Values for first section only newspapers…

May 20, 2010 by  
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Fellow collector Morris Brill asks a question which may be on many collectors’ minds:

“If a collector has only the first section of a newspaper containing the reporting of the entire historic event how much is the monetary and collector value depreciated because the entire paper is not available? Is it worthwhile to collect a ‘first section’ only newspaper?”

In my opinion, there is not much decrease in value for not having the entire newspaper if the complete report of the “event” is contained within the first section. Some newspapers–particularly Sunday editions–can be extremely bulky with nothing but superfluous material, so it is not surprising that, in many cases, only first sections were saved.

Some purists might disagree, but rarely do we get requests from collectors wanting only complete newspapers. Many “first section only” issues of 20th century events will be found on our website, and I tend to price such at 80% to 90% of the value of a complete newspaper.

In some cases it can be difficult to tell if the complete issue is present. Some newspapers note the number of pages in the dateline, and others might mention the number of sections. Where neither exist I look for a table of content to see if there are reports on pages beyond what are present. If I have no way of determining, and I am unsure of the issue is complete, I tend to note within the description something like “…presumed complete in 24 pages…” just in case it could be proven to me otherwise.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Values for first section only newspapers…”

  1. Morris on May 20th, 2010 9:01 pm

    Thank you Tim,

    As you noted it is sometimes difficult to tell if a paper is complete. Especially when the newspaper may only be 12 or 14 pages in length. As a basic guideline, in addition to what you mentioned, I generally note if the Sports, Movies (stage shows), and Classifides are available. (not all papers had comics). If they are, and even if the paper is 12 pages, I presume it is complete.

  2. Lee Sanders on May 21st, 2010 12:22 pm

    When putting away a newspaper I consider having news of historical significance,I put it all away down to the last grocery store coupon. Some may consider this a little much but people who have purchased papers from me have always been appreciative of this and have let me know it. I just can’t help but remember all of those advertisement sheets with Benjamin Franklin’s name on them that were discarded for the same reason.

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