What are you referring to with the phrase "status symbol"?

I can't connect it at all to your listed points. An Olympic medal is about obvious a status symbol as I can imagine but it can't (meaningfully) be bought or transferred.

The status signified with a knit sweater is membership (and good standing!) in a caring family with elders not yet fully subsumed into their phones.

People, acquaintances and strangers alike, frequently comment on the knit socks I often wear, ask after who made them, and all of a sudden we're on "how's your mom" terms.