How to spot a fake edition on Lincoln assassination

Q. These newspapers are in good shape for their age, and I was wondering if they are the only ones of their kind around (to report on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln). What might the value be and to whom might I sell them?A. Newspaper collecting can be a fascinating hobby, and collectors look for such drama-charged headlines as "Dewey Defeats Truman" or "Hindenburg Explodes."The headline is the key to a collector's interest in a newspaper, and one of the most sought-after newspapers is the April 15, 1865, edition of the New York Herald, announcing the tragic assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Of course, John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln while the president attended a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington.The New York Herald printed one of the first and best accounts. There were several editions. The 2 a.m. "regular edition" announced the attack on the president in one sentence. Then came the 3 a.m. "special edition," followed by the 10 a.m. "reward edition" - the first to announce the actual death and the first to use the heavy, black column lines, such as those seen in the illustration. A 2 p.m. "inauguration edition" reported the swearing-in of Andrew Johnson as president of the United States. A 3:30 p.m. "special edition" was also printed.Unfortunately, the example in question is the so-called "8:10 a.m. extra edition." For years, this edition had been considered genuine, but now the Library of Congress has confirmed that all of the 8:10 a.m. newspapers are absolutely bogus.This makes it easy for us to state with authority that the newspaper in today's question is a fake and worth less than $50. In fact, genuine examples of this newspaper are rare and pricey, so we thought we would offer a few hints on how to tell the real thing from the many spurious examples.If your copy of this newspaper is brown, crumbling and brittle, it is probably a fake. The originals were printed on high-quality rag paper (probably English paper captured from a Confederate blockade runner) and should still be relatively white and "crisp"-feeling. If there is a beardless portrait of Lincoln on the front page (or any portrait, for that matter), the copy is a fake.If "Whole No. 10459" is printed at the top of the page, the example is a fake. It should read "Whole No. 10456." In addition, all pages in the originals were numbered and should generally have eight pages - except for the genuine 10 a.m. edition, which had just four. The pages in the fakes are almost always unnumbered.Most of the fakes of the April 15, 1865, editions of the New York Herald were produced for advertising purposes and not to deceive collectors. Therefore, if your example has large multicolumn ads with text and pictures, it is a fake.bull; Contact Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson at Treasures in Your Attic, P.O. Box 18350, Knoxville, TN 37928 or via e-mail at treasures@knology.net.