Historic price of VP

[uncle tom]

The recent acquisition of a 1911 invoice for a pipe of Cockburn 1908 reveals that the cost of a bottle after bottling, tax, duty and shipping had been paid was 2/11d (just under 15p). Cockburn was at the time the most highly regarded shipper, I believe.

The pipe, incidentally, yielded 3 dozen magnums and 51 dozen +2 bottles.

Add retail price index to 15p since 1911 and you arrive at £12

However, divide average 1911 UK earnings by the cost of a bottle and you arrive at 471 bottles.

Divide current UK average earnings by 471 and you arrive at a price of £54

Compare RPI with average earnings and you can see that average earnings now buys 5 times as much stuff as it did in 1911, but in the case of vintage port, it's well, almost exactly the same...

[DRT]

I don't think you could buy a magnum of new release big shipper VP for £54 including taxes today. Probably at least double that.

[jdaw1]

Some prices of Cockburn 1908:

◊ The Clothworkers’ Company, Trusts and General Superintendence Committee, 23 February 1910: “The Committee also recommend the purchase from Messrs Day Watson Son & Watney of ½ Pipe of Port (28 Doz) Cockburn 1908 @ 30/- a dozen net”. [••8568••]

◊ Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, Wine Committee, meeting on 17 June 1910, tasted six 1908 vintage ports, including Cockburn from J. Allmutt & Co, one £84 pipe being ordered (so about 30/0 per dozen). “Ordered that each pipe be bottled half in magnums and half in bottles”. [••LMA375/6••]

◊ Gonville & Caius College Cambridge lists 56 dozen, costing 31/6 per dozen from Basil Woodd, delivered November 1910. [••3375 3225••]

◊ Gray’s Inn General Wine Account, 1910, includes , “Purchased: Bin 2 E, Cockburn 1908, Bottled 1910, 31/10 per dozen, 697 bottles" and "Bin 4 E, Cockburn 1908, Bottled 1910, 31/10 per dozen, 696 bottles". Wine Account, 1911, includes , “Purchased: Bin EC 1, Cockburn 1908, Bottled 1911, 693 bottles", with the Wine Account of 1912 recording the purchase price as 33/- per dozen. The Wine Account of 1939 includes , “Purchased: Bin 7, Cockburn (Christie's Sale) 1908, 133/9 per dozen, 170 bottles".[••7573/4/5/7602••]

◊ The Worshipful Company of Butchers took delivery, in February 1911, of 28 dozen and 8 bottles, bought from Hay + Son at 30/- per dozen. [••5416••]

◊ R & H Jefferson’s stock book, 1 April 1911, bins 79 and 80 holding 202 doz and 3, bottled “Nov 1910”, and marked at 26/6; [••WhiteHaven 4761••] in 1921 most marked at 38/-, though 9 doz and 11 (“Moresby House July 2/1919”, also bottled “Nov 1910”) at 50/-. [••WhiteHaven 4791••]

◊ Middle Temple wine book lists Cockburn vintage 1908, bottling date unspecified, 42+14 dozen at 42/ per dozen, received from “Harvey + Son” on 20 June 1913. [••4360/1/2••]

◊ Harrods, 1914 General Catalogue: “Prices on application”; and in 1915 at 46/0. [••1718, 1723••]

◊ DRT owns a price list, dated 24 July 1922, from Fergusons Limited of Reading, which includes “Cockburn 1908, Bottled 1911, 12/6 Per Bot.” [••Ferguson 4637••]

◊ The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn Wine Committee, wine stock of 9 May 1923 lists 113 dozen and 10 bottles purchased from Fenton at 30/- per dozen in 1910. [••6850/6859/6861••]

◊ Christopher & Co., catalogue of “Autumn, 1931”: “Cockburn’s 1908 bottled 1910” at 226/- per dozen bottles, the most expensive of the four shippers of this vintage in this catalogue. [••5627-8••]

◊ Peter Bedford Limited, Wine & Cigar Merchant, Leamington Spa and Warwick, 1967/8, at 65/-. [••5587-9••]

◊ Acker Auctions, New York, 10 March 2007, lot 506, 1 bottle sold for $956.

◊ Hart Davis Hart, Chicago, 4 May 2007, lot 926: “Cockburn Vintage Port 1908, no label, fully embossed, chipped wax capsule, handblown squat bottle”, sold for $956. Hart Davis Hart, Chicago, 27 October 2007, lot 423, “Cockburn Vintage Port 1908 (1), base neck level, no label, slightly worn, fully embossed wax capsule”, sold for $1553.

[Alex Bridgeman]

That's a really interesting statistic, a bottle of port today costs around the same fraction of your average earnings as it did over 100 years ago. That's about £40 in bond, which is bang on the money for the top names in a fully declared vintage.

I'm not sure what I will do with it, but that's one of those useless facts I will file away in my memory and bring out at the right moment.

[uncle tom]

I don't think you could buy a magnum of new release big shipper VP for £54 including taxes today. Probably at least double that.

I did my sums on the basis of a bottle rather than a magnum - sorry if that wasn't clear..

[DRT]

I don't think you could buy a magnum of new release big shipper VP for £54 including taxes today. Probably at least double that.

I did my sums on the basis of a bottle rather than a magnum - sorry if that wasn't clear..

Ah! That makes sense now

[LGTrotter]

An interesting thread, I saw somewhere recently that the most stable price of anything in the UK was the cost of using a public toilet. 'Spending a penny' was literally true for over a hundred years.

[Doggett]

And to continue going off topic... Now it is 50p at mainline stations! As I get older more and more I feel as if I deserve to be a network rail shareholder with my contributions over that said penny. I feel that oyster season ticket holders should have this as a season ticket benefit. Then again it would also be nice if there were regular vintage port tastings on the concourse too.

[uncle tom]

And to continue going off topic... Now it is 50p at mainline stations!..

Outrageous! - If you apply an inflation calculator to the 1d charged in the 1850s when they were first introduced, it only computes to 40p..

[DRT]

And to continue going off topic... Now it is 50p at mainline stations!..

Outrageous! - If you apply an inflation calculator to the 1d charged in the 1850s when they were first introduced, it only computes to 40p..

Doesn't this simply mean that "processing" port is now generally considered to be 25% more valuable than it was 165 years ago?