Condition and pricing…

October 10, 2011 by · 3 Comments 
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Many collectors may wonder what the relationship is between the condition of a newspaper and its price.  Obviously the condition of a newspaper is subjective, and some problems bother some collectors more than others. But for issues offered through our company here are my thoughts as to how I price our newspapers:

* “Natural” faults are less of a problem than human-created. By this I mean problems with foxing (a darkening of portions due to the natural aging of the chemicals in the paper or the environment in which the newspaper was stored), folds, and minor edge tears. Such disfigurements are to be expected with newspapers of a certain age, and if considerable do affect the price but less so than other disfigurements. Even water staining I would consider a natural fault and can be excused as something to be expected and a minor problem if not causing loss of readability.

* Human-created disfigurements would include old tape mends & stains, trimming at the margins such that  letters or words are partially shaved (caused when the bindery cuts too close to the text), lengthy tears into text, holes, portions clipped, etc.  Such problems are annoying & could have been avoided with better care and I tend to discount the price of a newspaper more liberally than newspapers with natural faults. How much? It depends on the degree of the problem, so subjectivity is very important. If a newspaper has a noteworthy report which is not affected by the damage, it would be discounted less than had the notable report been affected. A small 2 by 1 inch piece clipped from the back leaf would be discounted less than a 2 by 10 inch clipped issue. A disfigurement to an inside page might result in a minimal price adjustment if the issue is offered for the displayability of the front page.

* Irregular margins, caused when a newspaper is improperly removed from a bound volume, will result in lowered values if the irregularity causes loss of  type. Most irregular margins involve only the blank spine & the price adjustment would be minimal.

* Some damaged issues are relegated to our damaged pile to be sold in lots of 100 or more at a discounted price. But rare or historic issues are offered individually & priced according to the damage. Many collectors are attracted to damaged, discounted newspapers as they provide an opportunity for rare or historic reports at a much lower cost.

* Particularly bothersome to me are issues which are close-trimmed. Had the worker doing the trimming at the bindery been more carefully such faults could easily be avoided.

* Less bothersome are wear problems with “never bound” newspapers. Such issues are in their natural state as provided to the subscriber or sold on the newsstand, and logically tend to be more worn than issues taken from bound volumes. Such natural wear, when minimal, adds a certain patina to the item and would not detract from its value. For serious collectors, never-bound issues are preferable to issues from bound volume, but tend to be considerably less common.

* Guillotined issues, which are mechanically cut cleanly at the spine to facilitate microfilming, is a minor disfigurement if ample spine margin remains. Depending on the issue we might rejoin the issue at the spine with glue, rejoin using archival tape, or simply keep the issue loose.

* Repairing issues can be controversial.  Some believe in repairing tears and others prefer they be left as is. In general I tend to repair rather than not repair. My primary reason is to prevent further tearing which can occur when a leaf is turned, as a tear is a weak spot which often gets worse when handling. We use a very thin strip of archival tape which does not stain and is almost invisible if properly used. When an issue is extensively repaired mention is made in the description. A newspaper’s price may be affected when archivally repaired, depending on the extensiveness of such repairs.

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Filed under: Common Questions, The Hobby, Valuation of Issues
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How Sitting Bull got his name…

October 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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This interesting tidbit appeared in the “Pittsfield Sun“, Massachusetts, March 16, 1881 issue:

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The Civil War… October 5, 1861…

October 5, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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This week we continue with the our reflection upon the Civil War events of 150 years ago… as seen through the eyes of the original readers of the Harper’s Weekly issue printed for October 5, 1861.

Note:  The following commentary was written by Dr. James Robertson* as part of a weekly review for the reprint edition of the “Harper’s Weekly” which was done at the 100th anniversary of the Civil War.  It provides much insight into the events of the day and scholarly commentary on both the illustrations and reporting found in the original 1861 newspaper:

* The Virginia Tech website provides the credentials of Dr. James Roberson:

“One of the most distinguished names in Civil War history, Dr. Robertson was Executive Director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission and worked with Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson in marking the war’s 100th anniversary.  Today his Civil War Era course at Virginia Tech, which attracts 300 students per semester, is the largest of its kind in the nation.
The Danville, Va., native is the author or editor of more than 20 books that include such award-winning studies as “Civil War! America Becomes One Nation”, “General A.P. Hill”, and “Soldiers Blue and Gray”. His massive biography of Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson won eight national awards and was used as the base for the Ted Turner/Warner Bros. mega-movie, “Gods and Generals”. Robertson was chief historical consultant for the film.”

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Filed under: Civil War, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Yankee
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The Traveler… the dam burst… the judge “solomonizes” it…

October 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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In the travels of The New York Tribune dated October 3, 1911,  I found several reports on the destruction of the town of Austin, Pennsylvania. This occurred just a few days prior and was the result of the breaking of a fifty foot high and thirty foot wide concrete dam which then flooded this small town, destroying everything in its path.

In contrast to the above tragedy…  A bit of an amusing story is included of a court case which involved the owners of two cows, each of which became the mother to a calf. They wanted to have the court decide which rightfully owned the calf. The magistrate  literally took to the fields (the pasture) and “solomonized” his decision by the conduct of the cows and the calf.  See image for details.

~The Traveler

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Filed under: The 20th & 21st Centuries, The Hobby, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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Newspaper publisher shows his bias…

October 1, 2011 by · 1 Comment 
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This curious item appeared in “The Weekly Crescent City” newspaper from New Orleans, August 15, 1841. He goes to some length to show the value in paying for a subscription…

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Filed under: Pre Civil War, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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The Civil War… September 28, 1861…

September 28, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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We continue with the our reflection upon the Civil War events of 150 years ago… as seen through the eyes of the original readers of the Harper’s Weekly issue printed for September 28, 1861.

Note:  The following commentary was written by Dr. James Robertson* as part of a weekly review for the reprint edition of the “Harper’s Weekly” which was done at the 100th anniversary of the Civil War.  It provides much insight into the events of the day and scholarly commentary on both the illustrations and reporting found in the original 1861 newspaper:

* The Virginia Tech website provides the credentials of Dr. James Roberson:

“One of the most distinguished names in Civil War history, Dr. Robertson was Executive Director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission and worked with Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson in marking the war’s 100th anniversary.  Today his Civil War Era course at Virginia Tech, which attracts 300 students per semester, is the largest of its kind in the nation.
The Danville, Va., native is the author or editor of more than 20 books that include such award-winning studies as “Civil War! America Becomes One Nation”, “General A.P. Hill”, and “Soldiers Blue and Gray”. His massive biography of Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson won eight national awards and was used as the base for the Ted Turner/Warner Bros. mega-movie, “Gods and Generals”. Robertson was chief historical consultant for the film.”

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Filed under: Civil War, Collecting Newspapers, Harper's Weekly, Illustrated Newspapers, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, The Hobby, Yankee
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Documenting the Civil War…

September 26, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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David Chasanow, at Americollector.com, recently did a post regarding the valuable role rare & historic newspapers play in documenting the events of the Civil War.  The post included an interview with Tim Hughes.  Please enjoy!

Battle lines: Vintage newspapers documented the Civil War as it happened

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Filed under: Civil War, Confederate, Harper's Weekly, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, The Hobby, The Rare Newspapers Community, Yankee
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Few things change in politics…

September 24, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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It’s interesting how, in some aspects of life, few things change over hundreds of years. Complaints about politicians not focusing on substantive issues was a problem back in 1790, in just the second year of the American federal government, as this article from the July 3, 1790 “Pennsylvania Packet“ of Philadelphia, clearly shows…

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The Civil War… September 21, 1861…

September 21, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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This week we continue with the our reflection upon the Civil War events of 150 years ago… as seen through the eyes of the original readers of the Harper’s Weekly issue printed for September 21, 1861.

Note:  The following commentary was written by Dr. James Robertson* as part of a weekly review for the reprint edition of the “Harper’s Weekly” which was done at the 100th anniversary of the Civil War.  It provides much insight into the events of the day and scholarly commentary on both the illustrations and reporting found in the original 1861 newspaper:

* The Virginia Tech website provides the credentials of Dr. James Roberson:

“One of the most distinguished names in Civil War history, Dr. Robertson was Executive Director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission and worked with Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson in marking the war’s 100th anniversary.  Today his Civil War Era course at Virginia Tech, which attracts 300 students per semester, is the largest of its kind in the nation.
The Danville, Va., native is the author or editor of more than 20 books that include such award-winning studies as “Civil War! America Becomes One Nation”, “General A.P. Hill”, and “Soldiers Blue and Gray”. His massive biography of Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson won eight national awards and was used as the base for the Ted Turner/Warner Bros. mega-movie, “Gods and Generals”. Robertson was chief historical consultant for the film.”

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Filed under: Civil War, Collecting Newspapers, Harper's Weekly, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, The Hobby, Yankee
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The Traveler… sighting of the comet… bank roberry… kill your dogs?…

September 19, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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In today’s travels, the Middlesex Gazette of September 19, 1811 had people looking skyward. The front page contained an article “The Comet” which “passed into the left hind leg of the Great Bear…” and “…The tail appears to separate into two branches, and is very distinguishable…”.

Inside the issue is the reporting of a bank robbery in Charleston in which the authorities were pretty certain they knew who had committed the crime. After questioning the person and not being able to obtain a confession, they then spoke to his fellow servant, a suspected aid. When told his owner was arrested — he told everything and showed them where the money was hidden as well as the items used to rob the bank!

The last page contained an advertisement that I have never seen in any other newspapers before, a real attention grabber… “Kill your Dogs”. You need to read this one!

~The Traveler

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Filed under: The Hobby, The War of 1812, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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