Spink Smythe Autograph Sale

Spink Smythe (previously R.M. Smythe) will hold an autograph auction of "World Leaders and Heads of State." The sale will take place at its 57th St. gallery in New York on June 18.

Lots are not yet posted online and I have not seen a catalog, However, if this sale is like previous ones, it ought to offer at least a few rail-related autographs. Call 212-943-1880 to order a sale catalog.

Please note their new web address at http://www.spinksmythe.com/.

Also note that some email addresses have changed. It might be a good time to re-connect with your old contacts to make confirm their addresses.

ABN sale part III in a week

Archives International and H.R. Harmer will conduct their third sale of specimens and proofs from the great archives of the American Bank Note Company in less than a week.

Bob Schwartz just sent a press release saying that IF you have not yet received your catalog, it is not too lates. You can get this 465-page monster catalog by 2-day express mail for $50, or by overnight express for $75.

Contact Robert Schwartz at ROBERT@ABNHARMERAUCTIONS.COM.

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.

Misleading company names

I just added a new page of several hundred deceptive names. These are names that sound like railroad companies, but aren't. This list includes shipping companies, bus companies, miniature railroads, model railroad clubs, and many other kinds of legitimate companies unrelated to railroading. As always, I solicit help adding to this list.

Trading room

Haight & Freese's trading room in New York. Three clerks work at the quotation board in the front of the room. This image appeared in several editions of Haight & Freese's Guide to Investors in the late 1890s and early 1900s.