Anonymous donor drops off newspaper at Goodwill that may be worth $18,000

Woodbury, N.J. (WTXF) - An anonymous donor dropped off a newspaper at a Goodwill in Woodbury, New Jersey that may be worth $18,000.

Back in April, Goodwill's Don Walsh-Charlesworth, who happens to be an expert in printmaking, was combing through boxes looking for items of particular value when he saw it. It was a December 28, 1774 edition of the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, which is one of only a handful of this paper on this date known to exist.

Like all valuable donations, the framed paper was sent to Goodwill's e-commerce division where Heather Randall is in charge.

"A lot of the information is just day-to-day life," she said.

Like reports of lost items, shipping news, lottery results and an opinion piece by John Hancock. Remember, this paper was published just four months before the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord.

This quote from the lead story: "Let us hear no more of a right in the present-constituted Parliament to govern the Americans."

"You can feel there's tension brewing, between England and the colonies," FOX 29's Bruce Gordon asked. "Yeah, you can feel that, by just reading the articles," Randall said.

"The 'wow' factor in this newspaper is right at the top of page one--the famous 'Unite or Die' cartoon attributed to Ben Franklin. It became famous as a symbol of American unity against the British in the run-up to the Revolutionary War, but was actually first published years earlier in 1754 as a symbol of colonial unity with the British against the French and Indians.

Goodwill is still trying to figure out how best to sell the paper and to whom. Its appraised value is between $6-18,000

Don Walsh-Charlesworth says he has no idea who made the donation or whether they knew what they were giving away.