MovieChat Forums > Turn (2014) Discussion > The price of pork

The price of pork

posted 7 years ago by Psilio
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I noticed that the Woodhulls managed to negotiate a price of '7 pounds per pound' for their pigs, to the British military. This made me curious, as it sounds extremely high.

Were pounds worth a lot less back then? I don't mean with inflation, of course, but compared to now. I notice other times in the show that 1 pound is quite much, and can give you a few nights in a hotel, for example (on one of the bills from the boarding house it mentioned 2/8 pounds for 2 nights and 3 meals, or maybe that meant 2 pounds and 8 shillings or whatever they used then?).

Or were pork meat just so valuable back then? I mean even now, 1 pound of pork meat (or about half a kilo as we use here in Norway) would never sell for 7 pounds. More like 3 pounds or even less for pork chops.

What we do in life echoes in eternity Russell Crowe as General Maximus in Gladiator (2000)

[–] wilmawilcat 7 years ago

1776 British Pound Sterling = 2.182 US Dollar 4 Jan 2017

according to: http://www.likeforex.com/currency-converter/british-pound-sterling-gbp_usd-us-dollar.htm/1776

So that does appear to be an expensive pork chop.

[–] Psilio 7 years ago

I didn't even know they used dollars back then, until one of the more recent episodes I watched in season 3, where George Washington said something about 'they have been pressing dollar bills more frequently than the (something) Gazette (a daily newspaper, I think) to pay for all these campaigns, so the dollar has devaluated to virtually being worthless now" (or something similar).

That was what 1 pound sterling in 1776 was worth in dollars back then, right? 1 dollar and change? Not 1776 pounds sterling into 2,182 dollars now?

Anyway, thanks for the info!

Indeed, very expensive pork chops back then! :o They did mention during the 'negotiation' that they could sell a pound for 5 pounds sterling 'back home', though, but still very expensive, compared to now.

What we do in life echoes in eternity Russell Crowe as General Maximus in Gladiator (2000)

[–] wilmawilcat 7 years ago

No, no; see, the quote plainly says the dollar value is from today's date.

If you find something showing how much a 1776 pound sterling was worth in 1776 dollars, I would be interested to see it...

As for using the dollar, the English colonies got it from the Spanish colonies:

English colonists in America used the word in reference to Spanish pieces of eight. Due to extensive trade with the Spanish Indies and the proximity of Spanish colonies along the Gulf Coast, the Spanish "dollar" probably was the coin most familiar in the American colonies and the closest thing to a standard in all of them. It had the added advantage of not being British.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=dollar

^^ If you go to this page you will see the word comes from "...thaler, abbreviation of Joachimstaler, literally "(gulden) of Joachimstal," coin minted 1519 from silver from mine opened 1516 near Joachimstal, town in Erzgebirge Mountains in northwest Bohemia.

A thal is a valley or "dale." The Neanderthals were named for skeletons found in the Neander Valley, for example.

[–] Psilio 7 years ago

I see, Thank you. You using the number 1776 (the year the show was in at the time) threw me a bit off, then. Why did you use 1776 and not just 1, if I may ask?

Anyway, I also remember the term 'taler'. My dad (who was a captain of Norwegian container ships) always told the taxi drivers and others in the US when we were there "2 dalar to drive us.. (somewhere)" and stuff like that (Everyone excepted his initial price, as he was pretty intimidating and would never take no for an answer lol. but he was always fair), and they all understood 'dalar'. Must be a pretty old word, like you say.

What we do in life echoes in eternity Russell Crowe as General Maximus in Gladiator (2000)

[–] wilmawilcat 7 years ago

I gave you the quote from the conversion web page. They omitted the word "A" or "one" before "1776 pound sterling," because they correctly assume someone asking the question would understand they meant the year and not 1,776 pounds sterling.

The conversion page shows what one pound sterling in 1776 would be worth in today's dollars. That's how we find out how expensive the pork would be now.