Entry point into the Rare Newspapers Collectible… 20th Century…

January 6, 2011 by · 2 Comments 

In the past the History’s Newsstand Blog has featured posts on the upper end of the collectible: “Prices Realized” and “Most Collectible Issues“.  To kick off the new year we thought it might be nice to look at the other end of the spectrum:  “Entry Points to the Rare Newspapers Collectible”.  Throughout this month we will target examples of the least expensive collectible newspapers available for each century.

Our journey begins with the 20th century…

The following selection provides a glimpse of the wide variety of issues available valued at $15* and under.  Areas of interest include shipping, finance, theater, historic events, and more.  Many more exist on the Rare Newspapers website, but others can be found throughout the collectible community as well.  The item numbers for each are linked to corresponding images.

A World War II newspaper from the Navy Yard…
575571 BEACON, Philadelphia Navy Yard, 1944  A military paper produced at the Navy Yard with a great wealth of war-related content and a war-related masthead as well.
Eight pages, 10 1/2 by 16 pages, printed on high quality paper, nice condition. $9.00*

From the Panama Canal Zone…
579280 THE PANAMA CANAL RECORD, Balboa Heights, Canal Zone, 1928. A little magazine subtitled: “Official Publication of the Panama Canal” with a wealth of data concerning the canal and its use. Approximately twenty-six pages measuring 9″x6″. $12.00*

World War 1…
161488 OFFICIAL BULLETIN, Washington, DC, 1918. An unusual newspaper published daily by the “Committee on Public Information”, meant to keep the public informed of both political & military matters, particularly during the WWI period. Note that the photo is “generic” and the issue you get will be of a slightly different date but will have the format as shown. Sixteen pages measuring 12″x9″. Lightly browned with some minor edge tears. $10.00*

For the little child in all of us…
161498 THE YOUTH’S COMPANION, Boston, Massachusetts, 1900. A charming newspaper with several short stories for children, featuring several wonderful illustrations, an ornate masthead, and plenty of advertisements. $10.00*

In-house real estate periodical…
161495 STROUT’S BUGGY-SEAT CONFIDENCES, Boston, Massachusetts, 1911. A curious little publication by and for those working for the Strout real estate company, the “World’s Largest Farm Agency”. Printed on coated stock.  $10.00*

Movie News! Burt Lancaster & Ava Gardner…
564394 MOTION PICTURE DAILY, from New York, dated September 28, 1956. Interesting little publication for and about the movie industry, giving the latest information on the various background events of the motion picture world. Television news as well. Too much to mention. 6 pages measuring 12″x9″, printed on coated stock paper. Nice shape. $10.00*

Additional issues priced at $15* and under may be viewed at:  Entry Level Newspapers

* All prices shown were valid as of the release date of this post.

Prices… a walk down memory lane… 1987…

October 25, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Blondie, Kool & the Gang, Ambrosia…  Rubik’s Cube, Break Dancing, Transformers…  The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, Moonlighting… the 80’s!  Our walk through time now brings us to the 8o’s.   Our exploration of authentic newspaper pricing through time takes us back to Catalog 60. To see a larger image of the catalog’s page, go here: Catalog 60

Prices… a walk down memory lane… 1993…

October 18, 2010 by · 2 Comments 

Forest Gump, Jerry Maguire, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana… the 90’s.  Our price-searching through time continues… all the way to “back in the day”… when everything was “aiight. Over the past few weeks we’ve looked at sample prices from 2006 and 2009.  Today we explore a half-dozen years earlier – 1993.  To see a larger image of the catalog’s page, go here:  Catalog 90

Prices… a walk down memory lane… 1999…

October 11, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

A week ago we looked at authentic newspaper prices from 2006.  Today will go a little farther back in time… to 1999. To see a larger image of the catalog’s page, go to:  Catalog 120

Prices… a walk down memory lane… 2006…

October 4, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

We recently took a look at “prices realized” for a number of historic newspapers spanning the centuries.  We’ll now take a look a the pricing of authentic newspapers from a different perspective:  pricing over time.  Over the course of the next several weeks we’ll post a random page from old Rare & Early Newspapers catalogs.  We’ll start with a page from a catalog sent in 2006, and work backwards through time.

20th century prices realized… revisted…

September 30, 2010 by · 2 Comments 

The previous post focused on “prices realized” from a sampling of key issues from the 20th century.  Fellow collector, Charles Signer, posted a response we thought collectors would appreciate.

These papers (see previous post) are excellent choices for your article. I think the Titanic disaster marked a new era in journalism, since improvements in printing technology and inventions like the facsimile machine made it possible for newspapers all over the United States and the world for the first time to cover the story simultaneously with full coverage and great graphics. Because the Titanic event took place at sea there was no “home advantage” as there would have been for a disaster taking place in a populated area. I don’t have the Rhode Island version of the story that you show, but I have seen others like it from other cities. I am amazed how they could get such good reporting and graphics literally overnight on such an unexpected story.

When I see the Honolulu Star-Bulletin First Extra I think of it as a time capsule marking of an end of an era. The front page of course gives the full first report, but the inside pages were mostly set up before the event, in the last hours of peacetime. The ads for 1941 consumer goods and Christmas sales suddenly fell out of place in the grim new wartime world. I imagine the people shown in the ads floating at the bottom of the ocean where they are all drowned dead but still visible to divers. It’s eerie.

I was going to say that the whole First Extra paper could be seen on the Honolulu Star-Bulletin website, but in trying to test the link as I write this I see that the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser merged on June 7, 2010. The combined paper is now the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. There used to be a great story on the Star-Bulletin’s old website about the people who put out those first reports that day. I guess it’s gone now.

I got a copy of the Dewey Defeats Truman paper from Tim Hughes before 2000 for about $850. It was real cherry. I grew up in Chicago where my dad and I would drive down in the evenings to get the first edition of the following day’s Tribune. When you opened up a Tribune for the first time there were tiny holes made in the printing process which made the pages stick together. The copy I got from Tim had those little holes so I knew I was opening that Dewey Defeats Truman paper for the first time ever. It was almost like being there on November 2, 1948, the evening the paper was printed. Yes, it truly is a classic that will be recognized as long as newspapers are remembered, which may be a lot longer than some of them are being published.

Thanks Charles!

Prices realized… 20th century…

September 27, 2010 by · 1 Comment 

We continue with our series on “prices realized”, with this 4th installment providing select examples of issues from the 20th century.  While there are many issues to choose from, we tried to cover a variety of collectible interests.

Note: While collectible newspapers have had a good track record of increasing in value over time (see upcoming posts), we encourage hobbyists to collect for non-financial reasons.  History in your hands…

20th century selections:

The most famous of all Stock Market Crash newspapers…
THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 25, 1929 ($1,830 – 2010)

Perhaps the nicest Titanic report to be had ?
THE EVENING TIMES, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, April 16, 1912 ($2,423 – 2008)

Best of all Pearl Harbor newspapers…
HONOLULU STAR BULLETIN, 1st EXTRA, Dec. 7, 1941 ($2,352 – 2005)

Most recognized of all 20th century headlines…
CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE, Nov. 3, 1948 ($1,925 – 2005)

The previous posts in this series are:

Prices realized… 16th & 17th centuries…

Prices realized… 18th century…

Prices realized…  19th century…