It is very difficult to compare the value of money in the 18th century with now. One of the methods to help is to note wages and prices then. For example, when the Lutherans in the Robinson River Valley built a house for their minister in 1733, they paid John Hoffman 2 and one-half shillings per day for his carpentry work. Annualized this would have been 31 pounds and 5 shillings for 250 days of work. What could John have bought with his wages? Two bottles of wine cost three shillings. Or he could have bought eight sheets of paper!  One piece of linen, size unspecified, was valued at one pound. But a kitchen and hen house were valued at only three pounds. Objections made of wood, such as a table, seem to us to be cheap. It is easy to see why it was a DIY economy. Buying detailed work was expensive. For more, you may wish to consult the articles in Beyond Germanna in volume 6, issues 4 and 5, on pages 331f and 341f, entitled The Hebron Church Account by James Brown and myself. John john.blankenbaker@comcast.net