“Your papers, please”…collecting family documents

I’m often asked by people how to evaluate and dispose of old documents, such as marriage and birth certificates, military discharge papers, letters from service men, newspapers, scrapbooks, deeds, maps, etc.
The answer is never an easy one. Most of these items will mean more within a family and have little or no public value. Other items will have regional value and should be donated for a tax write-off to the local historical society.
Turning these documents into cash, however, takes some commitment of time just finding the specific experts, current values, and interested collectors. A good place to start is on the Internet with a general site like paperandadvertisingcollector.com.
You may even want to subscribe to their marketplace magazine.
Where might you find some documents of interest in your home? Say a little prayer and the answer may just come to you.
When people bring me an old family Bible for appraisal, as they often do, the first question I ask them is whether they found any old documents between the pages.
The fact is that old documents—deeds, receipts, letters, bills, invoices, mortgages—often can be more valuable than the Bible they were put in for safe keeping.
For an old document to have value, certain criteria have to be met, and obviously, the most important is that it’s old.
American documents from the 1600s up until 1900 are the most valuable because they are rarest. Twentieth Century documents are hardly ever valuable unless they are of substantial significance.
Significant content is a factor in evaluating documents of any age. Most valuable will be pieces that recount eyewitness history, involve famous personalities, or contain documentation of social or political events, which are of regional or national importance.
Condition is also important in evaluating. While some minor problems like turned corners, fold creases, small tears, and foxing (brown or orange-colored acid spots) are acceptable, major crumbling, stains, and torn-away areas can render a document valueless.
In no way should you attempt to repair a document. There are experts who know if and how a document can be restored.
Some documents can be quite beautiful and this, of course, will add to their value. Among the most beautiful documents are the frakturs made by German immigrants in the United States to document births, baptisms, and marriages.
The word comes from frakturschrift, literally meaning “broken writing,” the word for old German script type.
Frakturs made before 1830 are more valuable because they will be hand-decorated. These are often valued for as much as $1,000 to $2,000. Printed fractures made after 1830 range from $100-200.
Appraisals: Slavery Bill of Sale, “3 Negro Boys,” New Orleans, 1860, $400-500. Confederate $20 bill, near mint condition, $25; Discharge papers, Continental Army, 1780, $125-225; Civil War Commission and discharge papers, 1864/69, $250; Diary of a Civil War soldier, 1864-67, $650.
WW II Discharge papers with service record, 1945, $35; WW II Ration Book with coupons, very good condition, $25; WW II propaganda leaflet drop on Germany, $15-20; Ledger. Drug store sales, 1884-85, leather bound, $80-100; Ticket, Miss America Pageant, Atlantic City, 1957, $15.
Need to know the value of your things? Join us Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. at the Wetlands Institute on Stone Harbor Blvd. The fee is a $25 donation to the Institute, and you can bring is as much as you want. Call 609-368-1211.
—Arthur Schwerdt, a certified appraiser, is the author of “The Antique Story Book: Finding the Real Value of Old things,” and co-owner of The August Farmhouse Antiques on Route 9 in Swainton.
Send your comments, questions of appraisal requests to:
aschwerdt@cmcherald.com.