Question:
Do any of your museums or operations have cause to justify the acquisition of old railroad passes specific to your "jurisdiction"?

I'm well aware that railroad passes have some collectible value, albeit all over the place with regards to desirability and value, as any perusal of eBay listings will show. A museum I work with has come into a large collection of RR passes. The vast majority of them do not relate to the mission of this particular museum, and the intent is to sell of or otherwise distribute the remainder. I made the case that passes that can be tied to the missions of specific museums or groups should at least be offered to said groups first--not necessarily for free, but a "give us a fair offer and pay for insured postage" deal. In some cases, the groups in question would be obvious--say, a Nevada Northern pass (the RR exists in preservation), a Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington pass, or passes to railroads in North Carolina or Pennsylvania (which have state RR museums). The situation for something like an 1860's predecessor to a predecessor to a predecessor is far murkier.

Is there an approach to this situation that makes sense? Offer a list of available passes privately among museums? Attempt to have the collection preserved intact, as some museum protocols would seem to dictate? Just put them up on eBay and let the folks duke it out there?

(FYI all the examples cited above are made up. The real-life "what's in there" is staggering. And it's in the safe for safekeeping now.)

Answering Sandy's question, eBay is a quick way to advertise and list them and also establishes fair value.

And a curiouslty question expanding directly into the world of railfanning, have any of your organizations preserved examples of the system wide photography passes (the pocket type) that occasionally used to be issued to trusted individuals at the discretion of top management?

PC

My thoughts on the subject are, perhaps, more cynical.

IF the museum in question has an valid archive and a plan for either exhibiting the passes or using them for research, then I would offer those passes at a reasonable value to that museum.

If not, place the lot on eBay or at suitable railroadiana auction house (or a really good multipurpose auction house) - there are at least 4 in the northeast I'm aware of and use the proceeds as desired.

I've been mulling creating an exhibition of passes germane to New England railroads (my area of interest) - but - not from the railroad perspective exclusively. You can exhibit the changes in style over the years, the printing quality, the vignettes/logos, class of passes (A list, B list, employee) and have a fairly comprehensive display. However, if there is no interest, the passes would be converted into cash & that is more fungible.

A seminal moment was when I went through Edaville's Museum, with the NRHS collection on display. It was interesting to me (a little young to grasp the subtleties of each lantern & object), but in retrospect, to the general public, I believe it was a disappointment. Pan to the mid 1990's - what happened to that collection? Auctioned off in a motel in Fairfield Ct. Now disbursed to the collectors.

The point being that if there is no plan for an exhibit, it is futile to "collect" anything other than to satisfy one's inner self.

Contact the museums who would be interested in displaying a pass collection of this quality, get the RFPs & make a decision. Otherwise, sell the stuff, buy a BMW or contribute to the recreation of an A-1 on this side of the Pond.

Just a thought.

What I would then ask is: Are there any museums interested in presenting such a collection?

This particular collection is in stunning condition, primarily because they have been out of light, hidden in a set of dark flip cases. That may not be the case if these are in the typical display case.

I've identified one RR pass collection in the hands of the Denver Public Library, focused on Colorado and lines affiliated with the various founders (which, oddly, explains why they have a Chesapeake Beach Railway pass, because that was an Otto Mears project). But do we want to transfer selected passes to some group that's only going to lock them in the proverbial drawer, out of sight and mind? Passes often represent one of the few "official" pieces of paper a collector can hope to come across or afford from a particularly obscure railroad. Auction results I have been able to locate, however, indicate prices anywhere from $2 to $2,000, not counting the highly coveted silver passes of some Mears roads (if we have one, I don't know about it yet).

One strategy has been floated already, involving potential barter of a select lot of passes in part for a particular item elsewhere of relevance to this museum. More research is needed; anyone want to recommend (or dis-recommend) particular auctioneers? I am personally familiar with Ted Maurer of Pa.

Auctioneers:

Ted Maurer is good.

You might want to look at Brookline Auctions in New Hampshire - in conjunction with a collector/dealer they are developing a good twice a year railroadiana auction.

Another source is Philip Weiss Auctions in Oceanside LI - good advertising & had an extensive pass collection about 8 years ago which did sell, but he tends to batch the items more.

The old Depot Attic successors down in Florida have a mail order auction with top-of-the line stuff is another possibility, except they are not on the internet, either for bidding or checking out their lists.

My take (since I do this fairly regularly) is to either sell it yourself or have someone in the organization do it, or hire someone. It will be quite time-consuming, however.

As for the auction fees, or having a consignor provide a service - they are somewhat negotiable but I'd say a minimum of 10-20% should be looked into. Even using eBay brings you into that cost-of-goods percentage.

You can message me (PM) if you want more info or chat more freely.