In 1926, Gold Cost $20.67 an Ounce — by Law
A hundred years ago the price of gold was not set by a market. It was written into U.S. law. Here is what that meant, and what an ounce costs now.
$20.67 then → $4,043 now
Today's EditionThe Tuesday, November 2, 1926 Edition
Five stories from exactly 100 years ago, each told through money
The Day's EconomyRead the story →
Buy Now, Pay Later Is 100 Years Old: How 1926 Families Drove Home in Cars They Paid for Monthly
In 1926, a family did not need $380 in the bank to own a Ford. A down payment and a year of monthly bills put cars, radios and washing machines into millions of homes.
Ford Model T Touring, 1926$380
In today's dollars≈ $7,200
Route 66 Is Born: The Month America Numbered Its Roads
In November 1926 the nation's highways got numbers, and a 2,448-mile road from Chicago to Los Angeles got the most famous one of all. Gas stations, diners and motels followed.
Chicago → Los Angeles · 2,448 miles
A Norwegian Engineer Files the Patent Behind the Spray Can
In the autumn of 1926, Erik Rotheim of Oslo asked for a patent on a bottle that could spray its contents under its own pressure. The idea now sits in almost every bathroom and kitchen.
Filed in Norway Oct. 8, 1926
What One Dollar Bought in 1926 — and Why Your Grocery Bag Is a Small Miracle
A hundred years ago, a dollar filled a basket with eggs, milk and sugar. Put those prices into today’s money and a happy surprise appears: most of that basket costs far less now.
A dozen eggs: ≈ $9.20 then → $2.27 now
Person of the day
A. P. Giannini
1870–1949 · Son of immigrants, school dropout, banker to "the little fellow"
His father, an Italian immigrant farmer, was killed when Amadeo was seven. He left school at about 15 to haul and sell fruit and vegetables on the San Francisco waterfront. In 1904 he opened the Bank of Italy in a converted saloon to serve working families other banks turned away. After the 1906 earthquake he carried the bank's money out in a wagon and made loans from a plank laid across two barrels so people could rebuild; he later said every loan was repaid. By 1929 his banks had more than 400 offices in California — the roots of today's Bank of America.
The day in one line
A century ago, the "pay later" button already existed. It was called the installment plan.— the Wink High Desk
Also in the news
- In London, A. A. Milne publishes Winnie-the-Pooh, with drawings by E. H. Shepard. A bear who loves honey is about to become one of the most valuable characters in publishing.
- Philadelphia's Sesquicentennial Exposition, celebrating 150 years of American independence, enters its final month.
- RCA's new National Broadcasting Company, formed in September, will make its first network broadcast on November 15. Radio is becoming a national business.
- Earlier this year in Auburn, Massachusetts, Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. It flew for about two and a half seconds.
- Scribner's publishes Ernest Hemingway's first novel, The Sun Also Rises.
Every day we open the newspapers, patent records and price lists from exactly one hundred years ago and pick the stories about money, work and ideas that still matter. About Wink High
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