I was going through Randall Storey's thesis (Link to list here

I recall from some other source that a unskilled worker earns c 3d a day (though, where these workers are and who pays them is a mystery to me...)

Sword
Average Price: 41d
Lowest: 2d
Highest: 120d

So, at some point in time between 1294-1339 a sword managed to go for LESS than a days wage. Now, the sample size was 15 records, and I don't know which of the 15 was recorded as going for 2d.

The list also says it records price of manufacture OR value of purchase (making this a useless, useless list). What could cause such a price plunge? The HYW had just started by the end of it, and I don't recall what conflicts where going on involving England (other than the Crusades) that would cause a surplus of swords to drive the prices down so low. Could this just be the manufacturing price of some fairly poor ones?

M.

I imagine those are not very good swords at said price. Swords that were 'used up' and only had one more fight left in them, had critical gouges in the blade, and might break at any given time.

Indeed, it's not entirely impossible they were rusty old roman gladius!

But hopefully someone who knows more then I will post, as I'm also interisted.

Maybe some not so good swords taken as loot from Scottish wars.

Yeah. I can imagine a wagonload of looted weapons going for an average of 2d each or even less if you bought the whole lot.

I would expect that at the conclusion of a major campaign, there could have been surplus (worn or slightly damaged) for sale. What is puzzling is who would have been purchasing these? Were there collectors back then? Or, would surplus weapons have been sold off to small town garrisons?

Storey's data includes things like assessments of the property value of dead peasants as well as the king's latest gold-hilted sword and Milan hauberk. So the 2d sword could have been a small, chipped, rusty weapon which was hanging over someone's fireplace for 20 years. Or it could be a shipment of loot like Dan suggests. Its a pity that Storey doesn't give us his data, just the summary.

I don't know how large consignments of captured arms were sold either!

personally I would think that the metal in a sword would be worth a bit on its own, let alone if it were serviceable to any extent. Imagine, even a bad sword could easily make 10 eating knives, each worth a couple of pence at worst.

I suspect that a sword for 2 pence is a typo or a mistake, entered either then or now.

Tod