Pull Tabs

junkhunt

Sr. Member
Feb 21, 2017
314
349
North Central Arkansas
Detector(s) used
white's eagle spectrum , White's Spectra V3i, Garrett AT Pro. Garrett AT Pen pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Upvote 0

Oddjob

Silver Member
Aug 23, 2012
4,348
9,067
Detector(s) used
RD1000, GSSI Profiler EMP-400. GPZ 14 & 19
Primary Interest:
Other
They still sell many drinks with pull tabs in Europe, Africa and Asia.
 

PullTabSlayer

Full Member
Jan 31, 2017
193
315
Troy Missouri
Detector(s) used
That one I grab for the day.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Ermal Fraze invented the pull tab in 1959. At over fifty years old some of these that we find are officially historic artifacts. :occasion14:

In 1974 a doctor " inadvertently" swallowed a can tab during a basketball game, that started the replacement search and the modern say on tab began in 1975.
 

cudamark

Gold Member
Top Banner Poster
Mar 16, 2011
13,171
14,457
San Diego
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
They still sell many drinks with pull tabs in Europe, Africa and Asia.

They still have them in Mexico and Central/South America too. What I can't figure out is why people break off the lever type tab? :dontknow:
 

Oddjob

Silver Member
Aug 23, 2012
4,348
9,067
Detector(s) used
RD1000, GSSI Profiler EMP-400. GPZ 14 & 19
Primary Interest:
Other
What I can't figure out is why people break off the lever type tab? :dontknow:

Exactly, I think it is because they do not MD them selves. Reason is because I have four young kids, two of them MD (the 10 and 14 year old) on their own, the older one has a buddy who is the same age and also MDs. Watch them drink a soda water and they just drink it, but watch their other friends drink soda water and they all pull it off.
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Seems to me that round tabs in the USA were beginning to phase out in the early 1980s.
 

cudamark

Gold Member
Top Banner Poster
Mar 16, 2011
13,171
14,457
San Diego
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
But, why break it off? Why not just leave it on the can? It's not in the way of anything that I can see.
 

OP
OP
junkhunt

junkhunt

Sr. Member
Feb 21, 2017
314
349
North Central Arkansas
Detector(s) used
white's eagle spectrum , White's Spectra V3i, Garrett AT Pro. Garrett AT Pen pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks to all of you for the good information.

It sounds like the first pull tabs where the whole tab comes off started in about 1959-60 and went over a 20 year span. So that doe's tell me something about how old a site is.

Thanks again.

Mike in Arkansas :occasion14::occasion14:
 

KirkS

Sr. Member
Jan 10, 2017
282
375
St Pete FL
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE, Tesoro Sand Shark, White's TreasurePro, Tesoro Compadre, Fisher F2 + TRX
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
But, why break it off? Why not just leave it on the can? It's not in the way of anything that I can see.

It's a fidgity thing. Idle hands, etc.
 

dirtdigginfool

Silver Member
Mar 8, 2014
3,580
4,841
south central ohio
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
At Pro At Max
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Because it's there! It just seems that some people look at a can...with that oh-so inviting tab...and it's screaming "pull me off and throw me in the grass!!"...then their next concious thought is to stomp the empty can to below grass level...all the while standing 6 feet from a trash receptacle...just sayin'...Ddf
 

cudamark

Gold Member
Top Banner Poster
Mar 16, 2011
13,171
14,457
San Diego
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting

diverrick

Sr. Member
Jan 18, 2011
276
287
Vacaville, CA
Detector(s) used
Whites MXT, Minelab Eureka gold
Primary Interest:
Other
I recently found an old race track near me that was active in the 50's , 60's, and early 70's. That place is wall to wall pull tabs under the bleacher/fan section. So much so You cannot really beep it. You cannot swing without getting a signal. if I looked you could actually see the track, curves and pit areas the pit area was just as full of pull tabs. Clearly a LOT of drinking occurred during these race nights.
They had to be pulled off in order to drink the contents as the tab pulled from the center outward. you could not put it in your mouth with that tab hanging there it was way too sharp and in the way. And like was said earlier it was what you did, you bent it back and forth until the little one tab became two, then you threw them on the ground. who knew?
 

Bigcypresshunter

Gold Member
Dec 15, 2004
27,000
3,338
South Florida
Detector(s) used
70's Whites TM Amphibian, HH Pulse, Ace 250
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
What year did they stop making the pull tabs that pull all the way off? Anybody know? That may give you and idea how old a site is when you find them. And when did they go from the old hole punch cans to pull tabs?

I wrote this 10 years ago it may be of some help. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting/40194-when-good-find-pull-tab.html


Look for the zip tabs to date a site for silver coins. zip tabs.JPG
 

faribo

Full Member
Apr 13, 2007
155
293
Southern MN
Detector(s) used
Nox 800
AT Pro (when desperate)
My first real find with a real metal detector was a zip tab. Looks like a capital T with the bottom way wider than the top of the T. The part that was part of the lid that tore loose is gone so I only have the handle part with a small piece of the tab left on it.
 

TommyB

Hero Member
Jul 24, 2013
563
860
OC, Calif
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Whites Surf PI & Whites DFX
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
The ring part used to work like quarters in the SoCal parking meters at the beach in the 70's. Don't ask me how I know that.
 

SD51

Silver Member
Aug 24, 2016
4,829
9,950
MI
Detector(s) used
E-TRAC
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The next question (something I've always wondered) is how many trillions of these old style pull tabs were produced, since most of them were most likely thrown on the ground...
 

BARKER

Bronze Member
Nov 1, 2011
2,056
1,795
BOSTON
Detector(s) used
Whites DFX, Garrett GMH, Toltec 100, Whites PI 3000, Fisher 75, Whites Silver Eagle 2, Whites Beachcomber, and several others from 1968 to Present
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hi; One thiing guys did was to put the round tab part into phone coin slots. The tab would get stuck there until you pressed the Return Lever on the phone about 20 x to free it. Any coins that went into the slot after the tab was put in got stuck in the slot. Guys would wait a while. Go over to the same phone, hit the Return Lever until the pull tab came out and the pocket the rest of the change that had been stuck in the slot as well. If you did 10 phones a day you could make a few fast bucks. Just don't get caught or you would get a few fast bucks.!!! PEACE:RONB
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top