Exactly how great were Pip's expectations?
October 10, 2006 12:36 PM Subscribe
Where can I find a currency converter that goes back to the 19th-century?
I read a lot of 19th- and early 20th- century fiction and would like to understand financial descriptions in today's USD. For example, at the end of L'Assommoir, Gervaise is destitute and reduced to begging for 10 sous. Or, in Great Expectations, when Pip finds out about his inheritance, he's given 20 guineas to buy clothes.
So, I understand that Gervaise is poor and Pip became wealthy; but is it like me begging for one dollar or being given five grand to buy clothes today?
I read a lot of 19th- and early 20th- century fiction and would like to understand financial descriptions in today's USD. For example, at the end of L'Assommoir, Gervaise is destitute and reduced to begging for 10 sous. Or, in Great Expectations, when Pip finds out about his inheritance, he's given 20 guineas to buy clothes.
So, I understand that Gervaise is poor and Pip became wealthy; but is it like me begging for one dollar or being given five grand to buy clothes today?
Best answer: This was the second result for the Google search "19th century currency conversion"
On of the many links is to this table The Cost of Living in 1888
posted by vacapinta at 1:00 PM on October 10, 2006
On of the many links is to this table The Cost of Living in 1888
posted by vacapinta at 1:00 PM on October 10, 2006
"What Jane Austen ate..." may be a good book for you to pick up too. I've only glanced at it in bookstores, when I wanted to know what Entails were. But I think it has other info you'd like to get a better sense of the economy of the times.
posted by saffry at 1:11 PM on October 10, 2006
posted by saffry at 1:11 PM on October 10, 2006
Response by poster: Good resources here (although a bit Brit-centric). I Googled "converter" instead of conversion; I must've been fantasizing about finding a calculator to do all the work for me. Will still have to guess about the Russians and Germans though...
posted by sfkiddo at 1:45 PM on October 10, 2006
posted by sfkiddo at 1:45 PM on October 10, 2006
I must've been fantasizing about finding a calculator to do all the work for me
That wont really work. Currency conversion is not just one number - thats why they have the cost of various things in that Cost of Living table. In different periods and places, things like food, lodging, transportation, items etc. will also have different relative values to what we are used to today.
You don't have to go to the 1800's to see that. How many Laotian Kip to a dollar? About 10,000. But that number doesnt reveal that you can live like a king in Luang Prabang for about $20 a day.
posted by vacapinta at 2:28 PM on October 10, 2006
That wont really work. Currency conversion is not just one number - thats why they have the cost of various things in that Cost of Living table. In different periods and places, things like food, lodging, transportation, items etc. will also have different relative values to what we are used to today.
You don't have to go to the 1800's to see that. How many Laotian Kip to a dollar? About 10,000. But that number doesnt reveal that you can live like a king in Luang Prabang for about $20 a day.
posted by vacapinta at 2:28 PM on October 10, 2006
What Vacapinta said--there are all kinds of books and websites that purport to transfer old prices to modern amounts, but they are nonsense because you lose the context. A better way to think about it is what would X buy at the time. What could Gervaise have bought for 10 sous? A baguette? A five course meal?
posted by LarryC at 2:39 PM on October 10, 2006
posted by LarryC at 2:39 PM on October 10, 2006
Heinlein recommended that you figure out the price of a loaf of bread (or in other words, a full day's calories) in the contemporary currency.
Other figures: the cost of a year's lodging, the cost of getting out of military service, the pay of a common soldier, the pay of a blacksmith. Clothes aren't a good comparison, as al but the richest tended not to have more than a few change of clothing, if that.
What you'll find is a vast disparity of income: the great majority of people poor, surviving on bread alone, and living in shanties; and the rich eating sumptuous food flavored with imported splices, in grand places. But also recall, even the grandest castles were very drafty, and even the wealthiest potentate couldn't buy a bottle of aspirin prior to 1899 (though he could get willow bark extract). Of course, this disparity means thieving and whoring were common, despite draconian punishments for the latter.
In other words, think of Europe up to and including the beginning of the Industrial Revolution as similar to the poorest Third World countries today.
posted by orthogonality at 3:27 PM on October 10, 2006
Other figures: the cost of a year's lodging, the cost of getting out of military service, the pay of a common soldier, the pay of a blacksmith. Clothes aren't a good comparison, as al but the richest tended not to have more than a few change of clothing, if that.
What you'll find is a vast disparity of income: the great majority of people poor, surviving on bread alone, and living in shanties; and the rich eating sumptuous food flavored with imported splices, in grand places. But also recall, even the grandest castles were very drafty, and even the wealthiest potentate couldn't buy a bottle of aspirin prior to 1899 (though he could get willow bark extract). Of course, this disparity means thieving and whoring were common, despite draconian punishments for the latter.
In other words, think of Europe up to and including the beginning of the Industrial Revolution as similar to the poorest Third World countries today.
posted by orthogonality at 3:27 PM on October 10, 2006
I think this should do what you want - How much is that? It calculates Pip's amount as: 'In 2005, £21 0s 0d from 1861 is worth: £1,309.43'.
posted by tellurian at 6:23 PM on October 10, 2006 [1 favorite]
posted by tellurian at 6:23 PM on October 10, 2006 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by cobaltnine at 12:59 PM on October 10, 2006