Vanderman, Railroad Bullion, Tool Box. Vanderman manufacturing co. Willimantic, Conn. 1897pat Start Price USD 2,500.00 Current Price USD 2,500.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Sunday, August 17, 2008 End Time Sunday, August 24, 2008 Location Gulfport, MS See more about ' Vanderman, Railroad Bullion, Tool Box.' Description This is a fantastic gold bullion/ tool strong box,. This strong box was made by the Vanderman Mfg. Co., Willimantic, Conn., patented July 13, 1897. It measures 20" wide 38" long and 20" tall. It is made of 1/8" steel formed into rectangular shape. On the top are three wood staves riveted to the steel as "bumpers" there is also one continous "bumper" horizontally around the center of the box and another along the top and bottom rims. these staves are 1x2". The lid is attached by riveted hinges sealed in part under the top bumper stave. The corners all have custom fit steel reinforcing at every outside edge point. The Vanderman brass plaque is at lower center on the front panel. The locking mechanism is a hasp riveted to the lid and body that  held a large diameter hasp lock, probably a typical railroad lock.Additional locking mechanisms are in each of the two upper corners of the lid body. A locking bolt system appears to have been used here, again probably using a padlock of some type, perhaps two more railroad style locks. The bolt-pins are no longer present. The body of the box is construted of one single, large, folded formed piece of steel which occupies the entire front, bottom and side panels. The two end panels are attached by connected and overlapping folds that are riveted on 2 "centers.           The box appears to have been painted dull or dark red-brown at one point.           There are six handles-two single {fit one hand each} handles on both front and back panels, and one large handel {fits two hands} on each end. In this manner, eight people can carry the box, which if full of typical bullion shipments, carried gold bars packed individual boxes packed in sawdust. Each handle has a stop mechanism that does not allow the handle to go beyond a 90 degree position, thus, no hands could be crushed if full. It is estimated the box might contain as many as eight large gold bars of about 100 pounds each if full, or a shipment of about 200,000 at most at the time based on a gold price of $20.67 per ounce.                                This is a important piece of Americana, and an irreplaceplaceable remnant of part of the heyday in which huge gold bullion shipments were routinely made by rail.            Place a Bid!