Solid information from serious dater die collectors would be appreciated. The Cosmo fakes mentioned in the above link are readily identifiable, and of a lesser class than the dies currently being sold. Most of the recent dater dies appearing on Ebay have come from the Egan auction, a massive collection of much railroadiana and several thousand dater dies which was auctioned in the northeast perhaps a year ago. I have been told by several die specialists that the dies from this collection are generally considered legitimate. Having acquired a few myself, I share Charlie’s concern that they are often in “mint” condition, seemingly unused. However, in comparing these with known legitimate dies from the same manufacturer (ones acquired directly from a railroad source) I can detect no variation which would suggest that they are counterfeit. Unfortunately, some of the more obviously mint condition dies from this collection have been those from MoPac and from MP Transportation Co, including dies manufactured for both Cosmo and Centennial daters.

Bill Pollard