How much are old newspapers worth? From the Civil War to JFK
I
get more email asking me about the value of old newspapers than any
other type of email. What that should tell you, is that a lot of people
have old newspapers.
Since the value of all collectibles is based
in part on scarcity and demand, most newspapers are not worth a ton of
money because they are not scarce.
Think about it for a minute,
there were many thousands of editions of newspapers printed every day
and many thosands of copies of those editions, so for a paper to be
worth more than $100, it has to be pretty darn special.
Then there are quite a few that are scarce, but there's just not enough demand, such as some of the 17 century London Gazettes.
Here's an excerpt from a Civil War era paper that is featured in the slide show below.
$300 Reward:
REWARD
-- Ran away from the subscriber, three Negroes, Ben, Bap, and Romulus.
Ben, aged about thirty years, copper color, about 5 feet 5 inches high,
very stout, has an opening in his front teeth both above and below.
Bap, copper color, about 32 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches high, has
very thick lips.
These
two negroes went off last January last, and have been seen about Good
Hope, Prince George's County, and in Washington City and Alexandria.
Romulus, black, about 40 years old, 5 feet 10 inches high, shows his
teeth when spoken to.
He
went off in March and is well known in Washington and Georgetown, and
has a wife at Mrs. Hutchins's, St. Mary's county. I will give $300 for
three, or $100 for each, no matter where taken, if secured in jail or
brought home to me.
Collecting old newspapers is a great
way to learn about history, or to go niche on a certain topic. There is
so much to cover, I know this won't be the last article or price report
I write about old newspapers, and it certainly isn't my first. In fact,
I've even had a collectibles newspaper expert on my podcast, click here to listen to ep43 of the Auctionwally Show to hear that interview.
I've also published several other mini price reports on old newspapers at http://auctionwally.blogspot.com,
you can go there and enter the edition your looking for in the search
box at the top of the page to see if your edition is included.
Thanks for reading.
Follow me on Twitter for the latest in auctions and antiques, I'm at http://twitter.com/auctionwally
For more photo gallery price guides go to: http://auctionwally.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-find-value-of-your-antiques-with.html
