Stumbled on a stat about paper ephemera sales that blew my mind

I was browsing some auction records from the Puget Sound area and found out that a single 1890s Seattle streetcar schedule sold for $2,400 back in 2019. I always figured that old receipts and tickets were just filler in estate sale boxes, but some collectors are really paying top dollar for them. Has anyone else come across weirdly valuable paper items hidden in plain sight at a sale?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlie_fisher452mo ago

Man that is wild! I totally get the shock, it's crazy how something that was basically trash 100 years ago can be worth that much now. I've dug through enough boxes of old papers at sales to know most of it really is just junk, but every now and then you hit something that makes you wonder what else you might have passed over. Seeing a streetcar schedule go for over two grand really puts things in perspective, makes you want to look closer at every little scrap.

faith_lopez4826d ago

I hear you on that "makes you wonder" part, but honestly I'm with mason on this one. I've flipped through hundreds of those old paper lots at estate sales and flea markets, and 99% of it really is just junk. That $2,400 streetcar schedule is like winning a lottery scratch off. Sure, it happens, but it's not something you should plan your whole strategy around. I've seen people spend hours picking through boxes of old gas receipts and expired coupons thinking they're gonna find gold, and they usually walk away with nothing but dirty hands and disappointment. Your mileage may vary, but in my experience that one big sale is more of a lucky fluke than a sign that every old piece of paper is worth a second look.

mason2832mo ago

Totally get the shock" is what you said, @charlie_fisher45, but I gotta wonder if this is really that serious. I mean yeah, sure, a streetcar schedule went for $2,400 one time, but that's one weirdo collector paying a stupid price for a specific piece. Most of those old tickets and schedules in an estate box are still just trash. You dig through enough of that stuff at sales and you see the same boring old receipts and menus over and over, nothing special. I'd bet that $2,400 was an outlier, not the new normal for streetcar schedules.