the value of 19th c. rubles

[Groberg, Kristi]

I came up against the assignat when trying to figure out how much it cost to build one church based on the records the commission kept. In 1900, people were still donating funds using the assignat, which had to have been sitting in the vault for a while.

Kristi. A. Groberg, Ph.D.
324H NDSU Renaissance Hall
650 NP Avenue
Fargo, ND 58103
701.231.8359
Kristi.Groberg at ndsu.edu
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jules Levin [ameliede at EARTHLINK.NET]
Sent: Monday, September 03, 2012 11:53 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] the value of 19th c. rubles

On 9/3/2012 3:05 PM, Kokobobo, Ani wrote:
Dear all,

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to explain the monetary value of nineteenth-century rubles?

Clearly one must compare the prices of comparable commodities.  Googling commodity prices in Czarist Russia got me this:  http://web.williams.edu/Economics/wp/nafzigerMicroLivingStandards_WilliamsWorkingPaper_Nov2007.pdf
It seems to be a book or pamphlet with detailed data that must be waded through.  The best way of comparing for American students would be something like the price of a horse and carriage or a working estate, compared to a modern luxury auto or a Beverly Hills mansion.  In the few pages I checked, I found the following (for example):
--... estate officers (who were themselves serfs) in the 1840s earned between 250 and 700 paper rubles per year.
-- A serf hired in 1844 to serve as an estate coachman earned 350 paper rubles per year.
--Nikolai Chernikhin, a migrant laborer in St Petersburg, reported earnings in 1846 of 500 paper rubles per year.
--... in the 1840s one silver ruble was worth approximately 3.5 paper rubles.
Table 3: Goods for Sale at the Voshchazhnikovo Market c. 1831 (prices in rubles)23 ‘Everyday Supplies’ Sold Locally


Average Price


beef, per pood*


5.50


salt, per pood


2.30


green onions, per chetverik*


0.60


oat flour, per pood


1.20


hops, per pood


11.00


butter, per pood


15.00


eggs, per 100


1.80


white sugar, per funt*


1.00


hemp straw, per chetverik


2.50


rye flour, per pood


1.30


candles, per pood


12.50


hemp oil, per pood


9.50


hay, per pood


0.80


 Obviously, somewhere out there are the figures that would most impress your students.  But even these are suggestive.  Compare the 350 rubles annual pay of an estate driver with what it would cost to have a full-time car driver at your disposal now--$30,000?
Jules Levin
Los Angeles

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