Collect Vintage Newspapers with Auction Wally and Bill Smith

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To paraphrase Bill Smith from his interview on the Auction Wally Show from earlier this evening, Vintage Newspapers is a collecting niche still ripe for expansion.  Whether you be buyer or seller, collector or dealer, if you have a nose for what’s collectible you can still find some really wonderful deals online, and in the case of vintage newspapers, on eBay.

New York Times with Yankees Headline

Earlier this week in his regular column for the Examiner.com, Auction Wally, aka Walt Kolenda, published a fantastic article about collecting vintage newspapers complete with a detailed price guide containing descriptions and values of newspapers from a 1678 issue of The London Gazette featuring articles about King Charles II right through to more modern papers including the Death of John Lennon and even the Obama election frenzy.

I became friends with Auction Wally online in 2008 and vintage newspapers are right up my alley, well, at least pretty close by to it, so I contacted him right away through his very helpful Ning network to let him know what an excellent article it was.  After exchanging a couple of emails I was surprised tonight to see that Walt’s latest Examiner.com article was titled Sports Newspaper Prices from thingsandotherstuff – hey, that’s me!  Thanks Walt.

Talking to Walt I could see how excited he was by this subject, so I’m kicking myself for missing it live and not having a chance to participate, but last night he aired episode 43 of the Auction Wally Show with special guest…you guessed it, Bill Smith.  I have to say, I enjoyed this one more than any previous, no doubt because the content was especially relevant to me.  Here it is, if you have any interest in the topic of vintage newspapers, please give it a listen:

I found Bill Smith both knowledgeable and entertaining, and felt an immediate connection to him because of his obvious background in sports memorabilia, which is exactly where I originally come from.  You can view Bill’s informational site at VintageOldNewspapers.com and see his eBay sales under the ID oldnewspapers.  The best thing about Bill’s interview was that he oozed passion for his niche, even going so far as to prompt potential collectors to call him up and chat about their interest in the hobby.

Vintage Newspapers is a perfect example of an overlooked collecting niche and at the same time Bill Smith is the kind of dealer I’d want to deal with–Auction Wally was just the right guy to spread the word about both.  Thanks to both of you for a job well done!