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 Replies: 24 / Views: 2,507 |
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Valued Member
United States
106 Posts |
I have 2 questions. First, I have an AU53/CAC NGC 1834 quarter eagle (classic head). It's a fasinating coin. Do you think the coin was kept out of circulation, stored in an envolope for most of its life?
If so, this is interesting to me. Being kept stored for over 100 years.
Secondly, what was $2.50 worth in 1834? I looked at the classic head gold section on the site here (Bar none, GREAT information by the way! Love it!) but it said that $2.50 was only worth $60 US dollars today. To me, this doesn't seem right.
For example, in 1908, Henry Ford paid his employees at general ford $5 a day to work there. This was GREAT pay for the time, most people only got $5 per week. Granted, $5 back then could buy alot. I know $2.50 is only half of $5, but $60 current US dollars for a $2.50 in 1834 just doesn't seem right.
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Valued Member
United States
303 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1231 Posts |
what was $2.50 worth in 1834?
$2.50
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
G'day, the comparisons are all based on some premise or another, but none of them are entirely valid. You can look at wages, for instance, or the price of a staple commodity like bread, milk, or beer (not in that order). But no matter which is your start point, it is in a state of flux, compared to everything else.
Peter
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New Member
United States
13 Posts |
Quote:
what was $2.50 worth in 1834?
$2.50
 Tim |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1130 Posts |
Dinner at Delmonico's in NY, which was considered one of the best in that era, was about .25 for roast beef, coffee and dessert. The same meal at a high-end steakhouse would be about $50 and up today.
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Valued Member
 United States
106 Posts |
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Dinner at Delmonico's in NY, which was considered one of the best in that era, was about .25 for roast beef, coffee and dessert. The same meal at a high-end steakhouse would be about $50 and up today. Darn it I can't figure out how to quote people.. It's amazing (and now that I think about it, rather upsetting) that a classic head quarter eagle in AU condition from 1834 can cost over a thousand dollars, yet back in 1834 it was only worth the equivlence of about $60 bucks. I wonder what the average weekly or daily wages were in 1834? Ah, the historial significance. Edited by OldGoldKing
08/02/2008 04:06 am
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1040 Posts |
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It's amazing (and now that I think about it, rather upsetting) that a classic head quarter eagle in AU condition from 1834 can cost over a thousand dollars, yet back in 1834 it was only worth the equivalence of about $60 bucks. In that light, consider an Australian 1930 penny. In AU condition it will cost you $160,000. What would the equivalence of that penny be? 20c? If only we could travel back in time.  Edited by latman100
08/02/2008 05:30 am
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
G'day,
if you want to base comparisons on wages - which is only one of a range of comparisons, see above - here are some figures:
Australia's "basic" wage in 1907 was 42 shillings per week, and Justice HIGGINS described this amount as:
" ... the lowest wage which can be paid to an unskilled labourer on the basis of the normal needs of an average employee regarded as a human being living in a civilized community ... on the assumption that the male adult worker has to support himself, a [non-working] wife and three dependent children". - Ex parte HV McKay (Harvester Case), (1907) 2 CAR 1.
At the same time, the fee for a visit to a Doctor was 10s.6d = 25% of the weekly wage. The charge to send a telegram from Melbourne to London was 10s.6d per word.
So, the basic wage was pretty basic.
Australian soldiers in WW1 (1914~1918) were paid 42s. per week, from which 7s. was deducted as "deferred pay" - paid after the war concluded.
Australian soldiers at the outbreak of WW2 in 1939 were still paid at this rate, but it was increased soon afterward.
So when you hold a single florin from that era, you have nearly 5% of a soldier's weekly income.
There are, of course, other methods of making comparisons.
Peter
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Peter, That's very interesting history!  I'll remember that, as I look over my old predecimal coins. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6384 Posts |
One more way to compare value is to look at the price of gold itself. A quarter eagle contains about 0.12 troy ounces of gold, which was worth (of course!) $2.50 in 1834. Remember, gold coins for circulation were made to contain the actual face value worth of precious metal. That same 0.12 oz of gold today is worth about $110 at the current spot price of slightly over $900/oz.
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Valued Member
United States
106 Posts |
Quote:
One more way to compare value is to look at the price of gold itself. A quarter eagle contains about 0.12 troy ounces of gold, which was worth (of course!) $2.50 in 1834. Remember, gold coins for circulation were made to contain the actual face value worth of precious metal. That same 0.12 oz of gold today is worth about $110 at the current Spot Price of slightly over $900/oz. Very interesting. I wonder if people back in 1834 often used these $2.50 gold pieces often, or carried them around with them in their pockets often. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
I collect gold Sovereigns, and is obvious that the older ones have seen a lot of circulation. Sovs from the pre-Victorian era fetch very big premiums in the middling grades; and are only rarely encountered in the higher grades.
Peter
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
It is really almost impossible to compare values from 1834 or 1934 or any date in the past. True people could say a dollar was worth xx then and only worth xx now but there are just to many variables. For example a loaf of bread may have cost 2 cents then and that may have been fairly standard. However, today there are numerous brands of bread, made completely different, by different methods and some sell for as low as $0.39 and some sell for almost $7.00. At least by me they do. And I'm sure there are many different prices in different places. Autos sold for practically a few hundred dollars in the 30's. Now they sell for many, many thousands of dollars. However, again things are not the same. In the 30's the autos did not have one hundredth the stuff on them they do today. Again, no possible way to compare. Almost anything you can think of that was made in the past is no longer made the same today. Different materials, different manufacturing, different everything.
So what is $2.50 in 1834 compared to today?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
Dinner at Delmonico's in NY, which was considered one of the best in that era, was about .25 for roast beef, coffee and dessert. The same meal at a high-end steakhouse would be about $50 and up today.
You obvously have never been to Nick's Steak House in Downtown Chicago. A salad is about $25. Dressing extra. Last time I was there the bill was $250.00 for two. Then there is the tip. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
I have a "tip" !.......You guys should go to cheaper places to eat ! Edited by eaglefoot
08/04/2008 08:16 am
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Replies: 24 / Views: 2,507 |
Posted 08/01/2008 8:01 pm
