Rare Books Blog by Calix Books

Grading Rare Ephemera

Grading and Provenance are two important elements of judging the quality of an item, whether it is a book or a piece of rare and important ephemera or not. Let's just talk about grading rare ephemera and in a later work, we will describe books and a general discussion on Provenance.

Rare ephemera includes letters, notes, correspondence and other related items, essentially it is everything that a book, magazine or newspaper is NOT. Grading of ephemera whether it is rare or not, should be looked at first as a global view of the item, provide an overview description that includes its measurement, number of pages or items that are connected or related and that may have come originally with the item or items. Next describe any defects in the items, examples could be...Paper size 8 inches by 10 inches (it is also best to describe it in centimeters or millimeters as well for our metric friends) having creases and tears with some spots etc. and look at the overall tone of the item, tone means the color. If it is pristine pure white say so, if not you can describe it as light yellow toned, pale yellow toned etc. Describe any spots, blemishes or what the trade calls 'fox' which is actually the reaction of iron contaminants in the paper-making process that shows up as a spotty, brownish tones in isolated areas. Some pages can be heavily foxed but the item can still be read. Other ways of describing the item or page is tattered, edge tears or any folds, abrasions or missing pieces. If the item has been repaired, washed or 'bleached' that should also be noted. Also, it is a good idea to note the aroma, if it smells musty and feels dusty, then you have a fungal infection in your paper and it needs to dry out and be lightly brushed off. The problem with musty aroma, is that it is very hard to get rid of it, so take note when buying ephemera, if it smells like a rotten dish rag, even when dry, it is in the process of deterioration and should be priced accordingly or not bought at all. Unless of course it is a group of letters to and from George Washington...

The next step is to provide a description of the item in more detail and if you know anything about it, write it as part of the description. Research your writer, author or genre or what the bit of ephemera is about for example, I stumbled across an entire collection of Bradford revolutionary war documents that seemed trivial, bills, invoices, notes to lawyers about delinquent creditors, etc. until I found out that ALL of the people whose names were on the documents (including the lawyers) were Minutemen and fought a Lexington Green! Research your ephemera BEFORE you send it out for auction or put it on ebay, otherwise, some buyer like me will buy it and sell it at a much higher price!

Daniel Howard Esq (lawyer) was a private and marched on the British on Lexington Green and participated in many subsequent battles. This item is an award for his contributions on the use of fertilizers both 'Green' and 'Aged' and reporting such for the production of corn and wheat. A vary rare one of a kind item, as they did not give out duplicates!

So let's review grading ephemera quickly:

1. Measure the item in inches and metric and record.

2. Provide a global description of the item by its category by that we mean, Baseball Card, signed and year of publication.

3. Provide a detailed description, front and back of the item and make notes of any flaws or the lack thereof, be aggressive and critical, its ok to say both good and bad things about an item. Your buyer will be happier when they realize that you have provided an accurate description!

4. Provide an overall grade for your item, Pristine, Excellent, Mint, Proof, Good, Fair, Poor etc. You can get ideas from researching the category of your item as some categories have specific descriptors that are often used in the trade, try to stick with those descriptors.

Finally, its a really good idea to put your item in some sort of protective covering, you can find these at Staples and you can even us ZipLock baggies, just make sure the item is dry before sealing it up but DO NOT laminate the items. When you do this, put an inventory number on the item in pencil, not ink or marker and don't use adhesive stickers also get a ledger and write down the number and a brief description of the item and finally print out your written description and place a copy of it in the bag with the item. That way, you will always have a record of your work and if you should decide to send it out for auction, it makes the cataloging auctioneers' job easier. It is also helpful to take a photo and or a PDF scan, cut and paste that into a Word or PDF document, along with the description, inventory number and put that on a zip drive to send along with your items to the auction house or list it on ebay! If your interested, you can check out our rare ephemera and rare book on line listings on ebay and read through some of the descriptions and use them as a template our Ebay store . Any comments, don't hesitate to contact us!