PC: Railroadiana - Beware

[lnrr@xxxxxxxx]

>  Doing a search for "Penn Central" will turn up company doodads from 
> the
> cups to PC Policemens' Badges to old copies of The Post. Tie clips, 
> maps,
> stock certificates, manuals and so forth. 

Beware of badges. Unless you have concrete proof otherwise, assume they
are fakes. The market is flooded with fake RR police badges. (Search
"badge" under railroadiana and look for the Western & Atlantic badge that
is almost always on sale for one of the funniest fakes; I want to nuy one
as a joke, but the dealers almost always start the auction in the $20
range, and I've seen suckers bid these up into the hundreds!) There are a
lot of lantern and china fakes. While there are some real RR spitoons,
the market is flooded with fakes. Also, assume any RR-Jim Crow signs
(such as "white only water fountain) are fakes.

The cheap stuff (timetables, rule books, &c.) is usually safe since the
value is not high enough to encourage our "friends" in the East to make
knock-offs.

Bryan Turner
http://homestead.juno.com/lnrr/index.html

North Alabama/Middle Tennessee Railfan List -
http://decaturjunction.listbot.com