You can be old blood and old money (arguably the most prestigious position);
Old blood and new money (o.k.)
New blood and old money (by marriage - suspect)
New blood and new money (right out.)
Our family lost all our money in The Wah, but several branches battled back in commerce - thus Old Blood but New Money. In Atlanta, hardly anybody knows the difference re the source of the money, and only a very small cadre of old-blood natives cares.
We lost all of ours in the market crash in the late 1800s.
We once owned a rail car, and I've tried to track it down, but I'm quite certain it was melted down to scrap. Pity.
"Our family lost all our money in The Wah, but several branches battled back in commerce - thus Old Blood but New Money. In Atlanta, hardly anybody knows the difference re the source of the money, and only a very small cadre of old-blood natives cares."
My grandmother never forgave my father for marrying beneath him. My mother endured years of snubs and outright hostility at the hands of the "old guard". Mind you most of the family members who did this were not wealthy at all. The family lost it's lands and money in the war but continued thinking that they were somehow the elites. You can't spend memories.
The question is, how direct does this descent from old blood have to be? I have a good number of old money ancestors, but my last name isn't old (it came with 19th century German-Lutheran immigrants) and my father comes from a well-educated but middle-class background. Likewise, my family is only middle-class, but my mother comes from an aristocratic New York/New England background (descent from William Bradford, etc.) Would I be accepted in old money circles (at least if I were to earn sufficient money), or would my current middle-class status prevent this?
I have found that Old Blood and no money is the same as New Blood and no money.