Southern Railway Silverplate Railroad Teapot

[FriscoT06]

Grabbed this railroad teapot today at a thrift down the road for ten bucks! It has the SR logo on it surrounded by the words 'The Southern Serves The South'. Made by Reed and Barton and silver soldered. Any clue which decade this was made? 20's? 40's? I could only find two matching models, but from other railways, on ebay. One is a Boston and Albany for 350, and the other was a Louisiana and Arkansas that sold for 630! That one was a 10oz, but mine is a 16oz. I also found a 1946 glass inkwell for 20 cents, along with a 1923 Modern Library edition of Cyrano de Bergerac for a dollar today at the same store. I have always wanted to find something from a railroad, and now I have!

 

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[captain flintlock]

That's a really cool find!! Without the logo, it's just a teapot. But with the logo, it much more special. Nice job!

 

[diggummup]

Nice find. In order to date it you need to take a better look at the bottom. I'd say it's somewhere in the range you stated. If it was made between 1928 and 1957 then there should be a date mark/symbol. For more on that look here- Reed & Barton Sterling Date Marks - Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks & Makers' Marks I'm interested to know what year it was made. That particular slogan "The Southern Serves The South" was first used in 1924.

I found another one that sold for $85 on ebay, it was listed for $150 the first time but didn't sell. Yours looks to be in a little better condition maybe. I'd polish it up some, if it were mine. It's silver plate not sterling, so the condition of the plating will help with the price. That is, if you were even planning on selling it. Here is the cached page, don't know why I can't find it on ebay, it's not that old- Reed Barton The Southern Serves The South Railroad Train Silver Solder Teapot | eBay

And here is a couple photos via google images- https://www.google.com/search?q="so...&q="southern+serves+the+south"+teapot&imgrc=_

 

[FriscoT06]

Thank you so much for the research! No symbols on mine or the ebay one you posted, but I noticed the one you posted had a 47 stamped under the lid and on the bottom, so perhaps 1947? Mine has a 38 stamped in those two locations, so maybe mine is from 1938?

 

[diggummup]

It looks very Art Deco to me. I don't think those numbers have anything to do with the date it was made. I've found many examples of Reed & Barton hollow-ware teapots all with varying numbers. Could be just a production run number or something. I'm sure the pattern was probably made for years and the Railroad probably used them for years too so an exact date would be hard but figure 1930's era.

 

[JimDon]

RR collectibles due extremely well. It should sell fast if priced reasonably. I have to believe it be about $100