Historical Pricing for the Model No. 55 Powder Measure
The Graph below illustrates the comparison between the actual historical price of the Model No. 55 Powder Measure with that same price adjusted for inflation. The US Government Consumer Price Index (CPI) was used to adjust the cost in this comparison. It is interesting to see how constant the price actually is over these 60 years. The adjustment made in the early 1990's is also very interesting when shown in this analysis. Perhaps this was the result of competitive pressure and that might be an interesting analysis at some point. There are a couple of possible explanations for the price differences between actual and CPI that shows up on this chart. First, the hyper-inflationary period in the 1979 through mid 1980's resulted in the retail price getting ahead of inflation. Secondly, the Lyman product line was sold from the Leisure Products Group and made a private company in 1978 and that new company might have had different pricing practices. Regardless it is clear that there was a major pricing correction in 1994. At some point in the future it would be interesting to make a comparison of a similar product from another company. If anyone has a fairly complete collection of priced catalogs from RCBS or another, it would be interesting to plot the comparison.
| YEAR | PRICE | YEAR | PRICE | YEAR | PRICE | YEAR | PRICE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | $10.00 | 1963 | $16.00 | 1979 | $36.95 | 1995 | $69.95 |
| 1948 | $10.00 | 1964 | $16.00 | 1980 | $41.95 | 1996 | $71.50 |
| 1949 | $10.00 | 1965 | $16.00 | 1981 | $48.95 | 1997 | $71.50 |
| 1950 | $10.00 | 1966 | $17.50 | 1982 | $52.95 | 1998 | $72.50 |
| 1951 | $12.50 | 1967 | $17.50 | 1983 | $59.95 | 1999 | $74.50 |
| 1952 | $14.50 | 1968 | $17.50 | 1984 | $57.95 | 2000 | $75.95 |
| 1953 | $14.50 | 1969 | $17.50 | 1985 | $59.95 | 2001 | $78.25 |
| 1954 | $14.50 | 1970 | $19.50 | 1986 | $64.95 | 2002 | $79.95 |
| 1955 | $14.50 | 1971 | $19.50 | 1987 | $67.95 | 2003 | $83.25 |
| 1956 | $14.50 | 1972 | $19.50 | 1988 | $69.95 | 2004 | $85.95 |
| 1957 | $16.00 | 1973 | $21.50 | 1989 | $73.95 | 2005 | $87.50 |
| 1958 | $16.00 | 1974 | $23.00 | 1990 | $74.95 | 2006 | $92.50 |
| 1959 | $16.00 | 1975 | $29.50 | 1991 | $76.95 | 2007 | $95.00 |
| 1960 | $16.00 | 1976 | $31.50 | 1992 | $79.95 | 2008 | $95.00 |
| 1961 | $16.00 | 1977 | $31.50 | 1993 | $79.95 | 2009 | $97.50 |
| 1962 | $16.00 | 1978 | $34.50 | 1994 | $69.95 | 2010 | $99.95 |
Prices are from Lyman Price Lists and Lyman Catalog Prices. All Prices are Retail.
Pink indicates an estimated price as the actual catalog was
unavailable.