[QUOTE=AngelicGemma]
Tulips sprang to mind when I read this thread title. People went crazy for them!
[/QUOTE]
That’s an urban legend. See the Dissenting views section in your link.
Does Costco have a shrink-wrapped 3 pack of economy coffins? Center one up, outer two down for symetrical packaging?
[QUOTE=Tripler]
Modern clocks.
I recall listening to an podcast of the Thomas Jefferson Hour where an in-character Jefferson was discussing that Lewis and Clark carried the finest Swiss chronograph possible, which back then cost a tidy $250 (which back then cost damn near a fortune) and drifted with accuracy on the order of a minute or so, plus or minus (IIRC).
Nowadays, you can get a digital wristwatch for $10, which keeps the time orders of magnitude better’n the old mechanical clocks.
Tripler
Hell, you can get a calculator on 'em too!
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Yes. To my post at the top of the page a good example is quartz timepieces. They were state of the art, very expensive and cherished when they first came out. Now you can get a cheap watch that is just as accurate for a buck.
[QUOTE=Max Torque]
They used to make “darning eggs” to put in socks to hold it in shape while sewing up a hole. Try to convince someone today to stitch a hole in a sock. When you can get six pair for $4, it just ain’t worth the time.
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A friend of mine said he watched his wife darn his socks the other night, then pantomimed sticking a hand in a sock, finding a hole, and throwing it away. “Darn.”
[QUOTE=Cisco]
Are you sure it was 1984? We got our first VCR in 1984 - big clunky silver thing, must’ve weighed about 300 pounds - it had a wireless remote with every button except eject. We had it up until the early/mid-'90s. I seriously doubt my parents had $400 at the time or would’ve spent it on a VCR if they did.
My parents taped all the movies we had off of tv because, like someone else said, to actually buy one in the store was absurdly expensive.
[/QUOTE]
I bought my first one in 1984 and it cost $1200. They were terribly expensive (Australia). Also joining a video rental store was expensive as well- the first ones here had a $100 joining fee plus high rental.
As has been said- clothes. I used to pay $80 for a standard long sleeved work shirt in the 80’s which can now be on sale for less than half that.
As The Loaded Dog said- chicken before the Inghams got into the act here.
One other item that used to be expensive but is now relatively cheap is air travel.
The first microwave I saw was in 1982(ish). It cost my neighbor $900, had ON and OFF, and had the heating power of a candle, pretty much.
When CD burners first appeared, I was the first in my circle to own one by a long shot. I paid $450 for it but it more than paid for itself as I… never mind. Anyway, I was in a big-box store recently and they had a palette-stack of CD burners for sale at $9 each.
I remember when a friend of mine got a new computer. The hard drive was 1 gig in size. I was like, “HOLY S**T! THAT’S HUGE!!”. I was so jealous and he was so proud. The other day, I bought a drive with 1000 times the capacity.
Art and music. In olden times, only a very wealthy patron of the arts could own an original oil painting. And music was composed for the aristocracy or the church. Today we have music literally at our fingertips.
And how about digital cameras. Remember how much they used to cost, at very low resolution?
I believe Tools used to be quite expensive pre-industrial revolution. My grandfather was a tool/dye (die 
) maker. Before tools began being mass-produced you’d have to commission an experienced blacksmith/silversmith or else make a crappy tool of your own from what you could find.
Nails/Screws/Horseshoes/etc. also come to mind.
Silk, where it came from used to be a state secret and until very recently it was extremely expensive.
Salmon.
Used to be, salmon was pretty expensive. Now even in the middle of the US it’s possible to find salmon for less than a gold-plated date with a ring waiting at the end of it.
Of course, now we’re finding out that farmed fish are not good for you or for the environment… 
[QUOTE=Peter Morris]
That’s an urban legend. See the Dissenting views section in your link.
[/QUOTE]
It sounds like it was exagerated, but not completely made up.
Staten Island Ferry used to be an extortionate fifty cents. Now, it’s more reasonably priced at free 
panache45 mentioned digital cameras. How about just cameras in general? Going WAAAY back, photographs were really exotic, and you had be a bit of an expert in optics and chemistry to take them. And you needed a fair bit of money. Today, the gas station has 35mm jobbers, 28 exposures, with flash, for…$7?
Other optical stuff: hardly great but very usable telescopes, microscopes, and binoculars are now made of plastic and sold as cheap childrens’ toys.
Cellular Phones used to be horribly expensive, only just fitting the definition of “portable” (remember that thing from The Big Lebowski?) and only usable in the CBD of large cities because there wasn’t any coverage anywhere else.
Now, you can buy a cheap GSM cellphone for under $50 that will work pretty much anywhere that you’re ever likely to be (unless you’re a lumberjack, miner, or minerals prospector).
[QUOTE=Mycroft H.]
So, was placing Opal third in your list by brilliant intent, or a wonderful coincidence?
[/QUOTE]
The former
[QUOTE=madmonk28]
Silk, where it came from used to be a state secret and until very recently it was extremely expensive.
[/QUOTE]
Europeans knew where it came from they just didn’t have a clue how it was made. One theory was that it was harvested from a type of tree.
Rubies.
They used to be precious gems. Now I can buy a 1/4" perfectly spherical ruby (a miracle in itself) for $16.50": http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=2050&search=1
[QUOTE=An Arky]
I remeber my father buying one of the first Texas Instruments desktop calculators (something like this), for something like $100 in the early 70s.
[/QUOTE]
Yes. I came in to say that I was so moved that I cried when my parents scraped together enough money to buy me a calculator when I went to college.
[QUOTE=Cisco]
Are you sure it was 1984? We got our first VCR in 1984 - big clunky silver thing, must’ve weighed about 300 pounds - it had a wireless remote with every button except eject. We had it up until the early/mid-'90s. I seriously doubt my parents had $400 at the time or would’ve spent it on a VCR if they did.
My parents taped all the movies we had off of tv because, like someone else said, to actually buy one in the store was absurdly expensive.
[/QUOTE]
It’s possible that the list price of that VCR was $400, but lots of places actually sold them for $300 or less. I myself bought a “$400 value” VCR that year that actually cost me $299 and came with coupons from one video store good for 10 free rentals and 20 coupon freebies from another. IIRC, they also tossed in a couple of blank tapes ( those used to go for $5.99 back then!!).
What I miss most about the old machines was the full-function front panel as most modern machines have most functions in the remote ONLY and thus a lost/broken remote means a “universal” that really isn’t or an eBay search for a used original.
[QUOTE=zenith]
It’s possible that the list price of that VCR was $400, but lots of places actually sold them for $300 or less. I myself bought a “$400 value” VCR that year that actually cost me $299 and came with coupons from one video store good for 10 free rentals and 20 coupon freebies from another. IIRC, they also tossed in a couple of blank tapes ( those used to go for $5.99 back then!!).
What I miss most about the old machines was the full-function front panel as most modern machines have most functions in the remote ONLY and thus a lost/broken remote means a “universal” that really isn’t or an eBay search for a used original.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I also miss those old machines. My first one was 4380 from Sears. Bought it in 1985 or 1986. Lasted 10 years. The final time I had it cleaned it cost me $75, my brother-in-law pointed out that a new one would have cost $80. D’Oh!