 Prices paid for wives varied considerably , from a high of £ 100 plus £ 25 each for her two children in a sale of 1865 ( equivalent to about £ 12 @,@ 900 in 2016 ) to a low of a glass of ale , or even free . The lowest amount of money exchanged was three farthings ( three @-@ quarters of one penny ) , but the usual price seems to have been between 2s . 6d. and 5 shillings . According to authors Wade Mansell and Belinda <unk> , money seems usually to have been a secondary consideration ; the more important factor was that the sale was seen by many as legally binding , despite it having no basis in law . Some of the new couples bigamously married , but the attitude of officialdom towards wife selling was equivocal . Rural clergy and magistrates knew of the custom , but seemed uncertain of its legitimacy , or chose to turn a blind eye . Entries have been found in baptismal registers , such as this example from <unk> in Essex , dated 1782 : " Amie Daughter of Moses Stebbing by a bought wife delivered to him in a Halter " . A jury in Lincolnshire ruled in 1784 that a man who had sold his wife had no right to reclaim her from her purchaser , thus endorsing the validity of the transaction . In 1819 a magistrate who attempted to prevent a sale at Ashbourne , Derby , but was pelted and driven away by the crowd , later commented : 
