PENNSYLVANIA, Philadelphia, promissory note, 1804

DescriptionThe quality of the paper is outstanding, and the ink is only slightly faded.This is what people did before there were banks and checks. It is a well written IOU.Documents of the early United States of America are rather rare.The term “document” implies some official status applied to a piece of paper or non-paper equivalent (digital, cuneiform tablet, etc.). Any other piece of paper that might be of interest to collectors for some reason can be classified as “paper ephemera.” Could be a product wrapper, or a check (cheque). Or a magazine, or a postcard.Over the decades I’ve been selling collectibles my market has been about 97% coins, 2% paper money, 1% everything else.