12 pence per shilling, 20 shillings per pound -- such was the coinage exchange rate of the realm.  Easy enough for even a child to grasp, but still rather meaningless until viewed in the context of the prevailing wages of the day.

So just how much did a common worker earn?

Dupui's ledger reports that Samuel Handey received 24 pounds for one year's wages, while one years's work provided by Hans Van Flere entitled him to a 30 pound remittance.  Similarly, Christian Beer was paid 1 pound and ten shillings for a month's work, while Daniel Crely received 2 pounds for his monthly wages.

Clearly, different types of work entitled folk to different levels of wages.  We note that Hugh Pugh was paid almost 10 pounds for "pasturing of 5 hoggs for 14 months" while the pasturing of a calf only netted Daniel Crag a rate of 2 shillings per month.  Other entries show Patrick White earning 5 pounds and 15 shillings for "3 months & 22 days of work", while Daniel Crag was paid 4 pounds for "3 months work in the Fall".

In general terms, these numbers, and other such ledger entries, indicate that daily wages in the area typically ranged from 1 to 2 shillings per day (although they could go as high as 6 shillings for "1 Days Hauling with a Team"). 

A day's wages might therefore allow a customer at Dupui's store to purchase items such as a quier of paper, or a half a yard of buckram, or a paper of pins, or 2 quarts of salt, or a quarter of venison, or the remains of a pair of stockins, or 3 sticks of mohair, or 2 course combs, or a pair of scissors, or a knife  -- all of these items selling at the rate of 1 shilling & 6 pence.

Were other currencies also being used?  Indeed, "pieces of silver" appear in the ledger in 1745, and "dollars" make their first appearance in 1755.

Also notable for its first appearance in Dupui's ledger is the following 1787 entry in the accounts of Johannes Courtright and William Goodwin:  "9 shillings and 6 pence for County Tax you have to pay".