Confederate Floridian Newspapers
Watch
GUEST:
It came to me from my grandmother. I assumed that she got it from her father, who was a state senator in the state of Florida and probably used it for research when he was putting through the Confederate veterans' pension fund for the state of Florida. When she moved out of her house, she threw it over on the floor to me and said, "You know, if you want this, "you're welcome to it. And if you don't, just toss it in the trash."
APPRAISER:
Well, first of all, this is from Monticello, Florida, and it runs from 1862 right up through 1865. Now, were there any battles that you read through?
GUEST:
Yes, there were different battles that were in it, but everything in it showed up late. It was like it took a week or so for the information to get from wherever it was back to the newspaper office.
APPRAISER:
This is a Confederate newspaper. Now, there are many, many Union newspapers from the Civil War period. They're actually not that rare. But the Confederate papers are a lot rarer. And one of the reasons for that is, especially as the war went on, one of the problems the Confederacy had was they ran out of supplies. They ran out of everything. And thus the papers, less and less and less copies were printed. Another thing about it is when you read a Union newspaper and you see a battle listed, it's from the Union perspective. Whereas usually when you read it from the Confederate perspective, you almost think you're looking at a whole different war.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Also one of the great things about reading newspapers from the time is that you really sort of get a sense of how the people were getting their news. And it comes to life. And here we have one particular paper, dated April 29, 1865. Tell me about that one.
GUEST:
Well, this one has the details of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Whoever compiled this binder thought enough to save two copies of that paper. So there are actually two copies of that date, and the date is late. Lincoln was assassinated on April the 14th.
APPRAISER:
It took time to travel, for the news to get down, for them to write it up. Also, Lincoln wasn't the most popular person necessarily in Florida.
GUEST:
Not in the South, especially.
APPRAISER:
Especially not in the South. There are a couple of ways of looking at the value of this. If you sold it in a retail shop, a very, very conservative estimate would be $4,000 to $6,000 for the volume. Another way you can look at it is each individual paper could be sold separately. Sometimes those can sell for $100, $150 apiece. So if you look at it that way, it can add tremendous value to it, but it's also an awful lot more work to sell individual items.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
