Spent $80 on a 'vintage' journal at a flea market, it was just a cheap new one with tea stains

I saw this old looking leather journal at a stall last month. The seller said it was from the 1940s and had 'found notes' inside, so I paid $80 thinking I was getting a real piece of history. When I got home and looked closer, the paper was all the same modern kind, and the 'old' writing was just copied quotes from famous books. The stains were from someone dipping it in tea, not age. I felt pretty dumb. Everyone online seems to think these finds are always magical, but sometimes it's just a scam. You have to check the details, like the binding and the ink. Has anyone else bought a notebook that was totally fake?

2 comments

2 Comments

garcia.charles5d agoMost Upvoted

Ugh that's brutal. My buddy had something similar happen with a "ship captain's log" he bought at a coastal antique shop. Paid over a hundred for it, totally convinced. Turns out the paper was modern pulp and the "aged" leather was just dyed and scratched up new stuff. The seller had even glued in some fake dried seaweed. He was so mad he drove back but the stall was gone. It really makes you question everything at those places now.

nathan_thompson625d ago

My uncle collects old fountain pens and taught me to check the paper fibers under a loupe. Real rag paper from before the 60s has these long, cloth-like strands, not the short, fuzzy pulp you see now. The binding stitches on a truly old book are also never perfectly even like machine work. I bring a small magnet to test metal clasps too, since modern alloys react differently. It sucks that sellers ruin the fun by faking stuff, but a couple of basic checks can save your wallet.