✅ SOLVED Need help identifying this item found at old home site

[perdidogringo]

Hi there,

Dug up this item yesterday at a site with a home from the mid-1800s to the 1950s. Anybody have any idea what it is? Thanks in advance!

 

[Knight_of_Excalibur_II]

Hair clip / barrette is my guess.

 

[Puff the Tragic Wagon]

On zooming in I saw what resembles braided wire inside, so I’m going with a clip from an antique hair perm machine.

 

[perdidogringo]

Just noticed it is engraved with the words "SOLO USA" on one side.

 

[perdidogringo]

Looks like you guys nailed it! Thanks! Here's what Grok mentions about items stamped with "Solo USA" on them:

"Solo USA" was more of a mid-century brand stamp you see on lightweight aluminum hair accessories, like those perforated curlers and wave clips from the 1940s and 1950s. Think post-war era when aluminum was cheap, durable, and everywhere for everyday beauty tools.

From what pops up in vintage listings—like on Etsy and eBay—these were mass-produced items, often alongside brands like Goody or Tip Top. The engraving "SOLO USA" (sometimes with "U.S.A." or tiny patent-like codes) shows up right on the metal, usually on the handle or body of these spring-loaded curlers with rubber tips or clips. They were made for home perms, pin curls, or setting waves—super common before electric rollers took over.

 

[Red-Coat]

One of these, I believe (but for £67... I don't think so!):

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1798346981/one-vintage-1930s-solo-hair-waver-for?affcss=1&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=uk_location_buyer&utm_content=323889&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=323889&awc=6091_1770989999_53dac322e55402e64127ef96a87ce1bd

 

[perdidogringo]

That's it, Red-Coat! Thank you. I can add some context to this find when I bring it to my metal detecting club's finds table this month.

 

[Red-Coat]

That's it, Red-Coat! Thank you. I can add some context to this find when I bring it to my metal detecting club's finds table this month.

You're welcome. Don't know if you saw it, but there are instructions which also give patent numbers and a manufacturer:

 

[Gare]

I am clueless

 

[Trezurehunter]

I'm a little more interested in that 1932 Washington. Did you happen to check for an S or D mintmark on the reverse ? That is a key date to the Washington series. I'd be checking that one fast !

 

[ArfieBoy]

Another interesting and cool find!

 

[perdidogringo]

I'm a little more interested in that 1932 Washington. Did you happen to check for an S or D mintmark on the reverse ? That is a key date to the Washington series. I'd be checking that one fast !

Great catch! It is an "S." True story- I recently returned to the U.S. after a couple of decades living abroad so I am pretty unaware of all the "key dates" with American coins. So I was at my monthly metal detecting meeting last night, and I put up this 1932 Quarter for "best coin of the month" thinking it's a "nice" find but nothing particularly special. But then I had several members excitedly approach me to ask me if I knew what I had.

I wonder if there is a handy list of American coin "key dates" that I could refer to?