Are valuables used for anything or can I sell them all?

There is a "Valuables" tab in the inventory, and on first glance it looks like the stuff in that category isn't used for anything. But I'm also not that far into the game and want to avoid selling anything that might still have some use.

Is everything in the valuables category useless and can I simply sell all of it without worrying?

Solution 1:

Some of the items in the valuables category are used for researching your enemies; these can be turned into the table next to Minaeve - a quest in Haven should show up early on to tell you about this.

A similar table will be in the tower in Skyhold after the Inquisition moves there.

Some of the items in this category are also used for requisitions. Since there's nothing to indicate which valuables are or aren't used in them, and the area requisitions seem to be repeatable infinitely (it just picks another random one from the list for that area each time), it's probably not all that safe to sell any valuables, unless you can get a list of all the requisitions. That said, since the area requisitions only really give Power, you could just ignore them, and only hoard valuables if they're used in another one.

Oh, and of course, there's also the ability to mark items in other categories as valuables, which means basically any item can be in the valuables category. This seems to be intended as a way to mark things for later sale, by hitting Sell All on the valuables category once you get to a shop. This works alright, provided you turn in research first, but only if you don't care about the requisition items being lost.

Solution 2:

The safe bet is to turn in any requisitions and research items first. They all get lumped in valuables. You might have all the required items to complete a requisition, and then sell them accidentally. Your can always buy them back from the same merchant, but if you are not careful you might return to haven and realize you sold those spider ichors and have to farm more.