Cost of living

[Jethro Tull]

Hello all,

I'm am wondering if anyone has recommendations for a website or sites that would give an idea of the wages and cost of living for a particular era.

I've looked on Google and there is plenty of reading to be done but not really containing the info I'm after or as far back as I would like.

One of my many random hobbies is collecting old coins and banknotes, I have today been given a few old coins including pennies, half groats and shillingd from the reigns of Elizabeth I, Charles II, George II, George III and as far back as ether Edward I or II.

As part of my reading and research I like to understand the buying power if these coins and how much a worker would have earned etc.

Bit of a random one I appreciate.

Cheers

Dan

[VALLMO9]

Hi Dan - have you seen these links yet?

"Pounds, Shillings & Pence, and their Purchasing Power, 1674-1913" https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Coinage.jsp

Currency converter: 1270–2017 www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/

[Jethro Tull]

Hi Mo,

Thanks for these, I had found these on my searches and they arean interesting read.

I am certain I had a link saved once that was for a site that had a "spreadsheet" style layout which gave rough approximations for weekly wages for a range of differing jobs and then a average basket of goods (bread, rent, beer etc.) and you could select the year and it would adjust it acordingly. I cannot find this anywhere now and beginning to think I have imagined this and my memory is just combining several sites!

Thanks again for the suggestions, I'll keep searching.

Cheers

Dan

[Mick Loney]

Well, you need to take these figures with a big pinch of salt. The National Archive converter says that £0-2s-6d in 1950 is only worth £3.90 today. Yet I used to buy 20 Players cigarettes and 2 Sunday papers for my dad, and I got change from 2s-6d. The equivalent today would cost at least £10.00.

The trouble with the RPI and similar indexes, is that they are based on the cost of an average food basket. The flaw being if price of an item goes up, people stop buying it and buy something cheaper, so it drops out of the average basket! For example, in the 1950’s, we ate Roast Beef almost every sunday, and if my parents wanted to splash out, we had Roast Chicken!
When Chicken became cheaper, Beef soon dropped out of the average basket, so no longer affected the RPI!

[Jethro Tull]

I have found this before when looking at these, it is a very rough guide. Some things hardly seem to change and other seem to bounce around by quite a bit. My beer in a local chain pub is cheaper now than I can remember buying pints years ago.

I just find the coins I have interesting and am trying to see how long a person would have grafted to earn one and what it would have been able to purchase. As a rough idea.

Cheers

Dan

[VALLMO9]

Yet I used to buy 20 Players cigarettes and 2 Sunday papers for my dad...

Mick - you wouldn't happen to have any vintage cigarette cards laying around?

[Jethro Tull]

I collect cigarette cards too!!!!

[Guy]

Jethro you may have been combining other sites with of one of my old sites
http://anguline.co.uk/framland/Wages.htm which gives earnings or various trades in 1651
Cheers
Guy

[Mick Loney]

Yet I used to buy 20 Players cigarettes and 2 Sunday papers for my dad...

Mick - you wouldn't happen to have any vintage cigarette cards laying around?

Sorry, no,

[Jethro Tull]

Hi Guy,

That is certainly the sort of thing I had in my memory. I must be remembering incorrectly and merging sites.

Many thanks for posting this again, I'll make sure I save the link again.

Cheers

Dan