Get ahead, Get a Hat !
Bright & McIvor, Grand Hotel Arcade, Calcutta (1943), Rs.28 = £2/2/-.
(Not bad, would translate as £80 today, or £96 VAT-inc. Not too far out from today's prices).
Sad to hear that all Bates's were "ringers". Last Patey/Bates bought ca. 1967, around £5 as I recall. Again, inflation plus VAT would be about £110 today, still level-pegging.
"The label's but the guinea stamp - a hat's a hat for a' that". (pace Burns)
D.