I have read the posts below about the K 4 builders plate with interest.
There are a couple of ways to look at it. If it was gotten in less than an honest way, which it probably was, one could be upset with the seller . On the other hand this is a great way to get the plate back. My son and I have an engine which we restored. When we got it there of course
were no builder plates on it. We thought it would be neat and real lucky if we found at least one of the plates on Ebay so I would check about once a week. Last April there it was. I paid about 20% of the price that we paid for the whole engine but at least we have one of the orginial plates. After
I paid for the plate and it was shipped I called the seller to find out what he knew about the plate. He was surprised that the engine still existed and real surprised that it was running. He said that he had had the plate for about 45 years. He didn't admit to being the one that stole it in the first place but how he said that he got it sounded a little fishy. In any case we were thrilled to get the plate.

John

It should be noted that the PRR sold builder's plates and number plates from surplus steam locomotives to its employees into the early 1960s. As engines were retired, the jewelry and other recyclable items such as brake valves were removed and sent to the Juniata storehouse. The PRR employees magazine offered builder's plates at $5, for instance. I know several people who bought them, and it was a lottery of sorts since you didn't know what plate you'd get. One friend received an I-1 plate and another got a J-1 plate. (A side note: I recently saw a T-1 number plate in a sale bill, and the auctioneer apparently had no idea what he had. Unfortunately, I saw the sale bill after the sale. Darn!) The originals were recognizable by a dimple on the obverse. Since 1361 was retired in 1956 and sat on the deadline for some time before going to Horseshoe Curve, it's certainly possible that the plate was acquired legitimately.

I have followed ebay for several years and some interesting plates have come out of the woodwork. I have even added a couple to my collection and have purchased items for other collectors. I have also seen plenty of reproductions appear on ebay like PRR keystones and an N&W J class builder's plate. The PRR and N&W are areas where you had better know your source when buying. Those are popular roads and I have seen too many PRR reproductions at the local auctions over the past 41 years that I have collected. This includes number plates and builder's plates. The N&W problem has been mostly builder's plates with the reproductions that Mr. Blackstock of Roanoke made about 20 years ago. They were made off original N&W patterns. Please be careful as I have already saved some friends who almost purchased those plates. Please feel free to email or call me if you have any questions. I can also send you a copy of our current list of plates as we recently purchased two collection of plates. Let me know what you are looking for!! Ron Muldowney - M&M Enterprises.