Most razor companies offered honing, and would give you 10 free hones with a razor or such. That's ten different times you can send you razor in to be professionally honed. (not ten actual stones) If they weren't free, you could send a nickel, or even a 0.05$ stamp as payment and they would send it right back out.

I would also venture to say that they didn't have the diamond pastes back then.

They also probably stuck to the three or four well known grades of badger, pure, best, silvertip, super silvertip. I don't think badgers began growing Upland Manchurian Super Fu Man Chu Badger Goatee's (only one brush per animal yeild) until the most recent interest in wet shaving.

you can easily get by with $100-150 in equipment. In regards to the $10,000 mark for cartridges, I bet that Dr. P (SMF and B&B) has spent that in brushes alone. It's up to you, and your tax bracket.