B17 nameplate sells for £40,000

A good investment for someone!

BBC News - Manchester United engine nameplate fetches £40,000

 

Manchester United sold for £40k.

If only...

 

It is shown as withdrawn on the realisations list, so sounds like it was "bought-in".

 

Is it a fake?

Loco plate fetched £40,000 at auction and then buyer found it was a fake | This is Derbyshire

 

Dodgy reporting as always : "The nameplate, which was originally thought to have been designed by Nigel Gresley, .................." So HNG designed nameplates did he?

 

What checks does the auction house take to verify what they're selling is authentic?

 

This is their statement on the SRA website:-

Unfortunately, following a rigorous scrutiny of the “Manchester United” nameplate with our customer, we have had to withdraw the item from sale. When removed from the backboard it would appear to be very clean and does not have the usual knocks and scrapes normally expected from a loco built in 1937. The football also appears to have been manufactured to fit. We were reluctant to remove the plate from its backboard prior to the sale because we believed in its provenance and did not want to spoil the paintwork on the front of the plate by removing the bolts. We are sorry to say that in this situation we were caught out.

We feel that under these circumstances, this course of action is the correct one to take as we would not wish to be associated with the sale of an item that we could not prove was 100% genuine.

 

Like most Manure supporters then.

 

I sold a headboard through Sheffield Railwayana Auctions over 20 years ago. The first thing I was asked was, 'Do you have a BR receipt', which fortunately I did. Did no one ask to see a receipt of some sort in this particular case I wonder.

Ok, not having a receipt doesn't mean the item is a fake but it should have put the auction people on alert, prompting
them to scrutinise the plate BEFORE putting it in the sale, and also, if it was a genuine plate,
checking to make sure it hadn't been stolen.

 

Oh dear, oh dear - I attended Derby on Saturday to reclaim property of mine which had managed to get to the point of sale without my knowing, due to the death of the person who had custody of the item, and my own failure to keep a written record of what I had loaned out.

This is however a headline making cock up and one with which Ian Wright, who founded SRA, and who now merely sits behind the gavel for the owners, will be most displeased.

All auction houses take great care to avoid forgeries and where a vendor is high profile that usually assists - this plate had reputedly come in from America, but to admit that they had not taken the plate off its backboard is schoolboy stuff and will do messrs Dickersons and Moakes reputations no good at all.

Its not as if forgeries are not unknown and I have handled many in my time before refusing to have anything to do with them. What a shame when the company that started it all comes a cropper like this!

 

I agree with TBF above. Given Ian Wright's acknowledged expertise in the field of UK steam loco nameplates, I can only assume that he was not consulted by the current owners of Sheffield Railwayana Auctions before the nameplate was sold.

 

Surely the give-away was the plaque beneath the name plate that reads "Champions of Europe 2011-12" ?

 

An article by Geoff Courtney in the current Heritage Railway states that this is the same nameplate that was sold by Ian Wright in his Sheffield Auction in February 1994. It made £17250 then.

 

Forgery is a bit harsh. Replica is the correct word. Even Manchester United do not have an original plate. They have a replica.

 

Forgery with intent to pass off is exactly the correct term.

Replicas with clear casting or other markings to distinguish them from originals are perfectly OK - but I use the language that I do because attempted fraud by using a forgery is a criminal and despicable offence, and it is not unknown

 

SNGLPT were given a nameplate (Kimbolton Castle, off another B17) a few years ago that my dad and I went to collect. Not only did it have the receipt, it was still wrapped up in the brown paper tied up with string that the guy had collected it in from Doncaster in the early 60s!

 

It would now appear that it's not a replica/forgery

See:- http://www.sheffieldrailwayana.co.uk/man u.htm