Anderson 1936 catalogue

**OC Richard** · 10th July 12, 05:55 PM

It took some time but I've scanned nearly all of my 1936 William Anderson & Sons catalogue.

The illustrations and price lists are cool, but to me the most interesting portions are the articles discussing what is "correct" especially the article on Court and Wedding attire.

**OC Richard** · 10th July 12, 05:57 PM

**OC Richard** · 10th July 12, 06:00 PM

**brewerpaul** · 10th July 12, 06:00 PM

Quite fascinating and fun reading. Thanks for posting this.

**auld argonian** · 10th July 12, 08:20 PM

"Kilt Drawers"...well, that ought to take a bit of the wind out of the sails of the commando crowd...

Best

AA

**McElmurry** · 10th July 12, 08:50 PM

They seem to be showing plenty of knee especially above the hose.

Show some knee boys

**English Bloke** · 10th July 12, 11:09 PM

For anyone who is interested, the Diced Hose, advertised for sale at nineteen shillings and sixpence (£0 19'/6d) loosely equates to 97p which is roughly US$1.50 at today's exchange.

Don't all rush at once.

Britain decimalised in 1971. Prior to this the currency units were Pounds (£) Shillings (') and Pence (d), and structured as:
£1 = 20' and 1' = 12d (or 240d to £1). At decimalisation the shilling was made obsolete and Pounds and Pence (New Pence) were adopted based on a power of 10.

Conversion rates for the process still apply because it was a snap shot in time and although prices and earnings have gone up, the monetary units have not changed.

5 New Pence (5p)

was worth 1'

(or 12 old Pence and initially was the same size coin and both were interchangeable.)

1 New Pence (1p)

was worth 2.4d (2.5 give or take) so sixpence (6d) was worth about 2.5p. There is no 0.5p now, it was phased out in 1984 so best to round down.

So 19'/6d =
19x5=95 + 2.5 (-0.5 for the round down) = 97p...

With which you could buy a nice pair of Diced Hose... or a tank of fuel for your car, which makes the Hose, in the UK at least, about the same in real terms as they are now. (at current UK fuel and diced sock prices).

Fab catalogue by the way... thanks for posting that.

Now then!! Of course times were harder then...

... "Well we 'ad it tough. We used have t' get up out o't' shoebox in't middle o't' night, and LICK road clean wit' tongues. We had half 'andful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at t' mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife."...

"you try and tell that t' young people o' today ... and they won't believe ya'.

Anyone who has proper knowledge to the contrary and wishes to refute the above findings, or my pronunciation of the word shilling, do please feel free to do so.

**Downunder Kilt** · 11th July 12, 12:07 AM

What" with this shilling John? We had tuppence, a trey, a zac, a deena, two bob and a quid. And you reckon you had it hard, we had to do the same as you except for getting up in the middle of the night. We to get up a half hour before we went to bed

**English Bloke** · 11th July 12, 02:09 AM

Oh there was other coinage too... farthin's (1/4d), hay'pnnies (1/2d), pennnies (1d), thrupny bits (3d - we know some rhyming slang for that one don't we Johnnie), sixpnce (6d), shillin' (1'), two-bob bit (2'). ten-bob note (10') an' finally, a quid (£1). Then there were fivers, tenners and I don't suppose you're average chap saw much bigger notage than that unless he won on the horses.

It is quite amazing how prices appear to have increased so dramatically in a relatively short space of time. Although I think the point is, 'tis all relative to increased income so in real terms it's no change really. It's always been very expensive. Average annual income in Britain in the 30's (for those who were working) was £200 per annum give or take, so your socks would be 0.5% of that. For convenience sake, if we take the current UK average as £30,000 (it's actually less than that but hey, who's counting... it's only a game?) If you were to spend 0.5% of your average annual now on a pair of Diced Hose they would be £150 (Ahemm hemm).

Other sources and prices are available... But these fit my argument nicely so I'm stickin' wi' them. Now't like bendin' figures to suit... Not that I've bent any figures. 'tis all there in black n' white.

Like I said before I upped and offed on a tangent. Lovely catalogue. See? I should have said that in the first place and saved us all this pondering.

**CDNSushi** · 11th July 12, 02:10 AM

Originally Posted by auld argonian

"Kilt Drawers"...well, that ought to take a bit of the wind out of the sails of the commando crowd...

Indeed. In fact, I thought the comment on pg. 24 was interesting: "Most men like to wear kilt drawers, especially in the evening." So.... Being that I'm like "most men," the next time someone asks me whether I'm wearing my kilt "traditionally"

I can smile confidently and reply, "Aye!"