Some real old prices

[chuck1956]

"All we need is tommorows newspaper today"

Cept they aint printing many these days. I grew up at a local newspaper. They just went print only on Tues, Thursday and Sat. And they outsource to India who say we can only get a Sunday subscribtipn???

There was a TV show called The Early Edition...that guy got tomorrows paper today.

 

[John May]

When I was at school in the UK around 68/69 a local ‘junk’ shop had an original, shootable Long Land pattern Brown Bess in the window for £60 GBP! Nowadays times that by 30 for something that looks like it has been in the river most it’s life!
We were selling the owner original bound volumes of Punch magazine from the 1800’s that were ‘liberated’ from the school library for 10 shillings each, God knows what they would be worth today?? By the way, the library had dozens of duplicates of the yearbooks hence the fact we got away with it…

 

[reddogge]

In 1960 my mother and I were sharing a 1953 Ford flathead V8 Sport Coupe. Gas was .29/gallon and oil was .25/qt and sold in glass bottles. I would pull up to the service station and say "Fill it up with oil and check the gas." $2 would get you around all weekend then.

 

[vintovka]

Not so much inflation but quality of goods and services today.

 

[BuffaloSoldier]

You're all creating unique mental images of "back in the day" & I'm thankful for all of them! Keep 'em comin'.

Back in the early fall of 1961, I'd saved enough funds from part-time employment at the swimming pool as a new seventh grade junior high student. I purchased a sweet bolt action Harrington & Richardson .22 cal for my Dad's occasional plinking. I'm unable to remember the cost at a neighbourhood gun shop, but I carried the rifle as I walked about four blocks to home with no case. I had two boxes of ammo in my jeans' pockets too. No problems.

My first M/L was from Thompson Center — .50 cal Hawken percussion at $185.95 in 1981. I thought at the time the kit's brass furniture was standard for the type of rifle, but of course it wasn't. It was a reliable M/L, & I still have it. The last person to shoot it back in 1989 was my dad. I've since completed other kits & enjoy them all. The T.C. tho stays as a "safe queen."

Now you would have a SWAT team apprehend you for walking down that street. Those 'old' days are always better in our memories.

 

[LSB]

These are the good ol' days as far as I'm concerned, and I thank God for every day He lets me breathe His air. I don't look longingly back on my former life; I survived and am glad I will never have to live them a second time.

We are only passing through...

Amen.

 

[Kenn]

Now you would have a SWAT team apprehend you for walking down that street. Those 'old' days are always better in our memories.

That's no exaggeration! In my small (at the time) town, they'd probably phone the local guys with Sheriff's deputies as backup & state police on call! The shop's name was Garrigan's Sporting Goods. He seemed to stock everything from fishing gear to firearms with related accessories in the middle. I was in awe of the ORIGINAL muzzleloaders he had mounted on the knotty pine panelling. I remember saying once that they looked like works of art. Mr. Garrigan just gave me a knowing smile. He was a talented gunsmith with a patient manner.

 

[Robert Jeannotte]

I remember in the middle 70s my Dad gave me a dollar a day for lunch in Highschool instead of lunch I bought a pack of Marlboro's got a big heated honey bun and a large Dew at the restaurant across from the school..Now thats what a dollar got you in the middle 70s

I remember Marboros were a quarter. Stopped at mc D's and bought 4 burgers for a buck and candy was a nickel. I'm old

 

[blushingmule]

Back in the early '70s a friend and I would bicycle to Murder Creek (Brewton, Al.) to plink. On the way, we'd stop at
White's Auto (?) and get 22 LR @ 50 cents a box. We had our rifles slung on our person; no one blinked an eye back then...

Had my tonsils out at age five (1965); woke up with a Benjamin .177 air rifle in the hospital bed next to me-try that now!

Mule

 

[cyten]

How about 1876 prices?

View attachment 253320

 

[oldwood]

Made the decision to leave home , and to pay my way through electronics techical school , age 18 , more desire than brains , and I thank God my dear old Dad taught me how to work and survive. One memorable job I had , while going to tech school was evening shift , hand shoveling exothermic sand out of train box cars into 35 gal. paper barrels , to be shipped to a steel mill . All this while attending tech school 7AM to 3PM . Friday night , was double shifts , into Sat.. OSHA would have had a field day at this place. Everything there could electricute you , burn you , or explode before you could find the exit door , through the thick iron ore dust. Quit that job and went to work at a Company gas station. That was safer , in that some customers would only pull pistols on you , and threaten to kill you , just because of you looked different than they did. Thanks Dad for teaching me how to work. Finally , after graduating from tech . school , I was able to save my lunch money to buy parts to build my first m/l rifle from Dixie , 1970. Guess you could call that a small victory for a coal miners son. HOORAW..!

 

[PhDBrewer]

 

[Colonial Boy]

Not so much inflation but quality of goods and services today.

I just ground slightly on the flats of 4 hexagon nuts so that they’d fit the 11mm spanner to use on the 1/4 inch Whitworth threaded Chinese bolts.

 

[Hiverano]

Odd are that geezer is a multi-millionaire.

There are allot of these old geezers that are multi-millionaires ( keep a low profile and watch for opportunities ). SMART ...

 

[LME]

Biggest regret is not anticipating current housing inflation the way we did with surplus firearm values in last 3 decades. Such foresight could have really produced exponential gains had we done much, much more to convert them into real estate. Given todays political and financial instability there may be no more future "good ol days" at all.

Buy cheap sell high but if you have to wait many years the taxes eat up your profit?

 

[vintovka]

With the current ongoing devaluation of the dollar there no need to wait

 

[Edm]

I understand the inflation, what I think also must be added to the mix is the quality of the goods we are considering. I understand that machines and techniques make things cheaper to produce, but a good quality firearm is hard to find. I much prefer firearms made 50 or more years ago. Where there were not plastic parts. Today’s modern firearms are not made to be passed down to future generations. Yes they work but the pride in ownership isn’t there.

 

[Hiverano]

View attachment 252886

My father bought a Sharpe NW Trade Gun (pre 1816 according to Charles E. Hanson Jr.). He purchased the gun (one of many guns in those days) for $1.25 and had to make payments of $ 0.25 cents every other week. It was in 85% original condition.

I sold this NW trade-gun in 2013 for $3,500.00. As time went on up until last year we move over 400 antique firearms from his collection. The best was an 1833 Hall Breech Loading Flintlock in 98% new condition - it went for mega bucks $$$ ... made $1,500 more than funds invested.

Remember "condition is everything" when selling antiques.

 

[Sam squanch]

I’m SO depressed after reading all this…..