Dave Ottney said:
I've gotten a real chuckle out this thread. I come to gscalecentral to see British & European stuff and here's a nice indoor American prototype layout!
Oh yes, the price of the haircut by the 1940's the price would have been 6 bits or 75 cents for a shave and haircut. There's the jingle "shave & a haircut, 2 bits" but that was in the teens and maybe the early 20's. By the way the term bit for US money comes from colonial times when Spanish dollars were cut into 8 pieces (12.5 cents value each) and called bits. Therefore 2 bits is 25 cents or an American quarter. So your haircut alone price of 50 cents might be right . All very confusing but probably no worse than British bobs!! Oh yea, the barber shop needs a barber pole (spiral red and white stripes).
Again looking forward to seeing more,
Dave
Hi Dave,
Many thanks for your comments, not least the costs of barbering in the 1940s. Yes, I remember "shave and a haircut, two bits" but have never been sure what a "bit" was - thought it might be 10 cents.
You're absolutely right - I still have to add the barber's pole to the shop. I have a nice metal collar stud that will just cap the end of the pole a treat. All I've got to do is find some suitable rod for the pole itself.
I grew up with threepenny bits, half crowns and bobs. The one I could never work out was multiples of the guinea, but as I never had much to do with fine art auctions or the law (where guineas lingered on after they passed out of general daily usage) it never mattered. I do remember when I started work and was elected the union representative, that the annual subscription was four guineas - the union got the pounds, and I got the shillings as commission. 45 years ago, now!