Framing Era and Early Republic Pistol Prices
Finding prices for pistols in this era is a struggle. Advertisements do not generally list prices
for much of anything. Until the advent
of the Quaker “one price” system, purchases involved haggling and the
proprietor’s perception of what a buyer could afford.[1] However, we do have U.S. Government contract
information telling us they were willing to pay for military pistols.
We can also convert these prices into hours of labor for agricultural
workers for each contract year. All
pistol contract prices are from Carl P. Russell Guns on the Early Frontiers:
From Colonial Times to the Years of the Western Fur Trade.[2]
Agricultural daily wages are from Carol D. Wright, Comparative Wages,
Prices, and Cost of Living, 46-47. When there are multiple wage levels for
agricultural workers, I am using the lowest wages for that year, which will
exaggerate how many days a worker would need to buy a pistol.
[1] E.
H. Henken, “The Mental Ability of the Quakers,” Science Progress in the 20th
Century: A Quarterly Journal of Scientific Work and Thought 16:657 [1921-1922]. See Dialynn Dwyer, “Macy’s Famous Red Star
Has Nantucket Roots,” Boston.com, Sep. 23, 2017, for a discussion of
Macy’s pioneering use of Quaker “one price” strategy in the middle of the 19th
century. https://www.boston.com/news/history/2017/09/23/how-macys-famous-red-star-has-roots-in-nantucket/,
last accessed October 15, 2024.
[2] p.
200-213.
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