(Sorry if this is a tad frivolous, I mean no disrespect).
In 1998 I was offered 21 camels in exchange for my sister. This was in Egypt and, for the sake of simplicity, we’ll say the camels offered were of average health/value.
I’m trying to figure out what I could have earned, in monetary terms, presuming I could sell all of the 21 camels if I had sold them at an average rate, back then.
I’m after what I’d get back then, not adjusted for price, currency value or inflation today.
(It was a joke back then and i’d like to remind her about it during a quiz about her, before her wedding. - I do not condone of selling humans).
In my time in Egypt i have never been able to find out the excact "exchange rate" of camels versus Egyptian pounds (or i have forgotten since), and there is always the extensive bartering to be taken into account.
But 21 camels is a fortune in the rural part of the country and would place you on top of the hierarchy of a group of rather large (think 10000 inhabitants or so) villages.
To give an idea of perspective: a camel is worth about 15-20 donkeys from what i remember and is seen as a real luxury item. Having a camel there (more than 20 years ago) was the equivalent of having a limo.
1,5 Donkeys is the typical lifestock of a "middle class" core family in rural Egypt. I say 1,5: they have one full grown donkey they use for transport and one young one that strots along , learning the trade to be ready when the older donkey needs to be retired.
But also from experience, i can say that 20-25 camels seems to be the exchange rate for a white western woman. (no disrespect meant here either, and they always say it in such a way that you can take it in jest, though i'm far from sure it is always meant to be in jest, there seems to be some genuine longing for the time when a village/provincial elder could get a prize wife for a (large) part of his camel stock)
EDIT: in my time in rural Egypt i can only remember to have seen once a herd of about 10-15 camels that belonged to one person.