Collecting Historic Newspapers: Titanic

Video Transcript

"You find this at a garage sale, and you are so excited, because this is about the sinking of the Titanic. Fifteen hundred perish when the Titanic goes to the bottom. That's pretty cool. It's pretty darn historic. But guess what? This is a fake, it's a fake, it's a reproduction. And you know how we can tell that? I mean, not only can we tell because it doesn't look all that old, and then there's earthquake and fire, San Francisco in ruins. What's really interesting about this, is that see that's a different event on a different date, this is like a sample fake newspaper of historical events. But in looking at newspapers, you say how do these newspapers that are really, really old stand the test of time, and you look at the wear and tear of these, and how they just start falling part and shredding. Well, the older newspapers were made on linen type, on paper made from fabric, linen. And so the older newspapers last longer, which is interesting. So the older newspapers tend to be in better in condition when they've been saved properly, and so it's not that rare to find something that would be originally this old, in excellent condition. Because like I say, the paper is what counts, and people love, there's a certain magic to certain events. Those events can be, and those are very desirable, things like the wild west, heinous crimes. Disasters are huge. Things like Wild Bill somebody, anything that has to deal with excitement, actions, these are very, they call them magic events in history, that really grabs your interest. Something about Hudini perhaps. Those are the kinds of things that collectors really look for. And remember, it's often easy to find an older, older copy because people save them. There's a lot of newspapers out there. So remember, there's so much, because people tend to save these, and I know I do, although I quit when I found out they're not worth all that much. But, now there's way more published than there used to be, so the more they save, the more there are, the less the value. So remember though, some of the older newspapers may actually be in better condition. And, as always, Expert Villagers what do we say? Condition is everything."