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The article offers a global microhistory of the years 1774-1792 at Nootka Sound, exploring exchanges that took place between European merchants and the indigenous people that resided there, the Mowachaht. Much of this commercial exchange was an exchange of sea-otter furs for iron and copper. The author describes what is global about this study: research into a long-distance trade of an individual commodity and what is a micro-analysis: the exploration of a specific locality.

Argues that imports of goods from the East made a difference to the subsequent development of European, but especially British, consumer markets and production technologies in the 18th century. Europeans' response to Asian luxuries by learning from their imports, developing knowledge of markets and adapting processes; Connection between global luxury, European consumerism and industrialization in the 18th century.

Addresses questions of gender and class in consumer behavior in industrial England. Role of commodities and their significance to practices of middling consumers in the towns of Birmingham and Sheffield; Investigation of qualitative questions of social and emotional significance attached to the goods; Shift from elite consumption of foreign luxuries to demand for consumer novelties.