GUEST:

I bought it at an auction for $1.50 in the small town of Waverly, Missouri. This just intrigued me because of the age of it. I believe it's in the 1830s. I just like old things.

APPRAISER:

How long ago did you acquire it?

GUEST:

Middle '90s.

APPRAISER:

I was really quite surprised when you sat down at the book table today. It's a bound volume of the first three volumes of the Times and Seasons, one of the earliest and most important periodicals of the then fledgling LDS Church. It began publishing at Commerce, Illinois, which was a sleepy town on the banks of the Mississippi until the Mormons arrived and took it over and changed the name to Nauvoo. You've got the complete set of volume one, volume two and volume three, which are dated from 1839 through 1841. It is a six-volume set. However, the first three volumes are impossibly rare to find. The four, five and six are much more common. In all my years in handling rare LDS books, this may well be the best condition set of these I've ever seen. I was worried about the foxing that seems to be in it. It's almost impossible to find an issue without that foxing. It's in its original binding after they were published, so it's 1840s binding. Just really superior condition. At retail, this set of this rare Mormon periodical would fetch $50,000.

GUEST:

$50,000?

APPRAISER:

$50,000.

GUEST:

(chuckles) $50,000. Well, that's more than the $1.50 that was paid for it.

APPRAISER:

(laughs)

GUEST:

My goodness gracious.