We just sold another letter that has old dealer pencil markings in the corner.
Old dealer marks sometimes indicate the dealer’s price for the item. More often, they are a code that told the dealer what he or she paid for the item. In my opinion, there is a better way than writing on an original letter or document to keep track of that information, but that was how dealers did it back in the day.
If you find markings like that, though, considered judgment today is that you should not erase them. The markings are important as an indication of authenticity. The fact that a letter or document has been sold by a respected dealer in the past is provenance that one should not overlook and certainly should not remove.
