The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was sent a very interesting page from a 1912 English catalog. It shows a Paillard made hot-air machine like mine (under the Apollo brand name). What I found shocking was the 1912 price for just a base model at 14 pounds. According to a calculation....one British Pound in 1912 equaled five dollars US (1912).Twenty dollars US in 1912 is worth approx. $500.00 US today. That means the base machine was (in today's money) $1750.00 USD!!!!!. Now you add the special "oak leaf" back bracket and duplex arm and the larger engine to play the larger Pathé records and you add another five Pounds or $250.00 1912 US dollars. That means this hot-air machine would have cost a person today to buy the equivalent today of approximately $2000.00 USD!!!!. No wonder they were made to order... . Not many people were lining up to grab one of those and then to only have it burn the house down... . I wonder what other expensive machines work out to in today's $$$$???.

Yes, the cost of a new technology is shocking to look at, even a few years later. Some of us remember the high costs of the first VHS tape machines (I remember initially renting the machine as well as the movie in the early 80s). You can also compare the price of your phonograph to common commodities that we are familiar with today. In about 1923 it was not hard to spend over $200 on one of those new radios when a brand new Ford car cost less than $300.

I always wondered if phonos like yours only sold well in non-tropical climates. I guess most everyone was dealing with the heat created by gas and oil lamps. Living in the Southern United States, I can't imagine being entertained during the summer by a phonograph that doubled as a camp fire in the middle of the room!

Steve

Is there a good website around for purchasing power comparison?

EDIT: Just found one that appears to be great at http://www.measuringworth.com.

A Google search for "inflation calculator" will show you many variations on the theme.

WDC wrote:Is there a good website around for purchasing power comparison?

EDIT: Just found one that appears to be great at http://www.measuringworth.com.

According to the CPI (Consumer Price Index) calculator on that site, my VV-XI, which cost $100 in 1917, would cost $1,750 today. I don't have near that amount sunk into my high fidelity system, most of which components were purchased in the 1975-1990 period, so I guess you could argue that the price for such equipment as I own has dropped over the years.

I'm not sure if this is really comparable. A VV-XI was a good state of the art brand name entertainment system in 1917, so I would compare it with a similar entertainment system of today. A good state ot the art brand name 3D TV system would probably fall into the $1,750 price range, especially if you add a blue ray player or sound system.
Andreas

Norman, that is a great site you posted. One can have a lot of fun with that. I used a different site that was more complicated. Like most things....I would guess the prices of things are relative. Thanks again.

Here is a sample calculation: The price of my Grammophon De Luxe was £49 in 1908. It follows a "real price" of £4000 in 2010 which seems expensive but not overpriced for a high-end sound system. But the "real value" of £49 in 1908 on the basis of the average income is much higher. A calculation made on this basis reveals the astonishing income value of £25,000 for the De Luxe, if bought in 2010.

In order to substantiate that data: a German teacher in 1900 earned about £60 a year. Today his average income (calculated on the basis of the above method) would be £30,700, which even sounds below average.

Today's exchange rate: £10 = $16

Starkton, thanks for the perspective.

alang wrote:I'm not sure if this is really comparable. A VV-XI was a good state of the art brand name entertainment system in 1917, so I would compare it with a similar entertainment system of today. A good state ot the art brand name 3D TV system would probably fall into the $1,750 price range, especially if you add a blue ray player or sound system.
Andreas

Well, even without considering TV and DVD, etc., you do get a whole lot more for your money today: radio, electronic reproduction/amplification, digital recording (even though I still find cassette tape technology to be entirely adequate for my purposes with my equipment), so I agree that the the situation is not at all comparable. Also, as the calculator explains, there are several different ways to make the comparison, so depending on your assumptions you could come up with quite different results. One thing's for sure: $100 was a *lot* of money for the average person in those days of a dollar- or two-a-day wages! If you earned $1,000/year, that $100 was one-tenth of your annual income.