back to Booty and Swag

 

"I think," said Christopher Robin, "that we ought to eat all our Provisions now, so that we shan't have so much to carry."

 

Webley & Scott Catalogue of Revolvers & Automatic Pistols, 1930 Close To Nature Company Maxim Silent Firearms Co. Elmira Arms Company Catalog, 1934 Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, 1936 Indian Sporting Goods Catalogs Flight magazine, January 1935 issue Federal Laboratories catalog, February 1934 Housing in Britain Movie Cameras Typewriters College Education Tobacco Products Locomotives

     Unless otherwise stated, prices given here are for the early 1930s.

 

Sears Roebuck catalog

Mountaineering Equipment

Equipment for Automobile Travel

Equipment for Cyclists and Motorcyclists

Demolitions Tool Kit

Explosives

Wardrobe and Travel Items

Wines and Spirits

Prices in 1921

Wagons-Lits Dining Car Prices 1932

Provisons and Equipment from the USN Landing Force Manual

 

 

 

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Webley & Scott Catalogue of Revolvers & Automatic Pistols, 1930

 

• Mark VI Service Revolver, .455", Military Finish, £ 5 14/-

• Bisley Mark VI Target Revolver, .455", £ 7

• Mark IV Military and Police Model, .38", £ 5 10/-

• Automatic Pistol, .455" Webley Automatic Calibre, £ 7 10/-

• Pocket Hammerless Automatic Pistol, .25", £ 2 5/-

• Flare Gun, 1" bore, £ 3 7/-

• Flare Gun, 37mm bore, £ 3 10/-

 

a H&R 37mm flare gun, built under contract as a copy of the Webley version

 

• nickel plating, large weapons 6/-; small weapons, 5/-.

 

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Close To Nature Company

 

     An early 1920s catalog, so prices may be a bit off, but weights and sizes won't have changed.

 

• Tourist tent:  waterproof khaki duck. 9-1/2 feet by 15-1/2 feet, with the sleeping annex being 6 feet by 8 feet. The side wall height is 6-1/2 feet. There is a door and two windows, an "internal" door to the sleeping annex, and a floor. Zippers on the doors and windows, telescoping steel poles, ropes, stakes, stove jack, etc. included. Pretty much the least "close to nature" camping experience. Weight, about 80 pounds. Price FOB the factory at Colfax, Iowa, $84.
  

 

Maxim Silent Firearms Co.

(Hartford, Conn.)

 

• small-caliber rifle silencer, $7.00

• threading and adapting an existing small-caliber rifle barrel for silencer, $2.00

• Model 15 silencer for M1903 Springfield rifles (no adapter or threads needed), $8.50

• this silencer it secured with a taper sleeve and nut on the barrel; the rifle's front sight is removed briefly during installation. While the silencer is mounted, the bayonet cannot be fitted.

 

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Elmira Arms Company Catalog, 1934

(117 North Main Street, Elmira, N.Y.):

 

• Remington Model 11A autoloading 12 ga. shotgun, 5 shot magazine, $53.40

• Savage Model 720 autoloading 12 ga. shotgun, 5 shot magazine, $46.50

• Winchester Model 12 pump 12 ga. shotgun, 5 shot magazine, $47.90

• Savage Model 99-G lever action .303" rifle, 5 shot rotary magazine, $56.25

• Savage Hi-Power Super-Sporter bolt-action .30-06 rifle, $48.90

• extra 4 shot magazine for above, $1.45

• Winchester Model 54 bolt-action .30-06 rifle, 5 shot magazine, $61.40

• Winchester Model 94 lever-action .30-30 carbine, 6 shot magazine, $43.75

 

• Colt Police Positive Special revolver, 6 shot .38 Special, or .38-44 S&W Special, $28.50

• Colt Shooting Master Deluxe revolver, 6 shot .44 Special, .45 Colt, or .45 ACP, $52.50

• Colt "Super 38" automatic pistol, .38 Super Auto, $36.75

• 9 shot magazines for the above, $1.25

• Colt Pocket automatic pistol, .380 ACP, $20.50

• 7 shot magazines for the above, $0.50

• Colt Pocket "Baby Browning", .25 ACP, $17.00

• 6 shot magazines for the above, $0.65

 

• Marble's #6 Safety Axe, $2.25

• Marble's #41 Ideal Hunting Knife, 5" blade, with leather sheath, $2.75

• Official Boy Scout knife, $1.50

• Thermos, 1 quart, $2.50

• Bicycle playing cards, 1 deck, $7.50

• 12 exposure roll of Eastman Kodak SS520 camera film, $0.75

• Eveready 5-cell focusing flashlight, uses "D" cells, $1.00

• Army or Boy Scout L-head flashlight, OD metal, uses 5 "D" cells, $1.30

• Eveready #950 battery ("D" cell), package of 48, $4.80

• set of best white ash 7' skis, bamboo poles, $7.50

• black canvas-and-crepe high-top basketball shoes, pair, $3.75

• light grey sweat shirt, fleece lined, $1.00

• khaki running shorts, $0.75

• sturdy no-frills bicycle, $35.00

• sturdy bicycle with just about every likely accessory, $40.00

• cowhide shotgun or cartridge shell belts, for 32 shotgun shells or about 48 rifle or pistol cartridges, $2.00

 

• web belt for 12 gauge shotgun shells, holds 32 shells, weight 4 lbs. fully loaded, $1.80

   

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Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, 1936

(stores in NYC and Chicago):

 

• Purdey 12 ga double-barrel shotgun, Hammerless Ejector, $960.00

• Holland & Holland 12 ga double-barrel shotgun, de Luxe model, $1,275.00

• Winchester Model 12 pump shotgun, takedown version, 12 gauge, 5 shot magazine, 20" barrel "riot gun", $39.50

• Winchester Model 12 pump shotgun, Heavy 3" chamber version, 12 gauge, 5 shot magazine, $45.00

• Remington Number 11 semi-auto shotgun, 12 gauge, 5 shot magazine, standard grade, $42.60

• Browning Auto-5 semi-auto shotgun, 12 gauge, 5 shot magazine, grade 1, $45.50

• 12 gauge "1 ounce ball" slugs, box of 100, $4.62

• 12 gauge 00 buck, box of 100, $4.62

• oak and leather shell box, to hold 100 12 gauge shells, $25.00

• Griffin & Howe bolt-action rifle, magnum calibers, 3 to 4 round magazine, $298.50

• Griffin & Howe bolt-action rifle, .30-06, 5 shot magazine, $185.00

• Holland & Holland double-barrel rifle, any caliber imaginable, de Luxe model, $1,478.25

• ditto, Royal model, $1,325.00

• ditto, No. 2 model, $907.30

• Holland & Holland bolt-action rifle, .375" calibre, 4 round magazine, telescopic sight, best quality, $509.10

• Winchester Model 54 bolt-action rifle, .30-06 calibre, 5 shot magazine, super grade, $83.35

• Winchester Model 54 bolt-action rifle, .30-06 calibre, 5 shot magazine, sniper's match grade, includes mounts for telescopic sight, $111.00

• Savage Model 99-G lever action .303" rifle, 5 shot rotary magazine, $52.00

• Zeiss Zielvier telescopic sight, 4x magnification, $64.00

• Lyman 5A telescopic sight, 5x magnification, $46.50

 

• Colt Government Model, .45 ACP, $36.75

• 7 rd. magazines for the above, $1.25

• Colt Pocket Model, .380 ACP, $20.50

• 7 rd. magazines for the above, $0.75

• Colt Pocket Model, .25 ACP, $17.00

• 6 rd. magazines for the above, $0.65

 

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Indian Sporting Goods Catalogs

 

     From the 1927 Manton & Co Sporting Goods List, and the 1930 R. B. Rodda Catalogue:

 

• cartridge magazine case, for 100 catridges, $9.13

• military-pattern leather rifle sling, average #2.00

• Hensoldt x4 Telescopic Sight, fitted to rifle with mounts, $82.00

• Winchester x5 Telescopic Sight, with mounts, $55.00

• basic x8 binoculars, with leather case, $21.90

• best x8 Hensoldt binoculars with case, $51.10

• Winchester or Eveready pocket "flashlight torch", 2 D cell style, $1.80, weight 1 pound with batteries and lanyard
  

• Winchester "flashlight torch", 5 D cell style, $4.50

• electric headlamp, with elastic web band, 3 D cells in belt case, $3.47

• single "D" battery cell, $0.18

• "pig-stickers" knife, 7.5" blade, with leather sheath, $7.30

• boar, bear and leopard hunting spears, $5 to $10

• regulation military lances, including pennant $13.14

• regular pattern cavalry sword, with steel or leather scabbard, $27.37

• infantry sword, with steel or leather scabbard, $31.00

• "bodyguard" sword (old cavalry pattern sabre), $9.00

• Sam Browne belt, complete with brace, sword frog, cartridge pouch and holster, $11.00

• shotgun shell belt, capacity 24 shells, leather or webbing, $3.29

• leather rifle cartridge pouches, 10 round capacity, $3.65

• sword stick (cane), $19,00 to $31.00

• "Hermetos" vacuum flask, 1 quart, $3.65

• Marble's Safety Axe, $6.75

• steel-framed "shikar" canvas backpack, rubberized lining, $12.78

• Bowie knife, 8" or 10" blade, with sheath, $7.30

• camp knife, with two blades, cork screw, button hook, etc., etc., $8.76

• folding jack knife, with spear and pen blades, $2.55

• polo stick, various patterns, $0.55 to $1.55

• polo balls, one dozen, $1.64

• folding galvanized steel boat, 3 person capacity, 50 lbs weight, $71.00

• galvanized steel rowing or outboard boat (motor not included), 8 person capacity, 16' long, $146.00

• taxidermy, heads only, $9.00 to $30.00 (up to tiger sizes)

• taxidermy, whole skin (no head, up to tiger size) cured and dressed, $4.38 to $14.60

• taxidermy, entire animal mounted, tiger, $219 to $328

 

Note that most of these articles are imported into India; high tariffs in this period, and the cost of transportation, result in prices 50% to 100% higher than in the United States or Britain. Exchange rate used: 1 rupee = $0.365

 

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Flight magazine, January 1935 issue

• flying boots, nearly knee length, zip front, Duranta soles & heels, sheep's-wool lined, 47s 6p

• leather flying suits, fitted with zippers front, leg, sleeves, map pocket; all-wool fleece lining, fitted beaver lamb fur collar, £5 17s 0p

• gabardine flying suits, zip front, zip leg, sleeves and map pocket, fleece lined, beaver lamb fur collar, 75s

• ditto in button front, 63s

•  new RAF flying suits, teddy lined, fitted fur collar, sizes 5ft. 3in. or 5ft. 6in., 50s

• high speed flying goggles, curved safety lenses, 29s 8p

• RAF flying goggles, fitted Triplex adjustable nosepiece, 24s

• flying goggles, rubber eye-cups, adjustable nose, safety lenses, 18s

• ditto Triplex, 21s

• flying helmets, perfect fitting, chamois lined, 17s 6p

• de Havilland "speaking tube" ear-phones, 7s 6p.

• silk undergloves, 2s 6p

• double, 4s 9p.

• electrically heated gloves, 3s per pair 

• electrically heated socks, 2s 6p per pair
  

• short sheep's-wool lined overboots to wear with flying suits, zip front, 22s per pair

 

USED Bristol F.2B Fighters. Complete, good condition. Cheap, room wanted. Delivered any distance. Willesden Aircraft, 437a, High Road, Willesden, London. 'Phone : Willesden 5619.

 

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Federal Laboratories catalog, February 1934

 

• aerial fragmentation bomb, 25 lbs, $31.50

• aerial fragmentation bomb, 50 lbs, $44.00

• aerial demolition bomb, 50 lbs, $42.00

• aerial demolition bomb, 100 lbs, $63.50

• aerial demolition bomb, 120 lbs, $65.00

• aerial demolition bomb, 300 lbs, $200.00

• aerial demolition bomb, 600 lbs, $365.00

• aerial demolition bomb, 1100 lbs, $600.00

• aerial incendiary bomb, 45 lbs, $16.00

• 4.2" rifled mortar, 2500 yards range, complete with accessories, 240 lbs, $800.00

• 4.2" mortar round (tear gas, adamsite, white phosphorus, white smoke, parachute flare, or HE), 27 lbs, $65.00

• white phosphorus hand grenade, 1.5 lbs, $6.00

• tear gas grenade, 1.2 lbs, $6.00

• jumbo-size (3x ouput) tear gas grenade, 2 lbs, $10.00

• jumbo-size (3x output) adamsite grenade, 2 lbs, $12.00

• smoke grenade, 1.5 lbs, $5.00

• 37mm riot gun, 7.5 lbs

• 27mm gas projectile, max range 125 yards, 0.4 lbs
  

• 37mm short-range gas shell, produces cloud 15 yards long and 7 yards wide from muzzle, 0.4 lbs
  

   

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Housing in Britain

 

     A semi-detached home in Barnhurst Park Estate cost £395 total in 1933 (with weekly payments of 9s 6p). This was a suburban town 13 miles southeast of London, with the houses built starting in 1927.

 

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Movie Cameras

 

 

• Bell & Howell "Filmo" Model 70D. First produced in 1930 (there are previous models fairly similar), a hand-wound, three-lens 16mm camera. The basic film magazine holds 100 feet of film, good for about 1 minute of shooting at 16 frames per second (but it can run faster or slower:  down to 8 frames per second, or up to 64 frames per second). You'll also need a light meter. Electric drives and a larger film magazine (200 feet of film, or 400 feet of film) may be attached, but quickly make the camera not "hand-held". Weight empty 6 lbs., cost about $270 ( or £76 15s in 1939 for the Model 70DA).

• Cine-Kodak 8mm Model 20. First produced in 1932, the first 8mm camera. Cost $34.50.

• Bolex H16, introduced 1935. Holds up to 100 feet of film; similar (for our purposes) to the Bell & Howell Model 70. Weight 5.5 lbs.

• 100 feet of 16mm film on a reel weighs 0.5 pounds. Black and white Eastman "panchromatic reversal" film, $6 including processing; color Kodachrome film (introduced 1935), $9 including processing; cheap "off brand" black-and-white film, $3.50.
  

• a lightweight aluminum tripod weighs 4.5 pounds, costs $27.50.
  

 

from a 1932 edition of La Vie Parisienne (text re-set by me).

It does have prices, so I guess it goes on this page!

(I can't resist the line "the kind that men like")

 

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Typewriters

 

• Blickensderfer #9. A very minimalist portable, manufactured 1910-1920 or so. 5 lbs, $60 new.

• Hammond Folding Portable. Introduced 1923, with multiple fonts, justified lines, and lots of other interesting features.

• Remington Portable Model 1; 1920-1925, $60 new.

• Rem-Blick. A very portable, minimal typewriter of the late 1920s, based on the Blickensderfer patents. Around $20 new.

• Remington Noiseless Portable, aka Monarch, Smith Premier Noiseless. 1931 - 1941. Price in 1935 is $67.50.

• Remington Portable Model 5; also sold as Remington Monarch, Monarch 5, Smith Premier Portable Model 35, Rem 35. Manufactured 1932 to 1939; 5 lbs. with case, $65. Here's a picture:
  

 

 

• Underwood No. 5. A very common typewriter (nearly 4 million manufactured) from 1900 to 1932.

   

 

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College Education

 

     Harvard undergraduate tuition for one year, $400. Typical cost of dormitory and dining for one year at Harvard, $450. Books, lab fees, laundry, clothing purchases, etc. at least $150.

     Harvard makes available less than twenty scholarships of $200 to $1000 per year for freshmen, size depending on financial need ($400 to $1200 per year to sophomores, juniors, and seniors). I get the impression that the $1200 per year award is expected to cover just about every reasonable expense (so laundry, book buying, travel, etc. over a year).

     Thus, very roughly: a year of Harvard for an underclassman was about $1200, everything included (except excess, see below).

 

     "College tuition at Harvard, raised from $300 to $400 in 1928-29, remained unchanged despite the massive deflation of the Depression years. There was no falloff in the size of the undergraduate student body since Harvard drew overwhelmingly from the thin upper stratum of American life able to pay the full tuition freight. This was not accident but policy: the Corporation declared in 1935 that it did not "wish to have an undue proportion of scholarship holders." The result: tuition income rose from $1.1 million in 1927-28 to $1.6 million in 1933-34."

 

     About half of Harvard's income in the early Thirties comes from stock holdings, which represent about one-third of the endowment.

     Even so, other tuition assistance is available: war memorial prizes, prizes from state and local organizations, scholarships from academic groups, etc. There are no athletic scholarships at Harvard, and probably not at any Ivy League school in the Thirties. The "National Scholarship Program" of student awards begins in 1934.

     Interesting note: "While employee's wages were slashed during the Depression, very different conditions prevailed for the faculty. The salary scale for full professors, $8,000 to $12,000 in 1931, stayed there until after World War II. For the tenured faculty the 1930s were a golden age of secure and substantial income and low-cost housing, food, travel, and servants. Nor did nontenured instructors get fired during the worst of the Depression."

     Cornell is the only Ivy League school to admit female undergraduates in this period, and generally before 1969. Some have "sister schools", for example:

 

• Harvard:  Radcliffe, Wellesley

• Brown:  Pembroke

• Columbia:  Barnard

• Dartmouth:  Mount Holyoke

• Yale:  Vassar

• MIT:   Wellesley

• Amherst:  Smith

• Princeton:  Bryn Mawr

 

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Tobacco Products

  

 

     Popular American brands, 1933:

 

• Lucky Strikes - "It's Toasted!", "Reach for a Lucky" and "With men who know tobacco best, it's Luckies two to one" ... lowest nicotine of the major brands

• Chesterfield - "They Satisfy"

• Camel - "I'd Walk A Mile For A Camel" ... growing in popularity

• Old Gold - "Not a Cough in a Carload", "Why risk sore throats?"

• Raleigh - pictures of what might be Sir Walter Raleigh

 

     Not so popular in America:

 

• Marlboro - "Mild As May" ... a cheap cigarette for women

• Pall Mall

• Parliament - the first filter cigarette

• Spuds - the first mentholated cigarettes (since the late 1920s)
  

• Kool - a new mentholated cigarette

• Viceroy -- another early filtered cigarette

   

 

    Market share in U.S., 1930:

 

rank	brand	# sold
1	Lucky Strike Regular	43.2 billion
2	Camel	35.3 billion
3	Chesterfield Regular	26.4 billion
4	Old Gold Regular	8.5 billion
5	Raleigh 85	0.2 billion

 

     Some British smokes:

 

• Dunhill

• Player's

• Navy Cut

• Wills Capstan

• Wills Woodbine (high tar)
  

• Polo

• Fez

• Simba

• Pharos

• De Reszke

• Cavanders

• Army Club

• Turf

• Pilot

• Black Cat

• Sobranie

 

     And if you feel French and sophisticated:

 

• Gauloises - very strong and unfiltered, high tar
  

• Gitanes

 

     For Russians:

 

• Belomorkanal - very strong, crudely made "papirosa" style

• Prima

 

     And for Canadians:

 

• Buckingham

• Cameo -- a menthol-flavored cigarette
  

• Consuls

• Craven 'A' -- an early filtered cigarette in Canada, from 1937
  

• De Reszke -- expensive filtered cigarettes
  

• du Maurier -- a heavily-advertised filtered cigarette, from the fall of 1936
  

• Gold Flake

• Grads

• Navy Cut

• Oxford

• Roxy

• Spuds -- a Canadian version of the first American mentholated cigarette
  

• Turret

• Sweet Caporals

• Winchester

• Guinea Gold

• Millbank

 

     In British slang, high-tar unfiltered cigarettes are known as "gaspers".

     Cigarette prices:   prices of course vary, and there's a lot of price wars and taxes, but you can generally get a pack of 20 American smokes for 14 or 15 cents; two packs for 25 cents, a carton of ten packs for $1.20. Tariffs, taxes and government monopolies in other nations can raise the price of tobacco products quite a bit -- in the mid-Thirties a pack of cigarettes in Canada cost about 25 Canadian cents (which is almost exactly the same as 25 American cents).

     In Britain the average price of a package of 20 popular cigarettes from 1925 to the early 1930s was 8 pence.

     The Zippo lighter was introduced to the American market in the spring of 1933. On April 17th of 1933 Johnny Roventini first broadcast his "call for Phillip Morris" ad. Cigarette holders (often made from meerschaum) are considered stylish for "sophisticated" smokers.

 

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Locomotives

 

Type	Weight (loco only)	Cost, loco + tender
4-8-4 "Northern" passenger	476,000 lbs.	$151,000
2-10-4 Alco H1d freight	520,000 lbs.	$133,000
0-8-0 B&LE Sr class	279,000 lbs.	$73,000
4-6-6-4 "Challenger" articulated freight	625,000 lbs.	$181,650
2-8-4 "Berkshire" Lima type N	436,500 lbs.	$122,900
4-8-4 "Northern" Alco	468,000 lbs.	$138,000
4-6-4 "Hudson" Alco L1a	409,000 lbs.	$142,000
diesel-electric switcher, 600 HP EMD S-series	~200,000 lbs.	$70,000

 

     Steam locomotives unless otherwise noted. From Marks' Mechanical Engineers' Handbook, Fourth Edition, 1941, via S. Berliner's website.