Adam,
It occurs to me that one or more of Kenneth Scott's published  works may be 
of help.  As I recall, he went through 18 c. NJ account books  looking for 
the equivalency in barter trade for one thing and another.  It  may not get 
you to the dollar value of stone, but it may get you to what NJ  red 
sandstone commanded in the mercantile market.  He was published by  NYG&B as well 
as others.
Nancy
 
 
 
In a message dated 2/26/2013 4:38:59 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Adam,



Your best chance for prices on quarried stone  may be find some account
books or invoices from quarries or building  contractors.  The Winterthur
Library Downs Archives has one of the  best-indexed sets of primary
documents that I have had the pleasure of  working with.  I have seen copies
of contracts for the building of  structures in the Downs Archives.  My
experience in searching  newspapers is that they rarely have  price
information.



Prices on other things like wheat and  price cycles can be found in a number
of published sources.  During  the Great Depression the Rockefellers
provided funding for building price  series for a number of cities around
the world in an attempt to understand  price cycles and depressions.  David
Hackett Fischer’s book *The Great  Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of
History* is a wonderful  introduction to this subject.  It is very readable
and has 15  appendices that are as readable as the book.  The bibliography
is an  excellent research guide to the literature.  It was published in  
1996
by Oxford University Press.



Anne Bezanson, Robert D.  Gray and Miriam Hussey have written up Price
history of Pennsylvania.   The first of their volumes is titled *Prices in
Colonial Pennsylvania* that  was published by the University of Pennsylvania
Press in 1935.  I do  not have the title of the volume that extended the
price series into the  National period.



Arthur Harrison Cole’s book *Wholesale  Commodity Prices in the United
States 1700-1861* has price summaries for a  number of cities.  Harvard
University Press published it in 1938 and  reprinted by Johnson Reprint
Corporation in 1969.



There are  many studies on the cost of living that you can find using a
Google Book  search or other sources.



Historical archaeologists need to  spend more time reading economic history.



Peace,

George  L. Miller






On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 8:31 AM,  [log in to unmask] 
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Hey  Adam,
>
>
>
>   I am sure you probably  thought about this, but look at town minutes for
> townships established  around that period. You could also search for 18th 
to
> early 19th  century advertisements in some of the newspapers at the NYPL. 
I
> think  they have a colonial papers collection there.
>
>
>
>  Hope this is helpful.
>
>
>
> Scott Wieczorek,  RPA
>
>
>
>
> Sent from Windows  Mail
>
>
> From: adam heinrich
> Sent: February 26,  2013 8:25 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: stone costs and the  revolutionary war
>
>
> Hi Histarch community,
> I am  wondering if there are any resources that might discuss the costs of
>  quarried stone during and after the Revolution in regards to the heavy
>  rebuilding needed during recovery.  I am particularly interested in  the
> NJ-Hudson River region (famous for the brown sandstone), but other  later
> 18th century contexts would be interesting.  There is stuff  out there for
> consumable goods such as wheat and other foods which was  in high demand 
due
> to supporting the armies and destruction from  occupation.
>
> Thank you, Adam  Heinrich
>