Newsletter available

At long last, I mailed out the newest newsletter. You may now download the latest April, 2008 newsletter. In this issue, I talk about the myth that rare items are always expensive. I will continue this disussion in the next newsletter.

I also discuss the related subject of price disparities. Scarce items can be cheap. Common items can be expensive. Prices can swing wildly from sale to sale and from country to country. You need to be able to use price disparities to your benefit.

At this moment, the database holds 17,401 distinct varieties of certificates.

Third ABN sale catalog available

Robert Schwartz (Archives International) tells me the newest catalog is now available from H.R. Harmer, Inc. This is another massive sale catalog selling off still more from the huge, huge American Bank Note Company archives. This sale will take place June 2, 3 and 4, 2008 in Bethel, CT.

Sale catalogs are available for $30, plus $5 for postage from H.R. Harmer. Request sale #2985. There are a LARGE number of railroad specimens and proofs for sale as well as U.S. and world banknotes. This is a terrific opportunity to pick up one-of-a-kind items you may never see again. Don't miss getting this catalog. And definitely, don't miss this sale.

Electric companies out of database

Today, I removed 32 electric companies from the database that did not have a rail-related keyword as part of their names. Yes, yes, yes, I know. Many electric companies from around 1900 to the mid-1940s operated street railways and interurbans. I would guess the total number probably amounted to 150 to 200 companies. I previously had these 32 companies in the database because they had reported their street rail operations to the ICC at some time. However, I saw no compelling reason to keep these companies in the database IF railroading was not sufficiently important to include as part of their corporate names.