Locomotive Drawings, ca. 1880
Appraised Value:
$7,000 - $7,000
IMAGE: 1 of 4
Appraisal Video:
Appraised By:
Philip Stanley
Science & Technology
The Analytical Engine
Appraisal Transcript:
GUEST: I know that they're family. My father's side of the family. They come from Long Island. They're paintings that one of the family members did of all the locomotives that he saw at a particular train yard that he used to work in. They're dated around 1860s, 1870s. There are about 30 of them in the collection. I didn't bring them all. I have nine in my home, but I have more in the box.
APPRAISER: My word.
GUEST: Sorry about the duct tape.
APPRAISER: They're beautiful, detailed drawings of each one of the engines. This engine here, the Colonel ER Abbott, is number 315. This one, number 18 here, and this one is on the Tioga Railroad. That would be in Upstate New York. And they're beautifully drawn. They're ink drawings with watercoloring, delicately watercolored to show shading of the various parts. I can see that these locomotives were made in various locations. This locomotive here and this locomotive here were made by the Rogers Locomotive Works in Rhode Island. This one was made by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Pennsylvania. They're beautiful drawings, and they're exactly the kind of drawings that collectors in a number of different areas love to get their hands on. These are in varying conditions. These two are beautiful. This one in particular looks almost new. This one in the middle has got some condition problems.
GUEST: Yeah. It's got a tear along this edge.
APPRAISER: It's got what they call "foxing." And this one needs to go to a conservator who can remove the foxing and repair the tear so it's almost invisible.
GUEST: Oh, they can do that?
APPRAISER: Yes, they can do that.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: It would cost you a little money, but it would increase the value of this particular one enormously. You say you have 16 of them here.
GUEST: 16 here, between the box and here, yes. Yes.
APPRAISER: I would say that these drawings, on the average, would be probably about $500 apiece if you saw them at an art dealer's shop, framed. If they weren't framed, they'd be like $450 or $400. But this is a wonderful collection, worth probably more than $7,000.
GUEST: Oh, wow. That's so wonderful. That's amazing. They're just family pieces.
APPRAISER: Well, they're wonderful family pieces.
GUEST: They are, they are. That's wild.
