Reply To: Reproduction Missouri Pacific ticket dater dies

[peggyrothschild]

Here’s my 2 cents knowledge on Mopac dies and the daters.
– all those I’ve bought were purchased from former agents, station auditors or Others involved with working at a station or closing stations. Those dies I did buy (or were given) had worn brass edges and years of ink imbedded in them. None were ever cleaned.
– I was working in the Mopac station department as an Assistant Superintendent and later Superintendent; we never issued any instructions for ticket daters or dies to be returned to the general officers when a station was closed. Am sure the last agent/operator or official going through the drawers took the dies home as a souvenir.
– daters and typewriters were returned to the General Office for repairs. I’d bought a number of Comos daters from an old collector in our Industrial Engineering department and none had dies with them. So I have to believe most stayed at the depot or station with the agents.

The Mopac just wasn’t into selling these things, the Eagle China was donated to the Boy Scouts by D. B. Jenks and the silver holloware went to the Mopac Women’s club where they sold it by the pound. The records in the basement were (generally) tossed out per the ICC record keeping guidelines.

I’m not saying these are all fakes or newly made but it pays to know the dealer and the back ground when buying any questionable antique.

The 1900 IGN and Gulf Coast Lines China was being used on the wrecker in Houston in the mid1960’s, it should have been in a museum. The Mopac Jenks management was focused on running a freight railroad and selling off railroad antiques just wasn’t something they wanted to be bothered with.

Having said all this, I looked at the dies on eBay this morning and the one from Clearwater, Kansas certainly looks worn and dirty enough were I’d say it’s an original. Whereas the one from Towner, Colorado looks to be unused. So is this collection a mix it’s hard to say.