieth took 7,825, and Ambrogio’s blessings took 600.

The refit and caulking of eleven hulls cost 6,600, while berths and porterage came to 1,650.

That left 515,587. The sailors had their wages, the ships had their repairs to look forward to, and the accounts could move on to the people who had supplied the silver in the first place.

The colleganza received their 215,000 back in full.

That left 300,587.

The Barozzini’s own stake of 38,000, the fraterna chest’s 17,500, and the strongbox’s 20,500 then went back to the chest and the strongbox that had lent the money.

That left 262,587 in profit for the voyage.

The profit was split in half. The colleganza took 131,294 and the Barozzini took 131,293.

As in the previous year, the odd grosso went to the houses, so they returned home with 346,294, their original silver intact and more besides.

The Barozzini’s household paid the loans, the Rialto’s 6,000 and the benches’ 2,900.

Ca’ del Leon was now free of debt, and Fantin’s crest-spoon came off the common chest with the old man’s nose still on its handle.

The 3,000 set aside earlier went back into the strongbox. Caterina checked the income from Crete, the island’s tolls, and the fondaco’s dues at 24,000, then added them to the balance.

The strongbox now stood at 187,393.

After a season at sea, there was silver in the treasury, money in the merchants’ hands, and no outstanding debt to spoil the satisfaction.

The notaries sanded the last leaf, and the season was closed.

?? [SEASON CLOSE — 1206]

Route : Venezia > Constantinople > Sinope > Phasis > Soldaia > Constantinople > Venezia

Goods Sold : Silk, Carpets, Sable and Marten, Saffron, Lapis, Turquoise, Pepper, Flax, Alum, Madder, Indigo, Crimson Dye, Gums, Wax, Sugar, Salt, Hides, Oak Galls, Red Earth, Rhubarb, Amber, Walrus Ivory, Boxwood, and Hazelnuts

Revenue : 581,912 Grossi

Expenses : 66,325 Grossi

Net Income : 262,587 Grossi

Investors’ Share : 131,294 Grossi

Merchants’ Share : 131,293 Grossi

Colleganza Obligations : 250,000 Grossi

Total Treasury : 187,393 Grossi

Fleet : Four War Galleys, Eight Naves (Refitting)

Contacts Established : Constantinople, Sinope, Phasis, Soldaia

?? [ROUTE OPENED, BLACK SEA — REWARD : 300 FATE]

You asked me which door, and this is one.

Three hundred, entered. I recommend spending it on sense, but I keep the shop, and I have checked.

The venture had succeeded. The private fleet the lagoon had sent to the sea had reached the far edge of the known waters and returned with its holds emptied into profit.

There were plenty of ways for a voyage to go wrong, and this one had managed to avoid most of them. The figures spoke for themselves, the fleet had come home, the creditors had been paid, and the next voyage had somewhere to go.

Vito and Caterina kept the celebration to themselves in the office. They sent the household off to its supper and set a jug of Commandaria on the oak table beside the warehouse key.

He pulled the stopper with his teeth and poured freely, and Caterina drank from his cup, then from her own. After the second jug, she climbed into his lap, her sleeves unpinned and her hands inside his tunic.

The celebration was only starting.