shillings per hundred pounds in 1775 to 2,000 shillings, in Continental
currency, in 1781. An official account in the latter part of 1780
related that twenty-five shillings per hundred pounds in specie was
considered a very substantial price. A very small crop in 1782 was
followed by one that topped any of the pre-war crops, and by 1787
prices had fallen to fifteen pence per pound. Prices dropped to $12.00
in 1791, and a period of relatively low prices continued until 1797
when prices increased as a result of an extensive shift from tobacco to
wheat. In 1800 prices dropped to $7.40 per hundred pounds as Virginia
exported a near record crop of over 78,000 hogsheads of tobacco.

VIRGINIA TOBACCO PRICES AND EXPORTS, 1615-1789

A complete and accurate price table would be virtually impossible to
compile. Some of these averages represent only single individual
quotations, or the average of only two or three such quotations. These
charts are intended to give the reader a general picture of the prices
during the Colonial period.

Year Average Price Average Price Pounds Exported
per Lb. per Cwt.

1615 3s 2,300
1617 3s 20,000
1618 3s 41,000
1619 3s 44,879
1620 2s 6d 40,000
1621 3s 55,000
1622 3s 60,000
1623 2s
1625 2s 4d
1626 3s 500,000
1628 3s 6d 500,000
1629 1,500,000
1630 1d 1,500,000
1631 6d 1,300,000
1632 6d
1633 9d
1634 1d
1637 9d
1638 2d
1639 3d 1,500,000
1640 12d 1,300,000
1641 2d 1,300,000
1642 2d
1644 1-1/2d
1645 1-1/2d
1649 3d
1651 16s
1652 20s
1655 2d
1656 2d
1657 3d
1658 2d
1659 2d
1660 2d
1661 2d
1662 2d
1664 1-1/2d
1665 1d
1666 1-1/5d
1667 1/2d
1669 20s
1676 1-1/2d
1682