Found a Yukon gold panning antique !

[Cruisin]

This has been one of my favorite thrift shop finds. There is a wooden piece in it that has "George Newton, Yukon Territory, Dawson City" inscribed on it. I'm sure this treasure is from the Yukon gold rush. I live in the Mother Lode and a lot of the 49ers left the Calif gold rush to work in the Yukon. This relic must have belonged to a miner who settled in this area & their family donated it to the thrift shop. I couldn't believe my luck! And, I got the whole thing for $15. It's pretty fragile but intact. It's put together with straight slot screws that are consistant with that time period.

I'm not at all sure how that metal piece works. If anyone could tell me more about this item I would appreciate it.

Thanks!

[pepperpump]

I have never seen one of those but I am sure it is very valuable...Check to see if any have been sold on Ebay to get an idea of value.
Pepperpump

[Old_Okie]

Looks like a small sluice box. Post on the Gold forum and I bet you get lots of information.

[fossis]

A real Treasure for sure.

Fossis............

[CarolinaDigs]

You found a great treasure !

[packerbacker]

This is going to hopefully get the juices stirred up a little here. My partner at work brought one of those in a while back. She said that it was some sort of nail box. It held nails a certain way to make it easier on the carpenter. Now I want to put both of these stories together and find out what it REALLY is!
Maybe you could repost this in the "What is it" section where it would get more exposure and someone will be able to tell us how it would work.

[Gypsy Heart]

That is so very cool ! I would definitely put that in my house ! Excellent find!

[Cruisin]

I took a better look at it and the nail box thing makes sense. The inner box, which has metal on the floor, is just the right size to funnel nails into that metal gadget. The outer box with the lid is also metal lined and has one corner lowered a little bit & would be perfect for funneling nails into the inner box. I'll post a photo over in "what's it". Whatever it is, it was at the Yukon. Pretty cool!

[stefen]

I have never seen one of those but I am sure it is very valuable...Check to see if any have been sold on Ebay to get an idea of value.
Pepperpump

As we are all aware, the biggest problem with identifying widgets is to find the actual name or classification for a key-word search.

And it could be that the parts are not related...this also could hamstring the research...

Fortunagtely forums such as this provides exposure opportunities that are not available elsewhere...

[Cruisin]

I posted it on "what is it" so we'll see if anyone else has more ideas on it.

Stefen, nice ride! What year is it?

[tracey]

looks like a nice possible piece of history. keep us informed!