The first wave of beneficiaries of the industrial revolution were able to display status with mass produced "luxury" goods that were barely affordable and needed to be reserved from every day use. These attitudes carried on through their children and grandchildren.

It's not even that long ago, when my wife and I bought a house it took a couple of years before we had furnished it. My son filled his flat in a day at Ikea.

It's less valuable to people because it is so easily available.

And that's a good thing. Compare how the poors lived in 1950-1970 vs today. How many project apartments or leaky rural shacks you think you'd have to combine to get one household worth of (fully functional) furniture and appliances? Cheap furniture, window A/C units that cost about a day's labor. Not that they don't have problems but the cost decreases that have enabled the middle to treat things as disposable has very much enabled the less fortunate to greatly increase their standard of living.

Aristippus, at least, wasn't into roll top desks: "children ought to be provided with property and resources of a kind that could swim with them even out of a shipwreck."

https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/images/upload_librar...

Cryptocurrency to the rescue! (sarcasm... kind of)

I've always loved the idea of being nimble, but I equally love the idea of having a family estate.

Hopefully my future children will be diversified with both options.

It belonged to great-great-aunt Thelma, what is there more to explain!