Plaque saved from scrap yard is piece of history
Khristi Zimmeth, Detroit News writer
Sometimes trash really is treasure, as James Boyd of Redford Township recently discovered. "I'm a metal recycler and I almost scrapped this," he told Robert DuMouchelle, who recently took a look at his item during a recent appraisal day at DuMouchelle Art Galleries in downtown Detroit.
"I almost pitched it into the pile, but then something caught my eye and I told the guy to separate it from everything else. I look through everything, but I'm really glad I didn't miss this one," Boyd said.
Weighing in at 40-50 pounds, the large steel plaque has a face on it and, upon closer inspection, revealed writing on it that says Daniel Boone, something that originally caught Boyd's attention.
According to www.virginia.org and the auction site www.worthpoint.org, which has similar items in their possession, the piece is one of a few remaining of the more than 300 cast iron markers that once marked the Boone Trail Highway, which stretched from Virginia Beach to San Francisco.
The brainchild of North Carolina's J. Hampton Rich, the goal was to memorialize Boone, promote coast-to-coast highway improvement, tourism, patriotism and remembrance of the Battleship Maine, the ship that sank in the Havana Harbor in 1898 during the Spanish-American War and spawned the infamous "Remember the Maine."
Money was raised from various community sources and markers were cast in part from metal recovered from the Maine itself. The markers stood on the highways from 1913 through the late 1930s, when many were lost to the war effort and time.
Boyd's research turned up ties to the Daughters of the American Revolution. "The information I found says there were six different patterns," he told DuMouchelle.
DuMouchelle says the piece is a first for him and that he'd never come across one in his years in auctioneering.
Boyd estimated the piece would bring a scrap value of less than $15. As a piece of history, however, it would be worth at least $1,000-$1,500 at auction, DuMouchelle told him. Auction records showed that a similar marker was estimated at $500-$800 at an auction in 2007 and sold for $600, but DuMouchelle thinks this would bring more because of rarity and the changing market.
"I really appreciate that you didn't scrap this," he told Boyd. "As you can see, antiques are often worth much more than the scrap value. It's smart to do a little research first. Once older items are gone, they're lost forever. As this shows, recycling does pay."
"I always tell myself you never know what you'll find," Boyd answered. "This experience will definitely keep me looking."
About this item
Object: Early 20th century highway marker
Owner: James Boyd, Redford
Estimated value: $1,000-$1,500 at auction
Appraised by: Robert DuMouchelle, DuMouchelle Art Galleries, Detroit
Photo caption: James Boyd of Redford holds a cast iron markers that once marked the Boone Trail Highway. (Detroit News)
