Virginian Station Clock Question

[NW Mailing List]

Well, since no one has jumped in here.

I've been collecting N&W and Virginian more than 40 years now, which means I have no official credentials on this stuff, just years of observation of thousands of things on the market, both real and fake.

Today, with new technology, fakes are so much easier than they were in the 1970s or even 1980s.

In my honest opinion, this is a older clock that has been doctored to appear as a VGN clock. In my opinion, it is not a railroad clock, never was, never will be. Unless you have some incredible pedigree with it, i.e. your family has owned it since the 1950s and it never left your hands, it is a fake. I'll be glad to admit I am wrong, but it will take some really good convincing. Even if this was offered to me at a give away price of $50, I would be very hard pressed to spend my money!

The Virginian was a cheap railroad, they did not spend the money to make elaborate things, or go to extremes on marketing, and actually, very little had the logo on it short of some print pieces. The logo on this clock is the exact same as the logo used on the marbles we see on occasion, it has nothing to do with the railroad. 

In addition, the railroads tended to stay with a single vendor for many items, clocks were one of those and those, almost invariably, were either Seth Thomas or Western Union clocks. In all my years, I've only seen one N&W clock that I considered authentic and marked on the face, and it was simply N.& W. Shawsville, Virginia, plus an electric clock, Western Union depicted in the film "Operation Fast Freight"

I've never seen the Virginian use yellow in any print situation like this, only orange, blue or black and rarely red. The type style is also a font that was not created until the 1960s.

I've seen this clock, or another exactly like it, at an antique mall in Salem, VA off and on for several years, it has been in a booth with several other fantasy clocks marked elaborately. All the same seller, with so many rare items, in just one little antique mall, in Salem, Virginia? If I recall correctly, one of the other clocks was supposedly a Pennsylvania Railroad time clock, perhaps some Coca-Cola clock, some various dairies. Every last one of them a fake.

Think about the usage of such a clock, supposedly as a commercial agent in Richmond, VA. Honestly, there would be little foot traffic in such an office, most contact done by the agent going out, or via phone, or telegraph. There is absolutely no promotional value on an item that would be seen by virtually no one but the office staff, perhaps, 2-3 people. The railroad itself would never have spent that kind of money for no gain.

A few years ago, a back painted glass came onto ebay, marked something like "Virginian Railway Tickets". Again, absolutely fake, there was never a call for such a sign, the Virginian was only in one Union station, that was Norfolk, photos of the inside do not bear out use of such signage, and none of the stations along the line had such. Even at the Roanoke VGN station, the ticket window read, simply "Tickets" in a arc, that window partially survives, and is exactly as is shown on the original drawings. The glass ticket signs were made by someone in either Florida or California, for all sorts of railroads, and were pawned off on flea market dealers up and down the US. You can look for a discussion of them at http://www.railroadiana.org/fakes/pgFakes.php

I'd love to proven wrong, if someone can come up with an actual purchase order for these clocks, showing the manufacture, and specifically showing the markings, I'll consider changing my mind, otherwise, I am not convinced.

Ken Miller

On Apr 20, 2015, at 5:05 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:

> I have a Virginian Railway Station Clock that I was wondering if anyone would know the value. I does run, but should be cleaned.
> 
> Any help would be appreciated
> 
> Stephen
> 
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