Equinox 600 finds WV mining scrip

[marjam]

Went out today in the misty rain, to take the equinox out for the third time. I learned a little more about the machine. For starters, it isn't the coin shooter my etrac is, but it has a place in my arsenal of detectors without a doubt. Comparing it to a 1500 dollar machine isn't fair anyway. But I can tell you that I cherry pick with the etrac, and I probably wouldn't have dug this signal. It came in as a bouncy 20 to 22 and as high as a 25. It didn't sound particularly clean either, but switching from 4hz to 10 and the numbers didn't change much at all, so I dug it, and popped out of the hole about 7 inches down was a 5 cent scrip. I have dug a few 1 cent scrip, but this is my first 5 cent. I am glad to have it in my collection, as I am glad to have the equinox.

 

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[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Awesome find! The Equinox is an outstanding machine!

 

[sgoss66]

marjam -- I have never heard of mining "scrip," let alone different denominations. Do you have any other info to share, about this fascinating find?

Also, coming from a long-time Explorer and CTX 3030 user, I can say that in my opinion, once you learn the Equinox it will easily "hold its own" against FBS...

Steve

 

[Mudflap]

What are the words on the script?

 

[marjam]

marjam -- I have never heard of mining "scrip," let alone different denominations. Do you have any other info to share, about this fascinating find?

Also, coming from a long-time Explorer and CTX 3030 user, I can say that in my opinion, once you learn the Equinox it will easily "hold its own" against FBS...

Steve

Hi, Steve. Back from the turn of the 20th century until the 1950s I believe, coal miners when they shopped at the company store, were given scrip, which is really just a token, instead of money in change, that could only be spent at the company stores. Miners could even charge things before they were paid at these stores, and then whatever they spent would be deducted from their paycheck, sometimes they would get very little in their paycheck due to their company store bill. The company store was owned by the mining companies, so they would get the merchandise, mark the price up, and then if the miners shopped there, instead of giving them US currency back in change, they would give them this scrip. Denominations that I am aware of are 1, 5, 25 and I think 50 cent scrip. They are made of what appears to be brass/copper. This one i dug has been in the ground for probably around 60 to 70 years, and it held up pretty good. I have heard stories of when the scrip was no longer accepted at these stores, coal companies took bags of it and buried it with bulldozers in various places. I know of one place where its alleged this happened, but it is so deep you would need a pulse machine or ground penetrating radar to find it most likely.

Some people collect it, and you can find some nice scrip on ebay you can buy. It will tell you on the scrip which company store it could be used at.

I hope i don't get in trouble for posting a link, but here is more info if you want to read about it;

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip

Happy Hunting....

 

[marjam]

What are the words on the script?

Along the top, it says payable in merchandise and on the bottom it says not transferable. And I was wrong, went looking for the one i dug up, looks like the denominations go even higher than 50 cents as evidence from this pic. This is from the web, the whole set and the 5 cent I dug is in this set.


View attachment 1875067

 

[sgoss66]

VERY cool! Thanks for the information/history, marjam! Sounds a bit like a "Sutler's store" on the old military forts in the 1800s, and the "Sutler's tokens" that were used...similar concept it seems.

Steve

 

[WVTazman]

Marjam, cool find. I live in WV I am just north of Charleston in a community called Pinch, whereabouts are you. I also have the EQ600 and so far I love it just getting used to it though this is my first metal detector and I do really well at parks and such. I have started investigating old early 1900's school house sites and I have not found anything but iron and lots and lots of nails. Hopefully I will get the tones figured out to where I will start finding better stuff.

I need to give a shout out to Bart @ Big Boys Hobbies he took time to discuss my options and made me a good deal.

God bless,

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Marjam, cool find. I live in WV I am just north of Charleston in a community called Pinch, whereabouts are you. I also have the EQ600 and so far I love it just getting used to it though this is my first metal detector and I do really well at parks and such. I have started investigating old early 1900's school house sites and I have not found anything but iron and lots and lots of nails. Hopefully I will get the tones figured out to where I will start finding better stuff.

I need to give a shout out to Bart @ Big Boys Hobbies he took time to discuss my options and made me a good deal.

God bless,

Glad you like it! The Minelab Equinox 600 is hard to beat!

 

[ArfieBoy]

Great find! Thanks for the story and history behind it! Thanks for sharing with us!

 

[marjam]

Marjam, cool find. I live in WV I am just north of Charleston in a community called Pinch, whereabouts are you. I also have the EQ600 and so far I love it just getting used to it though this is my first metal detector and I do really well at parks and such. I have started investigating old early 1900's school house sites and I have not found anything but iron and lots and lots of nails. Hopefully I will get the tones figured out to where I will start finding better stuff.

I need to give a shout out to Bart @ Big Boys Hobbies he took time to discuss my options and made me a good deal.

God bless,

Hey WV Tazman. I live in the Southern coalfields near Logan. I hunt mainly schools, sports fields, with some old sites throwerd in when I can get permission. Sounds like you are hunting in the right places.

A good place to find some potential spots is hometownlocator.com. it has a page on there for historical features, with GPS coordinates that will get you to the places. Now I would compare anything you find on there with some old maps before you take the coordinates as law and gospel. They may not be spot on. Some are, and some places I have went to were off some, but it will still get you in the general area.

Some examples of places on hometown locator include historical schools, churches, parks, just to name a few. I bet there are some near Pinch you weren't aware of. I know that was the case with me when I searched for places near me.

If I am ever near you, I will send you a line, maybe we can go digging!!

Happy hunting...

 

[WVTazman]

Thanks for the info and please do reach maybe I can learn a thing or 2.

God bless,

 

[Trezurehunter]

Good thing you decided to dig that signal. Would have been a shame to leave that one behind. Nice find.