"So you're an opera ghost, huh? How much does that pay...?"

Okay, I'm terrible when old books start tossing around the incomes of their characters, because I really have no frame of reference as to how much money that actually is. So as you can imagine, this one has bugged me for quite some time: just how good is Erik's 20,000 franc a month salary, anyway? All I can determine from my Wolf annotated is that it's somewhat comparable to the managers' salary, but I have no idea where on the economic scale of the day that would put him. Kay seemed to think Erik was rather wealthy, but I can't determine what (apart from his history of working for heads of state and whatnot) she's basing that on. Any ideas?

~LCD

The only helpful thing I found online was this:

Un franc 1900 vaut environ 2,37 € 2006 (one franc in 1900 would equal 2,37 euros in 2006)
http://experts-univers.com/valeur-monetaire-1900-versus-2009.html

So I'm guessing 20,000 francs would be €47000 a few years ago (equals approx. $64,000 in today's value, but not counting eventual inflation). All these numbers are of course a bit inaccurate, but it gives you an idea at least. Nice salary for a spook...

I guess...no wonder the management's so irritated; that's some heavy protection money! Thanks for the info!

~LCD

Well, I imagine 20,000 francs was probably worth far more than that back in the 19th century.