New Jersey Woman Buys Historic Revolutionary War Documents For $3, FBI Says They Were Stolen

[Initech]

Curiosity got the better of Christine Ridout a year ago when she browsed through an estate sale at a Buffalo home and spotted the gray cardboard glove box on a kitchen table.

Inside were six fragile, tattered documents. The timeworn parchment and graceful handwriting were eye-catching.

"I asked, 'How much?' and was told three dollars, so I said, 'OK, I'll take them,' " said Ridout, 52, a veteran bargain-hunter who hit more than dozen yard sales that day. "I had no sense of their history or value."

Taking a closer look later, though, the Toronto-area resident was stunned to learn that one of them - from 1771 - was signed by William Franklin, the illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin and last colonial governor of New Jersey. Another from 1710 was marked with an elaborate British royal seal of the Court of St. James in Britain.

This summer, Ridout was again surprised, this time to discover that the documents - which she hoped to sell for a lot more than $3 - were being sought by the State of New Jersey.

http://articles.philly.com/2013-09-09/news/41876119_1_lottery-ticket-documents-state-archive

[dimbear]

1. Oh, yeah, constant hazard of the game. I've had a few unpleasant discussions with the police over

purchases. Always came out the loser.

That's why things disappear completely, BTW, sometimes. Buyer knows it's stolen and just puts it away so deep it never surfaces. Lots of Biblical antiquities in that position now.