This interesting receipt showed up in some Georgia probate files. Prices back then were insane, compared to today’s – but one must also factor in wages and overall cost of living.

According to various inflation calculators, a dollar in 1898 was worth $27.08 in 2013, making a pair of shoes for ten bits the equivalent of $33.85. And that pound of coffee? 18¢, or about $4.87 in 2013 dollars.

Not a bad Dreingabe¹; today’s coffee runs about $12 to $15 per pound, unless you want kopi luwak, which you can score for $350.00 online if you happen to like coffee beans that have been shat out by a civet.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

¹ German: bonus or give-away