Lucky Curve Catalogue

[max the head]

When you just can't wait to get something in the mail.

45 pages of early 20thC loveliness.

[Sasha Royale]

I thought Danny Fudge did superb work, restoring several such Parkers for me. However, not a single pen presses its own button ! Am I using the pens correctly ?

[pen2paper]

you are going to open those pages and share???

[max the head]

you are going to open those pages and share???

Wild horses wouldn't stop me,once I get it and calm down.

[Brian-McQueen]

I'm glad someone here won that! I was one of the underbidders on it, and was planning to share it as well. I look forward to seeing nice scans! You shoud also share it with the PCA library.

[max the head]

Well it finally landed.

Obviously I will endeavour to share the contents

as soon as.

Meanwhile here's a small taster.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the peak. That Sterling Silver "Awannyu" Aztec one is really interesting (and that in its day was [only] $16 US is a bit mind-boggling). I looked up an online inflation calculator and if in 1913 -- the earliest the calculator would go to -- the pen cost $16, today in 2016 it would cost about $389 (the gold filled version would cost a little over $486). Which, in the great scheme of things, isn't too bad (more than I could afford, mind, but not too bad compared to some other pens).

Wonder what it would *really* go for....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[FarmBoy]

Anyone handled all three of those pens?

[crescentfiller]

Thanks for the peak. That Sterling Silver "Awannyu" Aztec one is really interesting (and that in its day was [only] $16 US is a bit mind-boggling). I looked up an online inflation calculator and if in 1913 -- the earliest the calculator would go to -- the pen cost $16, today in 2016 it would cost about $389 (the gold filled version would cost a little over $486). Which, in the great scheme of things, isn't too bad (more than I could afford, mind, but not too bad compared to some other pens).

Wonder what it would *really* go for....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

Ruth, Another way to look at the cost is to consider what a worker earned at that time.

 

For instance, a union bricklayer in Atlanta, GA, in 1913 earned .30 an hour. It would, therefore, take 53.333 hours to earn enough to buy that $16 pen. In other words, exactly one week's pay (the 40 hour week hadn't yet arrived and bricklayers worked 53 hours a week!).

 

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/scribd/?item_id=476866&filepath=/docs/publications/bls/bls_0143_1914.pdf

 

In 2011, the average US hourly wage for union and non-union bricklayers was $22.50. At that rate, working 53.33 hours would generate $1,199.99.

 

http://work.chron.com/union-bricklayer-pay-scale-1662.html

 

" Despite these caveats, real wages were an important factor in defining the standard of living, so they are worth a close examination before the more elusive factors are integrated into the - analysis. I have computed real wages for three categories of workers - bricklayers, labourers, and the average factory worker. Bricklaying was an important skilled trade well represented in all six cities. Moreover, the wages of bricklayers were similar to those of carpenters, plasterers, erc., so the experience of bricklayers was representative of skilled building workers in general. Generally, the labourer's wage that I have analysed is that of a building labourer, although I have used some quotations for labourers in foundries and machine shops in Chicago and San Francisco."

 

https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/users/allen/realincomes.pdf

 

In 1913, Ford Motor Company workers were paid $2.34 for a nine-hour day. (Which means it would take 6.83 days of work to buy a $16 pen.)

 

http://www.henryford150.com/5-a-day/

 

So, I would say that a $16 pen was certainly a luxury item well beyond the means of the vast majority of the population. And on that note, does anyone know how much the various workers at Parker Pen Company were paid at that time?