Odd Thought Looking at Great Collections

I find that early copper has been gaining more and more of my attention lately. I am perusing the Great Collections email this week and am pouring over a 1793 Wreath Cent that has a current $1050.00 bid. I am looking at my different sources and thinking that just maybe...... When the thought hits me..... Do you suppose these early Americans would think we have completely lost our minds spending this kind of money on their pocket change?

I'm sorry.... My brain used to work harder when I was a young man.... Oh look!... Its a squirrel.... What was I saying??

 

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IF you brought them back to today, the charge for the trip would be ALL their pocket change, LOL

 

That's not a squirrel, it's a dump truck!...no, wait...that is a squirrel!...where's my slingshot?...

 

in 1793, the cent was worth about $1000 of todays dollars. lol I exaggerate.

 

I have often had similar thoughts, basically I'd like to think Washington would be in awe of ships, Lincoln would be in awe of airplanes, they'd think our clothes are lame,

I could think of plenty more

 

Why stop there? You might as well fill the rest of your 7070 and every other Early American Dansco that is almost impossible to fill. Although I'd personally give Mr. 1800 something a little more practical for his needs.

 

Your a good thinker!

 

I spent a lot of time admiring lincoln as a child, as I think I've made clear on this site in the past.

I think he's be shocked to see that we use cars rather than railway. And he'd certainly be surprised we don't have a much larger national rail system!

 

I believe that the early Americans would rather quickly adjust to the technological advancements of our day. They would however, never adjust to the cultural and sociological changes. To your original question regarding spending lots of disposable income on what they would consider trivialities, remember that 99% of people back then did not have any disposable income-their lives were mostly hand-to-mouth from cradle-to-grave. So yes, they would/could not appreciate our hobby and would think us fools of the first order.

A couple of notable exceptions might be Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, both noted for their polymath interests.

 

Once they see our automatic weapons, they'd give you the milk change in their mother's pocket.

 

Money is not directly comparable, but consider

The salary of the 1st Congress was $50; today it is $174,000.

On his trip home to Monticello in 1792 after picking up the first half dismes from the mint, Jefferson tipped the porter who took care of his horse thirty cents. A stable hand today makes $18-30,000 per year.

 

I think he would be shocked at what the rail expansion actually did to the American Indian tribes.

 

It’s a well known fact (FACT!!) that the shortage of mint-state colonial coins is due to time travel. People from our future have already gone back and collected all the best coins. That’s why there aren’t many now. But wait a hundred years, where they are all ending up, and they will be easy to find.

 

Time travellers: meet here last Thursday at 7pm