Thieving of Common Things- Weight vs. Value

[Jzizzle]

Fellow Thieves,

I was thinking the other day about common items found throughout Skyrim. Items such as mead, books, wine, cups and so forth. I then got to thinking about the relationship between value of the item over the weight of the item to come up with a relationship between the two. Take for example Alto Wine, it has a weight of 0.5 and a sell value of 10g (at the time when I was looking at this). So for every 600 Alto Wines which one can carry at starting weight of 300 capacity, this has a potential of 6000 gold. Not bad for an extremely common item. Another good one is a flute but it is far more uncommon.

My question is: has anyone found a common item which has a great value in relation to its weight and commonality?

Note: obviously gems and jewelry are good but not so common as say wine/mead.

 

[Rathalos_lord_of_the_sky]

I believe that the mead has the best value to weight ratio for common items.
This has caught my interest I think I will look into it more.

 

[Simus]

I consider any item with a 1:10 weight/value ratio to be "good." Most meat, sweets and vegitables fall under this role, tomatoes and apples being the best since they're actually worth something to vendors. I feel potatoes, leeks and cabbages are worthwhile considering farmers are within easy reach of Whiterun or Ivarstead.

Other than that, silver dishes are an excellent source of wealth. Any Jarl's residence has plenty of them and if you do a bit of legwork and become Thane, or just do a couple of quests, most everything becomes "yours" so you won't even have to steal it. I'm always on the lookout for books and some of them are quite valueble. Of course I'm a book nerd so that's just me .

 

[Nighthiker77]

Helmets can have pretty good ratios, usually a lot higher than other base armor of the same material.

 

[Simus]

That's a good point Nighthiker. Most shields too. Iron and leather helmets, along with leather shields actually have excellent value when paired with their other pieces. The armors of both materials are also good but heavy. Good way to level smithing though, along with making jewelry. Interestingly enough, I've found you'll get more XP by making five iron armors rather than twenty iron daggers.

 

[Jzizzle]

I consider any item with a 1:10 weight/value ratio to be "good." Most meat, sweets and vegitables fall under this role, tomatoes and apples being the best since they're actually worth something to vendors. I feel potatoes, leeks and cabbages are worthwhile considering farmers are within easy reach of Whiterun or Ivarstead.

Other than that, silver dishes are an excellent source of wealth. Any Jarl's residence has plenty of them and if you do a bit of legwork and become Thane, or just do a couple of quests, most everything becomes "yours" so you won't even have to steal it. I'm always on the lookout for books and some of them are quite valueble. Of course I'm a book nerd so that's just me .

I agree that the 1:10 is a good ratio- hence the Alto wine is kicking but at 1:20 weight to value ratio. Some great insights on the vegies! A common thief run could be all the farms around Whiterun, then as Thane of Whiterun go and take all the plates, mead and wine from the Jarls place until your inventory is full. I think it would take about 10 minutes and would be interesting to see what the Fence value comes out to be

 

[Wishmaker1234]

Candlesticks have a very good Gold to weight ratio 1:25 not bad.

 

[Simus]

I just take everything in Dragonsreach that isn't owned for some quick coin early in the game. I find it funny how I'm ransacking Balgruuf's kitchen, library and war room and he doesn't bat an eye

Oh, but don't pick up carrots unless you really like beef stew. You can't sell them to farmers and you need about 80 speech for them to be worth anything to a vendor. Also, I'm not sure if farmers buy stolen vegetables but it would be funny if the did.

"honest pay for honest work."

"Yes, that's right. Honest. I didn't just pick all of Nazeem's crops and steal his potatoes and am now selling them to you..."

 

[electricskies]

Black briar Mead. Tons of the stuff at the Meadery in Riften just waiting to be exchanged for weapons or cash. Weighs 0.5 but sells well, particularly at the Pawned Prawn next door.

 

[Jzizzle]

Yeah, mead seems to be the way to go. Just hit up all the barrels full of mead (up to 7 in a barrel) in the Honey Brew Meadery.

 

[Hard to Believe]

Potatos, leaks, and carrots don't get the 1 gold when you try to sell them. All other food does.
Most alchemy ingredients have a 1:10 weight/value ratio. Some go higher.
If you save all the hides you collect and then break them down to leather strips, the strips are 1:10.
Try combining and selling; blue butterfly with spider egg, wheat with blue flower, slaughterfish scales with thistle, bee with honeycomb, bone meal with blue butterfly, and hanging moss with bear claws. All of those create potions with 2 properties, makes good money.
I must clarify, i am not a thief, i am a businessman.

 

[Simus]

As an I. I don't steal on characters that don't have access to a fence. Potatoes, cabbages and leeks can still be sold to farmers for a small but easily accumulated profit. Plus, since they aren't vendors that leaves more gold for other stuff.