Original price in the mid/late 1840's

[WestTex]

If I were able to set my time machine to 1847... what would I pay for one of the original Colt Walkers, that did not go to the Texas Rangers?

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

Per my info, Colt charged the US govt $25 for each Whitneyville Walker regardless of whether they were eventually issued to Federal Dragoons or to the Texas Rangers. As far as I know the military marked versions were not available for private sale. A few cased civilian Walkers were privately sold. One such Walker is presented in one.of Wilsons.books.Per Whittington, Capt. W. T. Sherman purchased an early "Dragoon" for $28 as a private purchase. As was the practice at the time only enlisted mounted Dragoons were issued govt. revolvers. Officers had to purchase their own.
So in general, I would speculate that $30 would get you a Walker back in the day, or about a months pay, if you could find one.

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

When the USMR left Jefferson Barracks to guard the immigrant and gold rush trails after the war, more than a few troopers deserted and headed for the gold fields, , taking their "Dragoon" revolvers with them.

 

[damoc]

so what is that nowadays? an ounce and a quarter of gold or about 19-20 ounces of silver equivalent?

 

[wojownik]

But, the income rate in the 1840s was different - a month's pay for a northern and western farm worker was in the $12 range, and $14 for a factory worker (by "west" I mean Illinois). Substantially less for a free farm worker in the south and west. So the Colt Walker was really anywhere from 2-3 times the "blue collar" monthly wage for factory workers, and 3-4 x a months wage for farm workers in the 1840s. This gives additional appreciation for the Walker - it was not only an enormous revolver physically, it was a whopper financially - at least for plain folk.

Oddly enough, I happened to have my old dog-eared copy of Trends in the American Economy in the Nineteenth Century still on my bookshelf as a reference ...

Per my info, Colt charged the US govt $25 for each Whitneyville Walker regardless of whether they were eventually issued to Federal Dragoons or to the Texas Rangers. As far as I know the military marked versions were not available for private sale. A few cased civilian Walkers were privately sold. One such Walker is presented in one.of Wilsons.books.Per Whittington, Capt. W. T. Sherman purchased an early "Dragoon" for $28 as a private purchase. As was the practice at the time only enlisted mounted Dragoons were issued govt. revolvers. Officers had to purchase their own.
So in general, I would speculate that $30 would get you a Walker back in the day, or about a months pay, if you could find one.

 

[Crawdad1]

At those prices it kind of explains why we see these repairs being performed on various rifles and smoothbores during that time to keep it operating and hand it down to the next generation so they can keep using it also. Probably why we see so many Colts from that time so worn out. A lot of times the engraving on the cylinder is completely worn off. What did a cowboy make, a dollar a day plus found?

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

I was looking through a 1960 Jackson Arms (of Dallas, Tx). Back then a feller with deep pockets could buy a Paterson or Walker for $5,000 each and get a couple hunnert bucks in change.
I was only a kid back then, but my dad took me there in the late 50s to oogle their offerings. I met Mr. Jackson, aka "Red". Good memories.

 

[Noz]

When I was a small child, let's talk late 1940s, I would go to the sale barn with my father to sell our unusable dairy calves. He used it as a social occasion. I went because a couple of blocks behind the sale barn was Gunter's Gun Shop.
He had driven pegs into the walls so that every 4" or so was another muzzle loading rifle or old shotgun. (Parkers-Greeners etc)
He had a rifle I had picked out as mine. It was in the 40 cal range, Pennsylvania style, vivid tiger striped maple stock, heavy gold wire inlay in the lock, breech, trigger guard, off side plate and even a wire trim on the butt plate, The stock had artistic scrolls of silver wire, especially around the nameplate and patchbox and the wedge plates.
A good solid upper blue color job at that time was bringing in about $30 a week. A farmers income considerably less.
Gunter's price was $25 for the gun which no 8 year old boy would ever see.
I still dream about that gun.
Gunter also cut Purdeys and Parkers down to 12" barrels and the stock cut to about 8" because float trips on the White river were popular and he could sell snake guns for about $10 or so..

 

[Jim K]

A while back, I did a bit of research on the value of a dollar c. 1900 vs today. Since the dollar was pegged to the price of gold through the 19th century, its purchasing power did not vary a lot except during the Civil War. Still, other factors affected prices of consumer goods, so gun prices varied.

My conclusion, FWIW, is that a 1900 dollar would be equivalent to about $50 today. That would make a $17 S&W revolver then worth about $850 today, an amount that will buy a plain but good defense gun today.

So I would put that $28-30 Colt of 1840 at about $1400-1500 today, reasonable for what was then a revolutionary handgun. The relatively high price would also explain the limited civilian sales.

Jim

 

[Crawdad1]

An interesting graph would be the number of Colts sold throughout the years and where in the country they were sold. Small wonder why the vast majority of settlers had and felt that a single shot smoothbore did most of their work. But to acquire this long arm you have to calculate in barter as a big part of the price also. Not for a Colt.

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

The above posts explain why there were readily available commercial loadings of black powder cartridges and shot shells up until the advent of WW2. You either fixed, patched or did without. After WW2 almost everyone had money and it was out with the old and in with the new.