Historic newspapers have substantial value to historians, scholars, journalists, teachers, students, politicians, military personnel, veterans, history buffs, authors, genealogists and many others. Often times, newspapers serve as the primary or only source material for historical research – quoted in countless history books and articles. For example, Pulitzer Prize-winner David McCullough, author of 1776 and John Adams, directly quotes numerous newspapers in his books.

Actual newspaper values are determined by several factors, including historic content, rarity, age, condition, timeliness (early and first reports), geographic proximity to the place where the event occurred and displayability. Depending on the factor mix, newspaper prices range from $15 to $150,000 with most high-quality papers currently falling in the $150 to $35,000 range.

“By far, the overriding factor in the valuation of a newspaper is its historical content,” said newspaper historian Mark Mitchell. “The more important the event, generally the higher the value. This is somewhat contrary to the valuation of other collectibles such as rare coins, stamps, sports cards, etc., where condition and rarity most often prevail.”

While recent sales will often play a role in the actual pricing of papers, past performance is not necessarily an indicator of future results. From an economic standpoint, increased scarcity (lower supply) plus greater interest in collecting (higher demand) equals higher prices on the horizon. Ask any aged newspaper collector and they’ll tell you how much newspaper prices have climbed in the last 15 years alone. And it’s hard to argue with the prices of newspapers given the realized auction sales of other less-scarce collectibles:

  • A comic book issue of Amazing Fantasy No. 15 from the 1960s that introduced Spider Man sold at auction in 2007 for $227,000.
  • A large pair of Minnie and Mickey Mouse dolls from the 1930s sold at auction in 2007 for $151,534.
  • A 2001 Bowman Chrome rookie baseball card for Albert Pujols sold at auction in 2004 for $15,550.
  • A famous T206 Honus Wagner baseball card from circa 1910, of which only 50 to 200 are known to exist (like many historic newspapers), sold at auction in 2007 for $2.8 million.

A collectible is an appreciating asset that is either rare or desired by many. Stamps, coins, fine art and sports cards are the most common collectibles, but historians are pointing to newspapers as the last great collectible.

Considering the demise of the printed newspaper, historic newspapers are the perfect museum-quality relic. Even better, unlike old baseball cards and coins, which have millions in circulation, historic newspapers are scarce.

Back in the early 1700s, newspapers only printed a few hundred copies. In fact, the very first American newspaper – The Boston News-Letter (started in 1704) – was the only newspaper in the colonies for 15 years, yet it never exceeded 300 subscribers during that time.

Only a few institutions and libraries saved and preserved newspapers but to free precious shelf space, institutions scanned newspapers to microfilm or computers, and then tossed them in the trash or sold them. As such, many historic newspapers, when found today, exist in very small quantities or are truly one-of-a-kind.

Unfortunately, and completely unanticipated in the 1950s, microfilm is now deteriorating. History’s first drafts – newspapers – may soon be lost forever so some institutions have begun buying them back.
This scarcity makes historic newspapers extremely valuable from both a monetary and research perspective, as well as a sound investment with great short and long-term potential.