Hello historians! I hope this question will be acceptable. I've done my best to put it within the scope of the rules, and I believe this is the appropriate avenue for my inquiry.
Long story short, I'm a writer, currently writing a story set in 1947. I've come to a point in my script where I'd like a very affluent character to be transporting something of value. I have my character taking a journey from England to Paris, and I want the item to be somewhat concealable, but valuable either historically, or intrinsically.
I've considered a diamond, but that seems to cliche to me. While I understand diamonds have long been used as an analog for value itself, and have long been used as placeholders for value, I want it to be a little more historically relevant than that.
Is there maybe a lost document that would be relevant that I could use? Maybe some vital piece of information, some kind of heirloom or significant material thing that my character could be transporting?
I hope again that this is permissible, and thank anyone in advance who is willing and/or able to help me figure this out! This proved a difficult question to simply google.
Interesting question!
A lot, I suppose, depends on the plot (and why, exactly, your character is transporting this object) but my first thought is that Britain in 1947 is an austere place. Rationing is still on the books, homes and buildings are still clearing up rubble, the country is staring down shortages of goods and shortages of labor. But your character stands out in this environment because they are 1) affluent, still, and 2) have something of value— when a lot of valuable things have been destroyed thanks to the war.
So I wonder if you couldn't make that context work for you— perhaps the valuable object is something that was secreted away during the war, eg., an art piece, small sculpture or object, etc., that used to hang proudly in some expensive London townhouse, was thought lost in the Blitz, but is actually in the character's hands? In this case, it's the circumstances of its survival that make it valuable, as much as the thing itself. (By this same criteria, a diamond could actually work, if you built up its backstory as "valuable diamond thought lost in wartime.")
I wonder, too, if looking at some of the major British museums could help spark some ideas— the Victoria & Albert Museum has tons and tons of objects and heirlooms in its collections, and I would think that you could view at least some of them online.
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your creative project, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists and the like, based on past experience: some people working on creative projects have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.