I am in the process of building a Manton V-pan lock based on John Manton's 1815 patent. Reputedly, it was the fastest flintlock ever made and was very popular for a few years until Manton stopped all flintlock production in 1825. I was able to find an excellent book about the Mantons and this lock, "The Mantons: Gunmakers" by W. Keith Neil and D.H.L. Back, published in 1966. The book, which covers the golden age of London gunsmiths, is absolutely fascinating, and one thing in particular was interested in is what the guns cost in their day.
In a word, the Manton brothers' guns were "stunningly" expensive. It is difficult to directly compare what something cost 180 years ago to its equivalent price today, but some approximations can be made. According to the book, in 1815, the time of the invention of this lock, a Manton single-barreled fowler sold for 25 guineas, and a "London Best" double sold for 55 guineas - accessories and case were extra; a presentation gun for someone in a royal family could cost three times this. But how much is this in today's money?
A gold guinea contained 7.98 grams of 22/24 carat gold, or 7.315 grams of fine gold. At todays prices, a guinea is therefore worth $106 as gold bullion, so in those terms, a single cost about $2,600 and a double about $5,800 - about what a moderately high grade modern shotgun goes for. However, this is deceiving, because the price of gold relative to what it will buy is today at a historic all-time low. A better measure is to look at "purchasing power parity" (PPP), a measure of how far money actually goes in a particular time or society, which takes into consideration food, housing, etc. relative to wages. A PPP table for England from 1650 - 1974 shows the 1815 guinea to be worth about 800 pounds sterling in 1974 terms, and using the official English inflation tables and the current dollar conversion rate, gives a figure of about $9,000/guinea in 2001. This puts the relative price of the nice double shotgun at nearly $500,000; no wonder only the very wealthy could afford one! In fact, it is interesting to see that even today's "high" prices for an original Manton are cheap when compared to what an original would have cost in its day.
So now when a dealer says he has a nice Manton for me at only $50,000, I can truly say - what a bargain!
In a word, the Manton brothers' guns were "stunningly" expensive. It is difficult to directly compare what something cost 180 years ago to its equivalent price today, but some approximations can be made. According to the book, in 1815, the time of the invention of this lock, a Manton single-barreled fowler sold for 25 guineas, and a "London Best" double sold for 55 guineas - accessories and case were extra; a presentation gun for someone in a royal family could cost three times this. But how much is this in today's money?
A gold guinea contained 7.98 grams of 22/24 carat gold, or 7.315 grams of fine gold. At todays prices, a guinea is therefore worth $106 as gold bullion, so in those terms, a single cost about $2,600 and a double about $5,800 - about what a moderately high grade modern shotgun goes for. However, this is deceiving, because the price of gold relative to what it will buy is today at a historic all-time low. A better measure is to look at "purchasing power parity" (PPP), a measure of how far money actually goes in a particular time or society, which takes into consideration food, housing, etc. relative to wages. A PPP table for England from 1650 - 1974 shows the 1815 guinea to be worth about 800 pounds sterling in 1974 terms, and using the official English inflation tables and the current dollar conversion rate, gives a figure of about $9,000/guinea in 2001. This puts the relative price of the nice double shotgun at nearly $500,000; no wonder only the very wealthy could afford one! In fact, it is interesting to see that even today's "high" prices for an original Manton are cheap when compared to what an original would have cost in its day.
So now when a dealer says he has a nice Manton for me at only $50,000, I can truly say - what a bargain!
