Posted 12 years ago
poptop76
(28 items)
Here is a boiler plate from Dewey Brothers who were makers of the locomotive called "The Dewey ". This was found in the foundry in the 1970's before they closed down. No "Deweys" exist anymore as the last remaining were probably scrapped for metal in WWII.
Pretty cool builders plate. There are very few Dewey plates still in existence. In almost forty years of RR collecting, I have only heard the name "Dewey" mentioned by builder plate collectors maybe two or three times. Nice Find!!!
I never new there were collectors for this . I worked at Dewey Brothers years ago and this is where I found this in a box in the machine shop where I worked. Back then my idea was to make a belt buckle out of it....glad I didnt now ! What kind of value would be on this item to a collector ?
A few things effect the value. First, the value for this, like in all antiques and collectibles is controlled by supply and demand. In this case the supply is very low however the demand is not as great as one may think. Most builders plate collectors collect plates from larger locomotives that can be traced back to a particular Railroad and loco. This is accomplished by tracing the serial number on the plate. From what I remember the Dewey locos. were mostly used for industrial and mining and never found their way to the larger Railroads. This narrows down the field of collectors a fair amount. The second factor is that it was never issued to a specific locomotive making it sort of a "new old stock" kind of item. Although it is absolutely Old and Authentic, it was never used. That effects value quite a bit. It is a great piece and certainly has a value, but it's hard to pin down what that is.
Yes it was never used on a locomotive or stamped with any numbers. So I understand its not like it came off of a working Dewey but "Thanks for your help"