Obliterated serial number on a B.

[k4shf]

My son recently acquired 2 Model Bs. One appears to need minor issues to make it run but the serial number has been totally destroyed. The second is a "parts" machine but I have agreed to restore it. The serial on it is intact. These are stylized and appear to be 1952 vintage. I'm told that for some reason during the war the serials were wiped out but these being '52, why would it have been done?

 

[Steven Allen]

I don't know about "wiped out," but I do know that, during some wartime periods, Deere used steel plates, which rusted badly.

 

[k4shf]

I don't know about "wiped out," but I do know that, during some wartime periods, Deere used steel plates, which rusted badly.

This was deliberately wiped out, the rest of the plate is intact but the serial number actually still shows scratch marks where perhaps a screwdriver was used....

 

[NY 986]

Good chance that B was stolen and the thief did not want any incriminating evidence with it. The other possibility is that it had a mounted implement on it and somehow that wore off the number.

 

[ET]

I have a 52 B with a water pump. The tag was steel and unreadable. Someone may have scraped on that tag to try and make the number readable and had the opposite result.
The fins on the radiator were steel also on those tractors.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

a picture of tag and tractor might help even a partial serial number should give some answers and we can get a range by some of its options it’s not unusual to have tag issues but looking like it’s filed off does make a person think a bit

 

[k4shf]

a picture of tag and tractor might help even a partial serial number should give some answers and we can get a range by some of its options it’s not unusual to have tag issues but looking like it’s filed off does make a person think a bit

there is nothing there to resurrect....the rest of the tag is intact, that portion has been physically scraped/gouged away. It wasn't filed, more like someone used a screwdriver and just kept scratching at it. Maybe somewhere along the line it was stolen, I have no way of knowing.

 

[Richard G.]

there is nothing there to resurrect....the rest of the tag is intact, that portion has been physically scraped/gouged away. It wasn't filed, more like someone used a screwdriver and just kept scratching at it. Maybe somewhere along the line it was stolen, I have no way of knowing.

Pop the rivets that hold the tag on and turn it over.
Take a thin sheet of paper and use a pencil sideways and often the number will show up.
Have done that before.