So, an old friend from Chicago sends me a scan of an expired 1940 Commonwealth Edison coupon for a Philco radio. It's nice, rare piece of mid-century ephemera.
Being a lawyer, he cuts to the chase and ask me to determine its value. I get this same general question a lot, so I thought I'd share my reply—my answer to his inquiry might help a number of people with their own questions about rare but relatively valueless, unwanted ephemera.
It's hard to say for certain—there are no price guides for this sort of thing. Basically, it is worth whatever someone will pay. However, from handling other similar items from the same era in the same basic category, I'd say it is unlikely that this would fetch more than $10 at auction. That would also depend on condition, which I can't ascertain from the scan. My $10 dollar guess is based on an item in perfect condition. If this item has tears or creases or other issues, it would hurt its value—depending on the severity of the damage it could render it worthless.
While one could argue that this is rare piece of paper (and I think it is), it doesn't mean it has any monetary value. Rarity alone doesn't equate to value. For instance, a used 1980 Superdawg wrapper is rare, but the market for it is small, so the value is low—although I'd pay more for the Superdawg wrapper than I would for this coupon.
Again, this is my opinion—based on my experience and not actual auction data. I could be off by as much as a dollar or two.
I hope you hadn't planned on retiring from the sale of this item.
