Prices pre WW1 British Coins

SwK

Could it be a reality that prices pre WW1 were relatively more expensive certainly on British Coins than today?

SwK
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coinkat

Depending on the coin and adjusted for inflation... I defer to the actuaries and their mathematical talents which should not remain hidden in view of this question.

7Jaguars

Might you give us some examples as that is not my impression. It at least seems that way if one assumes the prices from that era are priced as though one pound equalled one sovereign or o.2354 oz by my recollection. So even at 100:1 ratio old vs. new pounds many of the prices that I recollect are still higher when adjusted for inflation today.

JCMhouston

I am currently reading "The Silver Coins of England Arranged and Described; With Remarks on British Money, Previous to the Saxon Dynasties (1887): by Edward Hawkins. What a title that is eh, my lovely wife got that for me for our anniversary. Anyway, I have been very surprised by some of the prices that some of the early pennies and groats sold for at auction in the 19th C.

Although I don't collect these an example is a silver penny of Stephen and Mathilda, sold at auction for 18 Pounds in 1854. That was a lot of money in the day, although I must admit I have no idea how much they go for these days. These may be a special case however as many more specimens may have been dug up over the years, I think he mentions at the time there were only a few pieces known. There are many more examples of early coinage listed with pieces noted as being sold in the range of 7-18 pounds.

RobP

The price that gets me from pre WW1 sales is the Juxon Medal in Montagu which sold for £770 to the British Museum. Granted it is a one-off, but that was a huge sum in those days and it took two bidders to get there. I have coins that are now selling for 1000x and more what they were in Montagu, but that is for things that only cost one or two pounds at the time. To put it into context, my great-grandfather's cousin was keeper of the Biological Section of the British Museum (now at the Natural History Museum) at the time on a salary of £800 p.a. - So that medal cost the same as a whole year's salary for the boss. I suppose it was that era's equivalent of the Edward III double-florin.