When America still had slavery, what was the going price of a slave? And what would that be in todays dollars?
*Slave prices inflated rapidly as the institution expanded in Texas. The average price of a bondsman, regardless of age, sex, or condition, rose from approximately $400 in 1850 to nearly $800 by 1860. During the late 1850s, prime male field hands aged eighteen to thirty cost on the average $1,200, and skilled slaves such as blacksmiths often were valued at more than $2,000. In comparison, good Texas cotton land could be bought for as little as six dollars an acre. *
From here.
Might be useful as reference
How much did it cost (in 2004 dollars) to purchase a slave in the antebellum south?
Possibly relevant or possibly hijacks:
Disclaimer: I’m not proud of this, but it is interesting-
One of my ancestors in colonial South Carlona, according to family lore, was a physician who purchased the sick slaves from the slave ships. They were often sold in one lot and for less than the price of a single healthy slave. With proper medical care some of the slaves usually survived and could be resold at a profit.
I have an audio recording made in 1953 of my great-grandmother’s stepmother/aunt (who was then 99 years old) in which she recalls seeing, ca. 1863/1864, travelling slave merchants in south Alabama buying slaves for trade goods (bacon, hams, coffee, etc.) and gold/Union currency. The slaves were sold for a small fraction of what they would have brought before the war (maybe 10%) and were being sold by owners in desperate need of reliable cash (Confederate money being worthless and the Union blockade and Confederate requisitioning having deprived them of their farm animals or other needed supplies). The slavetraders were taking them down to Mobile (one of the last remaining Confederate harbors that had not been bottled) and blockade running them down to South America where slavery was still legal and lucrative. (Only about 1 in 10 of the ships going out of Mobile ran into Union ships, so it was a lucrative venture.) Her own family was Irish and poor and though no more liberal than most southerners of the time they were mortified at people they knew trading human beings for food and a little money.
In a similar vein as Sampiro’s post…
In his book Mountain Masters, John Inscoe points out that, at least in the mountains of North Carolina, many new slaveholders would begin by buying a child. Slave children cost less than adults and were considered a profitable investment. I’ve gone through the antebellum census records for several of these mountain counties myself, and it is very common (and a little chilling) to see a household that owns one slave between the ages of 8 and 12.
My high school had a stack of real slave sale receipts that we passed around and studied. I remember one for $1600 for a healthy man and $800 for an older slave. I don’t remember their dates.