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Author Topic: Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?  (Read 1673 times)

GeekyBugle

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« on: June 03, 2020, 12:39:32 PM »
What the tin says:

I'm trying to have those tables for a game I'm doing, so you can choose the time period for the setting.

I know where to find them for the 1920's but I can't for the life of me find them for the other decades, even an inflation formula would work.
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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2020, 12:56:30 PM »
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1132425
What the tin says:

I'm trying to have those tables for a game I'm doing, so you can choose the time period for the setting.

I know where to find them for the 1920's but I can't for the life of me find them for the other decades, even an inflation formula would work.

For the US? https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2014/article/one-hundred-years-of-price-change-the-consumer-price-index-and-the-american-inflation-experience.htm

GeekyBugle

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2020, 01:02:59 PM »
Quote from: Taggie;1132427
For the US? https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2014/article/one-hundred-years-of-price-change-the-consumer-price-index-and-the-american-inflation-experience.htm

Thanks! Having the decade total and the annual total sure helps!
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Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

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Omega

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2020, 08:16:34 PM »
Early editions of Call of Cthulhu and various articles thereafter had lists taken from similar sources for the 20s-30s.
Example, the average wage for a worker in 1920 was listed as 1300$ yearly. A used car is listed as costing 250$, new car at 1000$, and so on. The quality of the lists has varied from edition to edition.

David Johansen

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2020, 08:26:37 PM »
ICE's And a Ten Foot Pole is a collection of price lists for various ages.  It's a great book.
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JeremyR

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2020, 08:42:19 PM »
If you are a really motivated, some libraries have old Sears catalogs on microfilm/microfiche.

Of course, Sears couldn't possibly put them online

GeekyBugle

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2020, 09:11:18 PM »
Quote from: David Johansen;1132479
ICE's And a Ten Foot Pole is a collection of price lists for various ages.  It's a great book.

Thanks! Hunting it down!
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Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell

GeekyBugle

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2020, 09:11:51 PM »
Quote from: Omega;1132477
Early editions of Call of Cthulhu and various articles thereafter had lists taken from similar sources for the 20s-30s.
Example, the average wage for a worker in 1920 was listed as 1300$ yearly. A used car is listed as costing 250$, new car at 1000$, and so on. The quality of the lists has varied from edition to edition.

Thanks, not giving money to Chaosium tho.
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell

GeekyBugle

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2020, 09:14:01 PM »
Quote from: JeremyR;1132481
If you are a really motivated, some libraries have old Sears catalogs on microfilm/microfiche.

Of course, Sears couldn't possibly put them online

Yeah... I'm not THAT motivated.
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell

Omega

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2020, 08:43:05 PM »
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1132485
Yeah... I'm not THAT motivated.

Try this. A 1923 Sears Catalog. First couple hundred pages are ladies and a few kids apparel then some mens apparel, then more apparel.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101066805043&view=1up&seq=10

hah. My Grandparents had one of these or something very similar. Didnt know what it was for back then. And a Franklin Sewing Machine desk. God they got decades of use out of that! Check out the book selection on pace 645. Shotguns and rifles starting on page 920.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2020, 09:54:40 PM by Omega »

Omega

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2020, 10:09:55 PM »
Going through just that one catalog I was struck by the sheer amount of DIY tools and materials in there. Make and repair you own shoes, belts, etc.

Lurkndog

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #11 on: June 05, 2020, 04:44:18 PM »
When I was trying to put together an equipment list for a 1690s pirate game, one good source for values of things during that time period was estate sale records.

Googling around today I also found this list of historic prices from 1900 to 2014:

https://mclib.info/reference/local-history-genealogy/historic-prices/

There are also a couple reference books I found that seem interesting:

« Last Edit: June 05, 2020, 04:52:48 PM by Lurkndog »

GeekyBugle

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #12 on: June 05, 2020, 05:12:33 PM »
Quote from: Lurkndog;1132690
When I was trying to put together an equipment list for a 1690s pirate game, one good source for values of things during that time period was estate sale records.

Googling around today I also found this list of historic prices from 1900 to 2014:

https://mclib.info/reference/local-history-genealogy/historic-prices/

There are also a couple reference books I found that seem interesting:


Thank you very much!
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell

Lurkndog

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2020, 09:03:00 AM »
I picked up both of those Value of a Dollar books for myself, and leafing through the section on the 1600s has me seriously thinking about revisiting my D6 pirates game.

RPGPundit

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Help with 1920's-1980's Income and equipment tables?
« Reply #14 on: June 22, 2020, 11:49:06 PM »
I know that CoC 5e had price lists for items in the early 1990s (what was then the 'present day' setting).
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