Post
by timmy » Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:13 pm
Based on Pritam's assumption of gold being the best factor to correlate prices and Bowman's tabulation of gold prices, a rifle costing Rs.350 in 1925 would cost Rs.2,96,000 today. So, would a new rifle cost 3 lakhs today?
Gold is a reasonable indicator, but now that the world has gone off of the gold standard, gold prices are driven by a combination of demand and speculation, rather than international finances, as they were before. Also, closing the Indian economy to imports does have the effect of driving up prices, as was noted, but this must be compared to the Raj economic situation of British goods having preference to anything else: In other words, the Indian market was more free with regard to firearms in 1925, but not completely free, as British policy had built-in protectionism from non-British goods.
A third skew I'd like to mention regards demand in the market, which was alluded to: The goods in 1925 (speaking of fine firearms only) were high priced goods that would have certainly been a luxury trade, given the economic situation of the great bulk of the population. So there would have been a number of British manufacturers of guns who were chasing the rupees of a very few well-heeled customers in India. This would tend to depress the prices of goods, I think, compared to today, where a larger segment of the population would have the disposable income needed to purchase a firearm.
So, to summarize my last point, 1925 would have a number of British gunmakers, and to a lesser extent, some non-Empire gunmakers, chasing the rupees in the pockets of a few well-heeled customers in India. Today, there is a much larger potential market for guns (many more people could afford them), but far fewer sources of guns, and practically only one source for new ones. These factors depress 1925 prices and inflate 2012 prices, I think.
Having expelled all of that hot air, you have a beautiful rifle there, Herb! Thanks for sharing those pics! You say it functions perfectly -- stuff was certainly built to last in those days!
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