My second 1906 pre-state SF license plate - Intact! Plus two tokens

mr_larry

Hero Member
Jun 22, 2010
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Northern California
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Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE Pro
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Back on Mother's Day a few months ago, I found a 1906 pre-state license plate issued by San Francisco. Unfortunately the metal was extremely brittle and it came out in several pieces. It took me an entire week before I put it back together to see what it was. I posted that find on the California forum: http://forums.kinzlicoils.com/topic/7406897/1/#new

Yesterday Jayson (Staydetuned) and I went to hunt a new spot that we had both found independently of each other. It is a building demo and after the demo crew removed the "modern" building, you could see the ruins from the previous building that obviously burned during the fire that followed the 1906 earthquake. There was glass and burned wood everywhere. The site was sandy. There was so much iron in the place that we both ended up hunting in Ferrous mode with no discrimination and the sensitivity turned down quite a bit.

It took a good half an hour before we both had our machines dialed in correctly where we could actually hear some targets, but the targets were far and few between. The first target I dug up was a piece of metal that was totally encrusted in sand. I nearly tossed it but something about the shape seemed familiar and then I remembered the old license I had found a few months ago. It was the same size and shape. If you really looked at it closely you could tell there was some writing on it. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of it before I cleaned it up.

Here is a picture of it next to the first one I found:
both1906.jpg

Here it is on its side:
license side.jpg

The next target I pulled up was only an inch below the surface and it was about the same size as a silver dollar, but it was too light. It was also encrusted in sand. Jayson was detecting close by so I called him over and we could see a date on it that read 1868.

Here is the token next to a Morgan dollar so that you can see the size:
1868 dollarcomp.jpg

The front of the coin has Liberty on it with 13 stars and the 1868 date:
1868 heads.jpg

The reverse of the token shows that it is made of two pieces of metal affixed to a blank, possibly a piece of wood. From top to bottom it reads:
Udolpho Wolfe
Sole Proprietor
Beware of Imitations
Schiedam Schnapps

1868rev.jpg

I found an identical token in better condition at: http://legacy.stacks.com/Lot/ItemDetail/73867

I also found one intact clear bottle about 4-5 inches tall, but it had no writing on it. There were lots of cool pottery shards, tiles, pieces of bottles and you could just feel the history on the site. Sadly we found no coins and only spent about 2.5 hours there.

Finally, on a different hunt in Golden Gate Park a couple of weeks ago, I found a cool saloon token that was pretty damaged and missing a piece. It is from the Golden City Saloon at 518 Pacific Avenue where it intersects Montgomery Street. I found some references to the saloon on the internet but it likely burned down in 1906.
Golden City Saloon.jpg

Thanks for looking and happy hunting!!
 

Upvote 0
Sweet find Larry !! :headbang:
Glen
 

Those really are some cool finds! Year of the quake vehicle tag......saloon token would have brought some big bucks if it was complete, and the medicinal schnapps advertising token....nice! :thumbsup:
 

Nice Saves :icon_thumright: , cool license plate !

TommNJ
 

I resonded about the Liquer Token at the other site.I have seen several of that.It looks like leather huh?I forget what the composition is now,but the first I have seen from Cali
 

That license tag is cool , I see at the bottom it has the word right stamped on it. Was there a left tag , also what is the size of the tag ?
 

Yours is in great condition too!!Here are the ones my friend has dug(they came from very arid conditions)I have never had hope of digging one given the composition and soil type I dig!!
 

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sweet token!!! MR TUFF
 

Very nice find. If you saw 60 Minutes on Sunday, they had a story on the film made in April 1906 on Market St., days before the earthquake. The guy who researched the film was able to read license plate numbers in the film and was able to say when the plate was issued and to whom. So, apparently there is still a database of the numbers, if you're interested in researching further. FYI, 60 Minutes stories are available on line for viewing.
 

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