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Stats...
| 1980?
11/ 1991 |
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78mm x
155mm x
28mm
230g
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| 180 rubles
One machine has an improbable 'price' marking of 1555
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| 3 x AA
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Display
| Handheld, RED LED
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Factories...
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Elektronika B3-37
The advent of high inflation in the Soviet Union, in the early 1990s, meant that the traditional practice of permanently branding calculators with their prices could no longer be followed. Or, more to the point, the price branded on the calculator at the factory was no longer the price at which the calculator was finally sold. To this effect, the price on the calculator body needed to be changed.
 Rebrand pricing
on a B3-21
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Several examples of factory-rebranded prices are known (for example, the B3-21 price shown in the small picture here), which is an acceptable solution in a low-inflation environment. By the end of 1991, inflation had magnified prices approximately two to three times (200-300%), making factory-branding of prices impractical. The manufacturers of calculators did not typically update the prices on the machines (as inflation was changing prices so rapidly), either removing the prices altogether, or writing "the free retail price".
When Thomas Brockmeier responded to my initial call for information about his machines (date, serial number, company, price), his B3-37 was reported as 1991, 1555 rubles. Recently, Sergei Frolov has been checking all the data on the site to find inconsistencies and errors. This machine's price was questioned by Sergei as being highly unlikely (after all, a small computer could be bought in 1991 for 1200 rubles, so a calculator costing 1555 rubles would be highly unlikely). So, I wrote to Thomas requesting that he re-check the data for me, and he was kind enough to scan the machine for me.
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Controversy!
© Thomas Brockmeier
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 | The price / manufacturing details.
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© Thomas Brockmeier
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 | The date, closeup. 1980 or 1989?
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Having a picture of the label raises more questions than it answers. This is great, I love a good controversy! Sergei, Thomas and I have been exchanging emails with our opinions and guesses as to what the modifications to this label signify.
It is clear that the rebranding has been done using the same hand and pen, probably at the same time. That is, the price has been crossed out, 1555 has been written to the side of the old price, and the date has been modified. It is fairly obvious that the calculator was originally branded at 180 rubles. But, what was the year. Was it 1980 or 1989? Sergei thinks it is 1980. I think it's 1989. Have a look at the close-up, and see what you think!
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The Second Hand Hypothesis
Sergei feels that this machine has been sold second-hand by some dealer or shop. The dealer has marked the machine with the date it arrived in the store, and the item number from the book used to inventory stock. Therefore, it was sold in November 1991 for an unknown amount of money.
His argument goes something like this...
The price of the new calculator before inflation (before January 1991) was no more than 45 rubles (similar calculator MK-18M had the price 45.70). After inflation of approximately 200%, the price has risen to no more than 100 rubles. A typical home computer, the BK-0010 in 1991 cost about 600 rubles (1200 rubles by the end of 1991). So, clearly, 1555 rubles is not a realistic price for a calculator.
Thomas and Sergei have outvoted me, and the consensus is that this 1555 is not a price. All we can say for certain is that the calculator originally sold for 180 rubles, and that the year was probably 1980. In 1989, typical calculator prices were around 50 rubles, but earlier in the 80's the price was much higher.
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