Value of a dollar..

Copperhead

Copperhead

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Feb 27, 2007
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I read the amazing post of the professor finding 2 gold coins today. It got me wondering.... Say mid to late 1800's time period. Comparing the value of 1 dollar back then, what monetarily would that be equivalent to today? To put it another way, if one lost a gold dollar back then, how much would one have to lose today to equal it in terms of purchasing power? While I'm at it, I noticed gold 1 dollar coins and Morgan silver dollars minting overlapped for a time. Does anyone know why? Thanks.
 

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Dollar gold goins are smaller than copper cents and hard to manage. Morgan dollars were mostly held by banks and reserves to back the paper silver certificates and not in folk's pockets. That's why some years have uncommonly high About Uncirculated examples and don't bring in as much $ to collectors.

Here's a dollar coin my Grandfather worked into a watch fob. Compare to the Lincoln Cents.
 

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lol.... thanks for reading anyway Montana. How about this, say you lost a Canadian penny in 1943...aaaah never mind...Have a good one..
 

As in, what would a $5 Half-Eagle gold coin buy in 1850?

Less than 1/3 of a musket - maybe equivalent to $300 in modern currency. An 1861 Springfield musket cost the government $18 and a soldier earned $14 a month.

Aluminum was worth 3X what gold was back then. Platinum 1/3.

$5 would buy a good suit.

According to one inflation index $5 in 1850 - $116.92 in 2006

(http://www.westegg.com/inflation/)
 

Charlie P. (NY) said:
As in, what would a $5 Half-Eagle gold coin buy in 1850?

Less than 1/3 of a musket - maybe equivalent to $300 in modern currency. An 1861 Springfield musket cost the government $18 and a soldier earned $14 a month.

Aluminum was worth 3X what gold was back then. Platinum 1/3.

$5 would buy a good suit.

According to one inflation index $5 in 1850 - $116.92 in 2006

(http://www.westegg.com/inflation/)
Click to expand...
]

Just ran the same dates and numbers thru your calculater as I had thru mine and came up with $17.21...so should we average the results?
 

Talking about the value of a dollar compared to long ago can be depressing. Then again, has anyone been keeping track of the value of the dollar today compared to other currencies like the Euro.....its not looking very good. Add in this countrys record foreclosure rates and record deficits { approaching $9,000,000,000,000} and people may want to consider holding onto ALL the gold or silver they may find treasure hunting. Our paper money has been losing alot of value recently.
 

SomeGuy said:
Charlie P. (NY) said:
As in, what would a $5 Half-Eagle gold coin buy in 1850?

Less than 1/3 of a musket - maybe equivalent to $300 in modern currency. An 1861 Springfield musket cost the government $18 and a soldier earned $14 a month.

Aluminum was worth 3X what gold was back then. Platinum 1/3.

$5 would buy a good suit.

According to one inflation index $5 in 1850 - $116.92 in 2006

(http://www.westegg.com/inflation/)
Click to expand...
]

Just ran the same dates and numbers thru your calculater as I had thru mine and came up with $17.21...so should we average the results?
Click to expand...

I was running it for a $5 gold piece. ;)

Also remember: for $2 in 1850 you could get a home visit from your doctor that included a week's supply of medication. Think what that would cost you now. :D
 

I read that in the New Idrea Quicksilver (mercury) mines (east of San Jose, CA) in the 1880s, a miner's pay was $20 per MONTH. But that included room and board though. When I found an 1880s $20 gold there, I couldn't help but think that the poor soul had lost what is today's equivalent of a month's pay to a laborer ($2000 to 3000-ish?).
 

I'll try to put it in terms that I could undestand. A beer at the saloon back then cost $.05 now a bottle of beer costs at least $2.00 (and a lot more if articles of clothing are being removed) or so I have been told. So by my "public" math that would be about 40 times as much. I would also guess that back then as well as now $1.00 would buy you much more in a rural area as compared to a city or a boom town situation. So your location could have also determined the actual value. It also seems that gold was favored over other types of "money". You could probably get more for a $1.00 gold coin then you could a paper dollar just because it was gold. I don't think you are going to find any right or wrong answer to your question due to all the variable's.
 

I beleive the distruction of our dollar has been deliberate.

In the 1920's one $20.00 gold piece ( one ounce of gold) could buy you the finest taylored hand made suit.

Today a $20.00 gold piece (one ounce of gold) will still buy you the finest taylor made suit.

In the 1920's you could buy a new car (Model T) with thirty to forty $20.00 gold pieces.

Today you can still buy a brand new car with thirty to forty $20.00 gold pieces.

The govenment has destroyed our currency by pumping worthless paper and clad into the system. Even our pennies are worthless crap made out of zinc that rots in the ground.
 

A bottle of Whiskey in 1850 in San Francisco cost $60...

I believe it is far cheaper now...

Best analogy, 13 silver dimes + 1 troy OZ of silver or $14

1 gallon of gas in 1956= $0.30

Those 3 SILVER dimes will still buy 1 gallon of gas at $3

Loss of Gold Standard= Loss of currency value= Potential for extreme inflation.

But really now? I bought a cordless DeWalt drill in 1999 for $125, same drill now $69. But 1 4'x8' sheet of 1/2" plywood in 1999 was $9.99 now it is $22.


Gold was also $5 an ounce in the 1800's...
 

Think of it as biodegradeable coinage.

If ouly pull tabs vanished as swiftly as Lincoln Memorial cents.
 

That DeWalt drill in 1999 might have been made here in the USA or Europe by American/European workers
making a good living wage. Today its probably made in China by slave labor.....
 

Or some 3rd world labor state...

Funny though, to me the inflation seems sporadic but when you bring in the location of creation for said objects inflation hits harder...
 

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