I found a price list of HP 9100 items from Hewlett-Packard (Schweiz) AG dated April 1971 and was a bit surprised. At those times the price (including taxes) of an HP 9100B was 24’755.- Swiss Francs! Now I was curious to see how much money that was.

After some research I found an article in the well-known Swiss journal TagesAnzeiger. It’s about the Opel Manta – a car that later became iconic – which was introduced at a car show in Turin (Italy) in September 1970. According to the article the price for the more sportive Opel Manta SR version in Switzerland was 12’695 Swiss Frances. Well, that’s nearly half the price of a 9100B! Amazing, isn’t it? This finding inspired me to create the following picture:

Downloads

Even so the price list is in German, it’s not too difficult to read it if you do not speak this language. The device names speak for themselves. On the second page you’ll find prices for yearly service and maintenance costs. For an 9100B it was 1’325.- CHF. Wow.