The table
The luxury is that you use it.
Saffron collects myths the way a red thread collects light. The useful luxury is plainer: a jar with a place name on it, opened on an ordinary night, finished before the smell thins out.
Buying7 minA quiet standard for buying saffronBuy less, from a named place, in whole threads, and use it while it still smells like itself.
A standard with five lines
The seller names a region. The threads are whole. They can say whether the yellow style was trimmed. The price per gram sits near the other honest jars. Someone will answer a question about the harvest. Fail one, and you may still be fine. Fail all five, and you are buying a picture.
Gifts
The serious present for most cooks is the half-gram jar and a note that says to bloom it in hot water. A large tin looks generous and often outlives its smell in a home that cooks saffron on holidays only.