Oct 1959
- Thread starter yonderin
- Start date
That one caught my eye as well. Scope included!!
Just to keep things in perspective, for the average wage earner in 1959 the price of that No4T, after shipping and taxes was more than they made in a week.
You could feed a family of four, gas up your vehicle and pay for other incidentals on that amount.
You could feed a family of four, gas up your vehicle and pay for other incidentals on that amount.
That’s true.
To put things in perspective way cheaper back then!
Most people would have to work a whole month or more to be able to afford a decent set now!
You need to understand that most people back in 1959 were bring home less than $30/week, working 50+ hours/week.
I can remember people working an "extra'' hour per day, without pay, just to keep their jobs.
If a rifle cost more than $20 back then it was out of the price range of the ''average'' shooter. Most folks didn't have that sort of cash on hand to put out on something considered to be frivilous.
Think about this as well, there weren't very many of those rifles actually available, mind you there were only around 3 billion bipedal methane producers on the planet.
Many of the rifles were put together from original parts and purpose built/chosen rifles. The oringinal all matching units were more likely as not sold off to nations such as India/Pakistan/Turkey/Greece and even Taiwan or Middle Eastern nations for their armories.
Some good stuff got through to the civilian market, but only after the other markets were satisfied.
The exchange rate was close back then but you need to add appx 8% to those prices for Canadian rates.
You actually had to be pretty well off at that time to be able to afford such luxuries. The financial divide between the upper/lower/middle class was very defined back then and those prices were not aimed a the mid lower class and less.
Most people didn't even look at them as an investment back then. Some did and treated the firearms accordingly.
I can still remember seeing surplus sniper rifles, some vet bring backs being ''sporterized'' quite often. Those were usuall done by people that couldn't afford or didn't trust the commercial scopes available at the time and were either given the rifles by vets or acquired them by other means.
Some of the conversions were very well done, most were horrific and deteriorated the look, function and efficiency of the firearms beyond any useful value, other than for parts.
Times have changed, the worlds population has more than doubled since then and people are finding these rifles interesting as well as intriguing in significant numbers. That will change, as time goes on. Just ask collectors of Black Powder era firearms or period vehicles.
It doesn't mean the owners or collectors aren't as passionate as they ever were, but they've failed to pass on their knowledge and interest others, or the new comers are more interested in the firearms, vehicles they're personally familiar with and only find the other types to be interesting curios, which they like to see but don't endeavor to own.
Those were the glory days. I spent many a day with Alan Lever in their Montreal warehouse sorting through hundreds of pallets of firearms. As for the US import import restrictions, that was lend lease stuff for the most part and working full auto pieces. Those were broken down for their parts and the receivers were cut in half or trashed.
What taxes would you have had to pay in 1959? There was certainly no GST/HST back then.
There were provincial and federal taxes back then, just not combined. Some, like those in Alberta rolled into the posted price. Import taxes were just about always levied, especially at the retail level where they were also included in the price, just as they are today.
The main reaso GST and HST were combined was to bring some sort of regulation and visibility to the taxes being paid on retail items.
There was a very small push a few decades back to have the costs of the articles broken down and made available to the public. Politically, this went over like a rock tossed into the water.
I saw some of the taxes Mr Lever paid and it was a good thing that a lot of the items that came in from out of country were purchased at a few cents on the dollar of what the items were sold for. Taxes, transport, graft etc made up ten to twenty time the original cost of some items, before they went in front of the general public for sale.
