Andrew from Kansas made headlines in Oklahoma City when he brought in a set of 19th-century newspaper printing plates to show appraiser Thomas Lecky. Andrew said that his grandfather had bought the plates from a salvage yard in the 1950s. Mr. Lecky explained that the printing plates were used to produce the very first newspaper in Oklahoma, dated April 29, 1889, in the town of Guthrie. The title on the cover of the newspaper says "Guthrie Getup." Mr. Lecky noted that the publication date came exactly one week following the initial land rush into Oklahoma, when on April 22, the U.S. government opened up 10,000 acres to settlers, firing a cannon to signal the start. "On the morning of April 22nd, there were roughly zero people in Guthrie," Mr. Lecky said. "In the afternoon, there were 10,000 people, and it would have been a great moment in history, not only of settlement, but printing also, to, to have settled this town and set up a printing press in the course of one week." Thus, the plates are impressive tangible symbols of the Western migration of settlers as well as journalists. Mr. Lecky appraised the present-day value of the plates at $5,000 to $15,000.
