What Could An Early American Buy With A Silver Dollar In 1797?

About 4 lbs of coffee.

@Tye Wow thank you for the resource! I'll definitely be checking it out.

The equivalent of a good time in Vegas?

Great question! I always wondered about things like this.

@Ty2020b That link is fantastic! Thanks for posting the address. I'm going to spend a lot of time on that site.

1.00 from 1797 is the equivalent of 21.20 today
according to officialdata.org.
Compounded @ 5 per cent a dollar invested from 1797 is
Worth 55,750.00 in today's value give or take .

I'm just going to go on a limb here, but maybe perhaps one reason why I was feeling a little confused at first with reading that $1 in 1797 had the equivalent purchasing power of the $20 bill in my wallet today is perhaps because price variations between different commodities(?) then were much different than what they are today?

For example, if everyone in the community was growing or had their own little farm plot for producing food, perhaps food was much cheaper back in those days than today relative to the cost of other things not food related? Why pay to eat somewhere when you have everything you need at home, especially with no Walmarts, Costcos, and McDonald's nearby? Growing up, my dad was always fascinated with the 1792 large cent because "you could buy a whole dinner with just one cent in those days." (I don't know how true this statement is).

Whereas objects relating to metal work, clothing, glass, hygiene luxuries, or office supplies may have been more expensive because supplies were already pretty limited in the US, with needed materials having to cross an ocean a couple months on a ship to reach you. This is also not taking into account price increases that incorporate the needed skills gained through years of apprenticeship to produce some of these goods, which I'm sure would have made things such as axes, buckles, horse saddles, non-coin buttons, and hats more valuable then than what they may be today.

This is why there may be larger differences in prices when comparing food prices to novelty goods back in 1797, whereas the $20 bill in my wallet in 2021 could go to either buying the No.3 burger combo at my nearest family-owned fast food restaurant or purchase a decent hat at Tuesday's local farmer's market.

@kbbpll Compared to today, copper supply back in those days was definitely more scarce, but demands for the metal may have been much lower.



This graph shows copper production from 1750-1880 from Europe in the units of tons.



This graph shows copper production in the world from 1900-2012, with units in tons^6 (tons to the 6th power). That's a lot of copper!

Are there any published diaries from the period or popular novels that give prices of items? Novels by authors like the Bronte sisters and Charles Dickens often refer to purchasing goods or a service for a certain sum of money. Charles Brockden Brown would have been writing novels in the USA in the 1790s, but I've never read any of his books...