Dining on a Morgan Dollar in 1885

Ok so this post is just for fun and something I found pretty cool.

I was looking at some Morgan Dollars and the thought popped into my head:
“How much could a Morgan Dollar buy when they were in circulation?”

I did some research and the answer was surprising.

The Morgan Dollar was first minted in 1878 so they were certainly in circulation in 1885 as they were minted even long after that.

Apparently someone could dine in Boston for about $0.15-$0.25 and get what looks to me like a pretty good meal! (Below)

In other words 1 Morgan Dollar would be enough to take a family of four out for a decent meal of roast beef, vegetables, bread, tea and a slice of pie!

I think that’s pretty cool considering it’s only 0.77 oz of silver (about $20 today) and trying to take a family of four out to a sit down restaurant today for under $20 would be nigh impossible.

Heck even McDonalds for four for under $20 would be pushing it considering a BigMac alone is nearly $5 on its own.

Hope you found this as interesting as I did xD.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Wow . I'm in .

 

And go back a couple thousand years, and you can feast with a 3 gram silver coin!

 

That’s a bit different though since back then mining was done by hand in very unsafe environments mostly by slaves.

1885 is much more recent and after the Industrial Revolution.

But you’re right, it is fascinating to see the value of silver over a long period of time.

 

Here are some more restaurant prices in that time period across the US.

In case anyone is interested.

 

I like the 1894 with the "Largest Glass of Beer."
On the 1885 N.O. menu, for those who don't know, "croakers" are a type of salt water fish from estuaries, spring and fall and I think the broiled Sheep Head is not the head of a beast but Sheepshead, another fish.
thanks for posting.

 

Sunday dinner at Telluride in 1897 would put me in a coma!

 

..and for only 50 cents!

You could take a woman out for a huge meal and pay the entire bill by simply plunking a single Morgan Dollar down.

 

I think the Sheep Head is actually a sheep’s head based on the price and the fact that they serve mutton as well which is lamb.

It’s the most expensive thing on the menu.

 

Thanks for sharing this. It made me look at old menus of my all time favorite restaurant, Don Roth’s in Chicago.

 

Very fascinating period in our history. And to think these 25-35c sirloin steaks in these fancy Brooklyn and Boston restaurants started out in cattle drives originating in Mexico and Texas, predominantly. I just just find that all amazing...

 

Yeah for sure! Totally different times!

I wish I could walk into Applebee’s and eat a full meal and after I’m done toss a silver coin on the table to pay for my meal and walk off lol.

 

Holy smokes! Look at these 1848 prices!

It really shows how expensive things were during the gold rush.

$2.50 for Corned Beef & Cabbage, Sweet Potatoes and a slice of Apple Pie when the exact same meal could be had on the East Coast for 12 cents!

That’s a gold quarter eagle for ONE meal.

 

Glad you enjoyed it

One of the reasons I think restaurant prices are interesting is because that’s where people of all classes go. Whether it a fancy restaurant serving oysters and turtle soup for rich people or a run down bar serving bread and soup to the less fortunate. Almost every person in the country has been to a restaurant at least once. The majority of people go pretty often.

I think a lot of coinage was exchanged among restaurants and that a lot of circulated coins today have been used to purchase something at a restaurant at some point.

It always makes me wonder about what people used the coins I have to purchase. Like my Peace Dollars. They are all circulated condition and I wonder what they were used to buy when they were in circulation.

Like maybe one of my Peace Dollars was spent by JP Morgan on a new suit or a business lunch.

 

Very interesting.

My question is - what did it take to earn a dollar back then? Might have something more to compare with.

The way I see it is in today's world, to eat something reasonable is usually about half an hour to an hour of minimum wage pay. (will vary around the world)

 

From what I’ve read the average worker made about $1.50/day back then. Some made more some made less but that’s about the average for a factory worker or other blue collar job.

I wouldn’t say it’s about half an hour wage today though. The minimum wage is like $9 and there is no way you’d be able to eat at a sit down restaurant. Maybe a couple of cheap fast food items but the restaurants I listed from back then were sit down restaurants with multiple courses and meals made from scratch.

Today I would compare Applebee’s prices since they are a casual restaurant. Most prices in there for the cheaper appetizer stuff runs about $9.99. Most of the entrees are $13.99 on up and then with a drink and tip you’d easily spend $14-15 per person. So about an 1.5 hours labor.

 

A famous fried clam dinner at the Howard Johnson's restaurant chain varied little between 95¢ and $1.15 in the 1950s, and depending on the location of individual licensed franchises. A cup of coffee was still just a nickel in most of them; the Marriott-owned Hot Shoppes restaurant chain introduced a cup of coffee for a dime about the same time; for an extra nickel they would serve you what they called a hottle.

 

I'd expect him to have a preference for Morgan Dollars.

 

$0.95-$1.15 seems a bit more expensive considering silver coins were still in circulation.

That means someone couldn’t dine on a dollar anymore.

 

I didn’t even notice the name match xD