First wax or ink stamp

[Ridley]

I raced over to the now even more smoothed over SLQ house location to find MM already busy. The house is completely gone except for a tower of cinder blocks.
I found some wheats and a nickel. Then a tag of some sort and a cool stamp thing. This hunt lasted about an hour. All the dirt is mixed up and raked flat.

Cheers!


Ridley

 

[wesfrye53]

That stamp is a great find.

 

[tymcmurray]

Cool stamp. That is a big time keeper.

 

[Mirage]

Only an hour? Finds thinning out? That stamp thingy looks cool. 8)

Bob

 

[Ridley]

Only an hour? Finds thinning out? That stamp thingy looks cool. 8)

Bob

No, Bob.

My wife was getting her hair done. So I dropped the kids off at the hair place and met up with Doug. It got dark in an hour and Doug left.

For some reason this place isn't cool to hunt at night. It's right down town and the headlights from cars beam right on you while you're digging.

You really feel like you're in the spotlight!

I'm headed back tomorrow!


Ridley

 

[Mirage]

I understand about being in the spotlight. I hate hunting places where you are right next to a busy road.

Dumped the kids off with the wife at the salon?! Wow, I'm impressed.

Bob

 

[ModernMiner]

Dave,
That stamp is a great find. I should have stayed longer. Damn mosquitoes!
I'll post my finds tomorrow. The Mighty Tesoro pulled through again.
Good luck tomorrow. I have a feeling that heavy equipment is sitting on top of your wilver coins. This old downtown location has been a neat hunt. Everything from old horseshoes to modern clad. I'm glad we were able to get in after the tear down.
I'll post the before and after shots in my post.
Thanks for the invite,
MM

 

[Rob66]

Cool stamp!!!
Rob

 

[treasureguy]

Sweet find that is a unusal one there, wtg on the hunt, later ridley, tg

 

[JRich98150]

Ridley,
Is your stamp all brass? It is an old wax sealer. Judging by the name on it "Southern Express Company" it possibly is the was seal for an old Southern Railway station. Each depot/station had their own seal. They might have even had a couple seals. One would be with the railroad's name for railroad business and the other would be for the "express" agency which the railroad company and stationmaster handled a separate shipping account for. They are now very sought after especially by railroad collectors. They also sell for a very nice price. The station location could possibly be checked by the station number in the center of the seal. Maybe from a very old timetable. I think you possibly have one of the older wax sealers in which case your find is even much better. But you have a real nice piece of history there congratulations on the nice find!

JRich

 

[piggman1]

Another great find Ridley! That's a keeper for sure.

 

[Ridley]

Ridley,
Is your stamp all brass? It is an old wax sealer. Judging by the name on it "Southern Express Company" it possibly is the was seal for an old Southern Railway station. Each depot/station had their own seal. They might have even had a couple seals. One would be with the railroad's name for railroad business and the other would be for the "express" agency which the railroad company and stationmaster handled a separate shipping account for. They are now very sought after especially by railroad collectors. They also sell for a very nice price. The station location could possibly be checked by the station number in the center of the seal. Maybe from a very old timetable. I think you possibly have one of the older wax sealers in which case your find is even much better. But you have a real nice piece of history there congratulations on the nice find!

JRich

Thanks for the information, JRich!

Yes. The seal is solid brass. Someone living in this house could have easily worked for the railway, as it's a 5 minute walk from the towns railroad station.

From what I could find the "Southern Express Company" was like an early Fed Ex on the railroads of the 1800's. I'm still not sure how the seals were used. I did find out that the company stopped using that name in 1917.

Apparently, this company shipped everything from fresh vegetables to corpses. I'd love to narrow down the date it was in use. It has a Civil War feel to it. MM found a three ringer bullet there tonight as well.

I'm sure it is very rare indeed, as most brass items were melted down during both world wars.

This seal will go nicely with the brass baggage tag I found made by "Cushing and Bardua". It also ties directly into the history of my town, which is rapidly being replaced with gas station convenient stores and banks.

I thought it was a broken handle when I found it, (it was dark). Lucky I didn't throw it in the trash!



Ridley

 

[JRich98150]

Ridley,
To seal a letter or document or even a package for shipment they would melt a stick of sealing wax and apply the seal to the heated wax blob that was dripped to seal the envelope, document or package. When this arrived at the destination the receiver knew that package or document had not be opened or messed with. I'm sure you know not to clean it up any. Easy 75.00, 100.00 on up on those old railroad, railway and express wax sealers. The motherlode of any old railroad station antique find. All brass it's a real nice piece you have there.

JRich

 

[ModernMiner]

Ridley,
Congrats you dirty dog! I'll trade you the 3-ringer AND the wilver for that stamp.
You Sir are the railroad master! Remember, we found some old RR track spikes in that yard too.
Way to go. What a great piece of history for the Ridley and Miner Museum!
-MM-

 

[desertfox]

WTG Ridley. Very nice Stamp and a bunch of hometown history to go along with it. HH

Desertfox

 

[gitchi9753]

that's a cool find every body had coins, but relics are so personal got to love them and the stories they can tell

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Excellent ! That brass stamp is highly collectible and an awesome find! WTG

 

[Green1]

now that is a way cool find !!!

 

[Bavaria Mike]

Awesome find Ridley! Looks more like a wax seal matrix than a stamp, rare find!!! Congrats and HH, Mike