So AFAIC, their goods are all made by their owner, magically, from magically acquired materials. Spells to summon common materials are pretty low level, so immortal beings with a favored class of wizard should have no problem mending their items with the mend spell, creating whatever they need that way, and only crafting objects from such materials for their own use.
What does “AFAIC” mean?
I really don’t think elves are self-sufficient nearly to the degree suggested. They would have no reason for any form of civilization if so, and would exist as random, wandering fey spirits more akin to dryads; having any sort of BR kingdom and any realm-level play is incongruous to self-sufficient elves. Civilization exists at least as much because of the efficiency of division of labor as anything else, and division of labor is not necessary if everyone can provide all their own wants and needs by themselves.
No, I like Tolkien’s elves much more. While he didn’t give tons of details that I’m aware of about how elven economies might work, I think it’s fairly evident they maintain a form of civilization great enough to be measured in economic terms–I note also that BR implicitly requires such civilization to even have elven realms playable under domain rules.
So, elves do specialize in skills and social roles, particularly when creating buildings (endeavors which require many elves working together; the many palaces and towers spoken of in BR material indicate that elves DO build, and aren’t just homeless nomads). I think elven armies are actually much more self-sufficient than human armies, though this is not reflected in the rules (they should be very cheap, IMO, although it should be major limitations on keeping standing armies).
Beruin, I like your description of elven goods for the most part. It seems, though, that elves work in stone quite a bit, too; it’s longer lasting than wood, and once a gain the many towers and palaces spoken of in BR literature strongly imply this. Tolkien’s elves did as well.
I would add that elves likely produce and gather large amounts of nuts and oils, including olives, coffee beans, cocoa, vanilla, almond, etc. These along with herbs and spices, a huge variety of teas and fruits, would be highly sought after by humans. Some nuts can also be used to produce mashes and even breads of a sort, accounting for elven waybread without large cultivated fields of grain.
For food, elves may actually raise and nurture semi-wild populations of a wide variety of “livestock.” These would include turkey and a huge number of game birds, rabbits, hares, squirrels, pigs and boar, deer, sheep, and goats; from these they may gather eggs, hides, and milk, as well. They need not maintain vast and dense herds because elven populations and food needs are smaller, so these would be somewhat free roaming (semi-wild, as I said before), and would likely be hunted rather than led to slaughter–humans would very likely think that elves just hunted and didn’t in fact raise livestock. With this variety of food sources, elves have much in the way of exotic foods to export (though in somewhat small numbers), and the diet of common elves would likely make even great kings envious for its gourmet variety (though humans would might miss having fewer grains).
I do think elves actually would make use of some timber. Most elven goods come from good stewardship of the forest and maximizing its productivity. This would require thinning some stands of trees, removing deadwood, clearing some areas of dense growth prone to devastating fires. Like any other creature, elves influence their environments, and the elven woods are like to be the best kept, most healthy and productive (rich with life) woods around.
Lastly, I agree with Andrew that elves do have a method of storing wealth. Elves in most literature seem to be organized into “Houses,” and indeed I think these suggest strong familial ties that, while being quite different in many ways from humans, humans would get the impression that elves had “nobility” because of these houses. Houses would store some degree of wealth, even foodstuffs though elven food supplies would be far more stable than humans’ (nuts store very well). I think the BR generation of GB would be in many goods and materials, and individual elves as well as the houses they belong to would be quite rich by human standards, though not because of any hording or greed but merely because of elven immortality, quality, and lack of consumption of goods. I imagine elven treasuries to be huge.