What could you buy for one cent in 1793?

EricSan

Or a half dime, a dime, or a quarter? How about in 1800? I have found a number of inflation charts that says indicates one cent in 1800 has about the same purchasing power as a quarter today, but what could you actually purchase with that amount of money in the late 1700's or early 1800's? In Sheldon's Penny Whimsey book, it says that US Mint workers earned up to $1.25 per day for an 11 hour shift, but there is no reference to what could be purchased with that amount of money (he only states that Congress was upset with the large amount of money being bestowed on mint workers...)

Has anyone found a link they could share about this?

relicsncoins

In the 1880's, a beer was a nickel and a shot of whisky was 12 1/2 cents. The saloons liked to issue a token "Good For One Drink" when a customer would order a whisky and pay with a quarter. The saloons would buy in bulk, brass or copper tokens with the name of the saloon and "good for one drink". These tokens were less than a penny each to make. If the customer did not return for that second drink the saloon would have essentially sold that first drink for nearly double.

JJ

EricSan

Ha - pretty funny story! Do you suppose the saloon's planned it out that way

I came across some reference a while ago about the origin of the name of the "shot glass." The story goes that it was the volume of alcohol that was equal to the price of one bullet, or shot. Thus, a saloon patron could trade one bullet for one drink... Don't know how true it is, but its interesting all the same.

determined

I'm also interested in the buying power of early US coins. I found this link:

Colonial American tavern prices

These prices are higher than I would have expected:

[1806: Salem County]
Best dinner with pint of good beer or cider 37.5 cents
Best breakfast, of tea, coffee or chocolate, loaf sugar 31 cents
Ditto of cold meat with a pint of good beer or cider 25cents
---Old Inns and Taverns in West Jersey

braddick

Purchasing a mint state 1793 cent for face would be pretty dang cool.

DNADave

I have a general store credit ledger from the late 1800 from Pomeroy Ohio.

Neat to see not only what things were sold for, but what people were buying. Especially around Christmas time.

They bought oranges, handkerchiefs, a chicken, and if lucky, a top or a pair of gloves.

The prices are generally in cents and you can see that they went to the store every few days for necesseities.

habaraca

<<<These tokens were less than a penny each to make. If the customer did not return for that second drink the saloon would have essentially sold that first drink for nearly double>>>

Same thing the casinos do today... they make collector chips for pennies in the $5 size... how many of those go out the
door never to return.....

ambro51

At this late date in history, we forget that a great deal of non-hard money commerce took place in the 18th and 19th century. With no sales taxes to worry about, this trade was free easy and accepted. The store ledger,....probably most of these transactions were non-hard money sales.

you needed hard money to pay taxes. a lot of state coppers went to these payments...it ended up with casks of these being shifted around, until this form or payment was no longer accepted. Nails were something in rev war days you needed to buy, and like we still term then today for instance a 10 penny nail, you got ten for a penny.

EricSan

Wow - some great info here! Thanks everyone!



<< <i>Purchasing a mint state 1793 cent for face would be pretty dang cool. >>


I'm right there with you! That's a pretty nice rate of return on a 3 cent investment 200+ years ago that is now worth $2-3M...



<< <i>At this late date in history, we forget that a great deal of non-hard money commerce took place in the 18th and 19th century. With no sales taxes to worry about, this trade was free easy and accepted. The store ledger,....probably most of these transactions were non-hard money sales.

you needed hard money to pay taxes. a lot of state coppers went to these payments...it ended up with casks of these being shifted around, until this form or payment was no longer accepted. Nails were something in rev war days you needed to buy, and like we still term then today for instance a 10 penny nail, you got ten for a penny. >>



I'm wondering if this is what accounts for the high tavern/saloon/hotel pricing (high in my opinion) that Determined posted. Perhaps many of the transactions with the locals took place in a form of barter and the published prices were for those from out of town...

DNADave: great info in the retail logbook! The parents of a friend of mine owned a neighborhood grocery store through much of the early 1900's. When the parents passed away, she found handwritten logs much like this indicating that many customers during the Depression were given "lines of credit" that were never expected to be repaid. Everyone was in awe at how this family helped much of the town continue to eat dinner when they didn't have any income at all.

krueger

<DNADave: great info in the retail logbook! The parents of a friend of mine owned a neighborhood grocery store through much of the early 1900's. When the parents passed away, she found handwritten logs much like this indicating that many customers during the Depression were given "lines of credit" that were never expected to be repaid. Everyone was in awe at how this family helped much of the town continue to eat dinner when they didn't have any income at all. >



Grandpa in the 30's owned a groceriy store in Chicago, when he passed I found the same kind of ledger of people that he gave groceries to "on the cuff " and that did not pay him back. Must have happened alot.

Krueger

ebaytrader

<< <i> Nails were something in rev war days you needed to buy, and like we still term then today for instance a 10 penny nail, you got ten for a penny. >>




Umm, no. Nails were sold as price per hundred.

TwoSides2aCoin

We've lost those who could answer this question, factually. If it was a good coin dealer , he could have probably doubled his money.

WinPitcher

1 piece of penny candy.

ricko

Hey..in the 1960's a draught beer was still a nickel. I remember when the last bar in town switched to a dime... my Dad and I went down and had a couple to honor the passing of the nickel draught.... good memory. Cheers, RickO

AngryTurtle

I would have to dig a bit to find the reference for this but one thing to consider:

I believe that relatively speaking, in the 16th- 18th century era food was expensive and labor was cheap - in modern days it has reversed ( in the US at least) - labor is expensive and food is cheap.

PerryHall

I remember around 1960 you could buy a 12 oz Pepsi from a vending machine for a nickel. They were still using glass bottles back then and there was a rack on the side of the machine to put the bottle when you finished your drink.

taxmad

In England before about 1488 the penny size was the price in pennies of 100 nails of that size. The hundred was the great hundred, 120, not 100 (it was 240 pence to the pound up until 1972)

The quotation is from the records for 1477 of a church in London.


Dr. Murray points out that these Records completely explain the term “tenpenny” nail. The price of nails was expressed in their cost per hundred: twopenny nails originally cost twopence per hundred; threepenny nails threepence; fourpenny nails fourpence; fivepenny nails fivepence; sixpenny nails sixpence and so with tenpenny nails. These prices were retained until 1487-8: after that date, however, the price dropped one penny per hundred, but the old designations were still used. Sixpenny nails were sold for fivepence per hundred; fivepenny nails fourpence; fourpenny nails for threepence; threepenny nails for twopence; threepence was charged for two-hundred twopenny nails; and tenpenny nails appear, on one occasion, to have been bought at eightpence per hundred.