I found this back a few years at an old home site. After doing some research I found it to be a Michigan Central Railroad baggage claim tag. Thought it was a neat find but didn't think it was worth much. Last summer I put it on e-bay and my wife and myself couldn't believe it when the bid kept going higher and higher. I thought I might get $5.00 or something but when it ended at $100 we couldn't believe it. Never know what something may be worth to someone. Does this fall under the exonumia category?
I wouldnt worry, people here arent shy at all, they wont have reservations telling you you cant post something...It might make their day.
courtesy of Wikipedia... I find it extremely interesting myself In 1880 the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway was crated by Canada's Grand Trunk Railway System, GTR, to build a line linking Canada to Chicago across lower Michigan. GTR, predecessor to the Canadian National Railway, CNR, wanted to avoid the expensive cost of using Cornelius Vanderbilt's Michigan Central Railroad as a way into Chicago. The route eventually became the Grand Trunk Western Railway which was amalgamated into the Canadian National Railway in 1923. On May 9, 1928 Canadian National consolidated all of its rail lines in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana and formed the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, a separate company owned by CNR that operated its routes in the United States. Trivia In 1859, a 12 year-old Thomas A. Edison was given his first job as a newsboy on the Grand Trunk line between Port Huron and Detroit. OOPS.. my mistake.. it's the competitor.....!! The Michigan Central Railroad operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada. It was a predecessor of the New York Central Railroad, which later became part of Penn Central and then Conrail. With the 1998 Conrail breakup, Norfolk Southern now owns much of the former Michigan Central trackage. didn't see the M.C.R.R. on the bottom!! http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Railroads/MichiganCentral/MichiganCentralHomePage.htm
Perhaps not under a strict definition of exonumia as being coin/currency related, but I think most people instinctively equate exonumia with the collection of small metal objects, whether or not used as money.
We rail buffs are an interesting breed, no? Actually, there is a whole group of people out there who collect railroadinana. They may or may not also be model railroaders.
