Prices realized… 19th century…

September 20, 2010 by  
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This post is the 3rd installment of a series dedicated to exploring actual sale prices of historic newspapers from various periods of time.  Below please find a few selections from the 19th century.

Note: If you have an issue of your own you’re trying to price, one trick/strategy is to go to the “advanced”  search engine at www.rarenewspapers.com (see top left of window), enter a 2 week range of dates (one week prior to your issue’s date to one week after), and view the results.  This will give you comparable issues (if available) to help you in establishing a reasonable price for your issue.  Make certain to take into consideration your issues title, city of location, proximity to the location where the event (key content) occurred, condition, displayability, proximity of issue’s date to the date the key event occurred, etc.

19th century selections:

1st Ever Public Basketball Game Played…  SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN, Massachusetts, March 12, 1892 ($15,000, 2007)

The best Lincoln Assassination issue to be had…  THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 15, 1865 ($2,800, 2009)

Wallpaper issue!  THE OPELOUSAS COURIER, Louisiana., Apr. 4, 1863 ($2,650, 2006)

Winslow Homer’s famous “SNAP THE WHIP”…  HARPER’S WEEKLY, New York, NY, September 20, 1873 ($1,000, 2009)

The previous posts in this series are:

Prices realized… 16th & 17th centuries…

Prices realized… 18th century…


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Comments

4 Responses to “Prices realized… 19th century…”

  1. Harry Iesberts on January 23rd, 2015 6:14 pm

    Sirs,
    I possess a1999 Dec 31. San Bernardino County Sun Newspaper, in new condition..
    Heading GOODBAY 1900s
    Still packed in the original plastic sealed bag, received from the News paper for collection holding.
    Has this a value now, or in the future ?
    Appreciate hearing from you.
    Yours,
    Harry Iesberts

  2. Kamen on June 5th, 2016 1:44 pm

    I possess a 1925 Nov 24 rare original document of One day in the past (certified). Packed in a leather case,good condition.What is the value of it now? Thank you!
    Kamen

  3. GuyHeilenman on July 5th, 2016 1:04 pm

    Hello Kamen – If this is a Day You Were Born” type of paper, it is a great gift for the recipient, but it does not have collector value.

  4. Gregory Thibeau on December 26th, 2017 9:14 am

    I have a lot of newspapers from the turn of the century. Most were just basic headlines. But I have a nice sinking of the Lusitania. It was in the early Boston Globe. I also have a four page story of the original survivors of the Titanic. These four people were mentioned in the movie Titanic.
    The story was an Extra and the interview happened about three days after they had set foot on dry land. Most papers I’ve seen online don’t give an in depth explanation of the events

    Then there’s the first battle of WWI one by the British against Germany. It was the sea battle. I realize of course the Globe probably wouldn’t have the same value as say one in the Times News paper or a Chicago Times. I’m just looking for a ball park figure.

    Also why not a catalog of values? You have one on postcards which just gives basic values of what people have paid. Taking in condition and mentioning the types and in your case perhaps the newspaper companies that would command the most price. Others would require an expert like yourself. But most can be done in this way.

    In the case of Postcards it starts by the history and then gives information on pricing. Which newspapers and Magazine it’s different. But even the magazines give an idea of what to look for. Now as far as value. You do have those that don’t fit into the any real category because they might have a greater value. The same can be said for coins or stamps or paper money. All of these just give an idea which works for most items.

    I know one one guy who sells a lot of different documents that he gets a hold of from different sources. Most of these he knows the value. He had a newspaper on the election of Obama and he framed it and got 250 dollars for it. I would never had expected it. I asked how he knew what it would be worth. He just took the event and the popularity of it. And that’s what he started with.

    He made the observation that the newspapers are actually worth a lot more then many people think they are. It’s all a matter of the event. But he used the event as a means of determining the value as well as the condition. He doesn’t have a catalog on many of his items. Just a basic knowledge from doing this for about 40 yrs

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