Mining Relic Identification

[Zerick]

Hey all, I was poking around an old foundation that used to be a mill to process the gold out of the ore in the Virginia City area. Just a bunch of rust and broken bottles but I did find this little plauqe of sorts. It's about 3 inches wide and 1.5 inches tall. I think it is made of lead. Not sure. On it says "2922 When empty return to S. O. Co. San Francisco Cal." It has small nail holes on the side that I'm sure held it to something. But it also has some holes in it looks like from square nails. See picture. I've tried looking up the company to no avail. I'm hoping you guys can help. What is it?! Thanks in advance. And HH!!!!

 

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[bigfoot1]

it seems s.o.co was a merchant vessel.home port san francisco.Probably a tag from wooden crate.just a simple guess and could have held anything

2nd possibility..standard oil co.

 

[vhs07]

I was thinking Standard Oil also.

 

[Ant]

SF made stamp mills and anything mining.
It is common to find machine parts and machines out in the mining districts that were made in SF. Most don't have tags or plaques rather the name is cast directly into the machine.

 

[Ant]

I would guess it be a tag for a cyanide barrel or other chemical, cyanide is used for leaching gold from ore.

 

[trdking]

I was also thinking a woode crate or barrel Cyanide Nitro Glycerin or Mercury