American Railway Time Tables & Schedule Poster Map, ca. 1885
GUEST:
Well, my great-grandfather worked on the railroad for Union Pacific for over 30 years. And he and my great-grandmother started collecting these timetables from all over the United States, and I ended up with them.
APPRAISER:
So he was a real railway man.
GUEST:
Yes, he was.
APPRAISER:
These are timetables from the 1880s,
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
… and as you can see just from some of the names, there were a lot of small railway companies who didn't last.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
They were sort of drops in the big railway bucket that eventually consolidated into what's now Amtrak.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
And collectors really like these. They have this great graphic element on the covers of all of them.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The one closest to you on the bottom is from Florida, uh, from 1884, and it has great pictures of palm trees. It was early in the days of American tourism, so there's a lot to be gleaned about our society and our culture from these. People also like them because of the maps inside. In my experience at auction, these things would sell for between $200 and $500 each.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
Now, you have 11 of them here, so that's roughly $2,200 to $5,500 for the group. And I know you have some others, but these are really the ones in the best condition, which I think were the best representatives of those prices.
GUEST:
Would you repeat that?
APPRAISER:
I would repeat that. Between $200 and $500 each for a total here, of just what we're looking at, of $2,200 to $5,500.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness. Okay, very good. Thank you.
Appraisal Details
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