This just came through in the newsletter of one group--specific details are withheld since it hasn't happened yet:

"The board [of directors] authorized the purchase of the two original [plates/signs] from a private party, to not exceed $16,000."

I believe I know something of the specific situation in hand: The possessor(s) of the items in question (or their ancestors) "rescued" them from their original location with permission and through proper channels ages ago, before the original "location's" eventual preservation. They have been in safe hands all these years, and the organization and owner(s) have been on good term--good enough, in fact (long-time volunteer, "founding father," etc.), that I doubt anyone in the organization would protest the intended acquisition and price. There's age involved, and this may beat an estate sale, probate, taxes, etc.

These artifacts would probably bring about that much at a public auction. (I disagree that anyone but the organization should be bidding, but that's another story.) Think the original builder's or number plates for SP 4449, T&P 610, N&W 611, or SR 4501, or the original station signs for Mount Clare in Baltimore, or Ellicott City or Orbisonia. I'm certain the organization has the money to spare, and/or can get donations towards that cause.

Does your organization have "outstanding" relics of this nature? Are you on reasonable terms with the current owner(s)? And most importantly, is acquisition of the originals, even at what may be grotesquely-inflated prices, considered part of your organization's goals or mission?

I got my newsletter today and that statement just jumped out at me. With funds tough to come by today, I think it would be ashame to have to lay out that much money for two station signs. If a tax donation could be worked out, that would be one thing, otherwise the money might be better spent getting reproduction signs made up. Unfortunately, the railroadiana market is loaded with reproductions these days. It runs from a PRR keystone from an H-9 locomotive on ebay that just got relisted and I have seen a number of cast iron station signs that have reproduced. Just my opinion on this one! Some of these reproductions were made back in the 1960's and 1970's and keep surfacing from time to time and others are only a few months old.

The items in this case are real, and they have a pretty impeccable provenance, relative to this kind of thing. Their location and presence has been pretty much an "open secret" among the group in question, and specifically the actual custodians of the main artifact, for decades, I am told. There is no chance whatsoever that these are replicas--in fact, I believe the group owns a replica made from the original.