John Deere Collectibles & Memorabilia Guide

A short history for collectors

John Deere was a blacksmith in Grand Detour, Illinois, when he built a plow in 1837 with a moldboard made from a broken steel saw blade. The wood and iron plows of the day could not scour the sticky Midwestern soil, and Deere’s polished steel shed it. An 1843 agreement with local businessman Leonard Andrus put him firmly into the plow business, and in 1848 he moved to Moline, Illinois, where Deere & Company still has its world headquarters.

Tractors came later. In 1918 Deere paid $2.25 million for the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company, maker of the Waterloo Boy, which put the company permanently into the tractor and engine business. The Model D, announced in 1923, was the first Deere tractor in the trademark green and yellow paint scheme. In 1958 Deere created a stand-alone industrial equipment division, and its 440 crawler was the first all-yellow machine built for industrial work.

Deere also sold goods outside farming. The company says John Deere bicycles were sold in the 1890s and again in the 1970s, when its recreational line also included snowmobiles. The slogan “Nothing Runs Like a Deere” came out of a 1971 snowmobile marketing campaign and outlasted the snowmobiles to become widely used across Deere’s product lines.

Reading the leaping deer

The trademark is the most useful dating tool on most Deere objects. According to the company, the deer logo had been in use since 1873 and became Deere’s first registered trademark in 1876, when the threat of fraud made an official mark necessary. Deere’s logo history lists these versions:

• 1876: the first registered trademark, based on a logo in use since 1873
• 1912: a second version, in use by 1910 and registered in 1912, where the line “The Trade Mark of Quality Made Famous by Good Implements” first appears
• 1936: a smoother deer silhouette that was easier to stencil, inside a 12-sided border
• 1937: a centennial simplification to just the name, the deer and the city
• 1950: a darker, thicker company name and the slogan “Quality Farm Equipment,” with the logo enclosed again
• 1956: the slogan dropped and the name stood alone as Deere grew in construction and forestry
• 1968: a straight-sided deer that was easier to draw, in a narrower border with a larger deer
• 2000: the deer shown leaping instead of landing for the first time

Using the logo and other clues to date an item

Treat the logo as an earliest likely date, not proof of age. Deere’s own history shows marks in use before they were registered, so a registration year is not a start date. New goods are also sold in vintage styles: Deere’s online store sells a new “Vintage John Deere Wood Sign” made of MDF. In a listing title, the word vintage can describe a look rather than an age.

Other company milestones help narrow the window. Green and yellow tractors start with the Model D in 1923. Deere’s industrial machines were first painted in standard yellow in 1958. The slogan “Nothing Runs Like a Deere” points to 1971 or later. None replaces a close look at materials, printing, fasteners and maker’s marks.

What collectors look for

These categories have the clearest documented history.

• Farm toys and die-cast replicas: Fred Ertl began casting toy tractors in his Dubuque, Iowa, basement in 1945, including a John Deere Model A. Within a year his company was working closely with Deere on designing, manufacturing and marketing farm toys, and it moved to nearby Dyersville in 1959. Deere says adult collecting of die-cast replicas started ramping up in the 1970s.
• Sales literature: old tractor sales folders help restorers get period details right, and in 1991 Deere’s advertising director linked rising interest in antique tractors to demand for old John Deere product folders.
• Advertising art and calendars: illustrator Walter Haskell Hinton did the bulk of his Deere work in the 1930s. Many of his paintings show the two-cylinder tractors known as Johnny Poppers, and some of his best-known pieces were made for a 1937 calendar about the development of Deere’s first steel plow.
• Consumer side lines: bicycles from the 1890s and 1970s and the 1970s snowmobile line mean that not every genuine Deere-branded object is farm equipment.

Reproductions and licensed products

Not every reproduction is a fake, because Deere has authorized some. In 1991 the Two-Cylinder Club announced that Deere had authorized it to sell reproductions of 18 old John Deere tractor folders, from a 1929 Model GP folder to a 1959 color folder for the 530, 630 and 730. For any folder from those years, ask whether it is an original or a reprint.

Toys follow the same pattern. Deere’s collector newsletter, The Plowshare, describes a roughly one-year process for a construction-equipment replica, from Deere’s design files to TOMY/Ertl prototypes to finished replicas at John Deere dealerships and other retailers. A new release is a legitimate collectible; the problem is one described as old.

What to check before buying

Ask the same questions of a toy, folder, sign or promotional piece.

• Logo version: the trademark should match the period the seller claims
• Reprint notices: check the back of literature, the base of a toy and the edges of a sign for later dates, reprint lines or modern maker’s marks
• Materials: a sign made of MDF or another modern material should not be described as old
• Box and paperwork: for toys, an original box and inserts help separate one release from another
• Condition: look for paint loss, repainting, replaced parts, fading, tears and stains
• Provenance: a dealership, family or employee history is worth recording, but treat it as a lead to verify, not proof
• Seller terms: confirm the return policy before buying anything described as original or rare

Clubs and company resources

The Two-Cylinder Club, formed in 1984, is a nonprofit organization for people interested in preserving John Deere tractors and implements, and its members receive Two-Cylinder magazine. Its focus is the machines, which makes it useful for checking the model history behind a toy or folder.

Deere’s own heritage material is the best reference for dates. Its History and Heritage page lays out the trademark versions and milestones, and back issues of The Plowshare, a newsletter Deere published for collectors, are online as PDFs. In Grand Detour, the John Deere Historic Site is a National Historic Landmark that includes Deere’s home and a replica of his blacksmith shop. The John Deere Pavilion in Moline opened in 1997.

Where to find John Deere items now

The John Deere company page on I ♥ Capitalism collects live, relevance-checked resale listings for toys, literature, signs and other branded pieces, and links each one to the marketplace selling it. Its Official Store tab links to new merchandise from Deere’s own shop. Listings change as sellers add and remove items, so check each one’s logo, construction and seller details.