Old tag of some kind...

[Ridley]

...a jackknife and a pewter pendant. For your viewing pleasure.

What a gorgeous day in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Going out again tonight!


Cheers!


Ridley

 

[DANGLANGLEY]

The knife is a Buck. WOW, you have two very good finds in one hunt. Good job!!!

 

[Ridley]

I just sent an e-mail of the tag to the University of North Carolina archive library. I'm hoping they might be able to
find railway records and figure out the passenger's name.

It turns out, that railroad was built to connect Raleigh to Wilmington. Wow I'm just like Tinpan in reverse. (he usually starts with the research then finds the stuff) Right?

Wouldn't it be cool to see a photo from the 1800's of the passenger?


Ridley

 

[Charlene]

WTG Ridley! Thats very exciting news to read about the tag you found, keeping my fingers crossed that it turns out to be rare.
Keep us posted.

 

[ModernMiner]

Ridley,
Nice job on finding that tag. Very cool find.
WTG,
MM

 

[cheese]

Sweeeet!! I love the tag, and then to find out it's a rare piece as well! It's dark and wet outside, but I got the itch bad now. I might have to go out and swing a while...lol!

 

[lionhrt9]

Turns out you may have more than you thought..... which makes it even sweeeeeeeter!!! Nice Group of finds, im rooting for the guy with the MD in his hands!!!!!! GL

 

[Nana40]

It's mine! The tag is mine! You all see it says Alabama!!!!

WoW OH WoW, Ridley! You are making some AWESOME finds!!!!!

Keep 'em comin'!!!! Congrats!

Nana

 

[contractorod]

Finding stuff like that is what makes Digging all the trash a little easier.

 

[Skrimpy]

ONE OF TWO KNOWN TO EXIST?? HOLY CRAP!
I can't wait to see how this follow up goes! What a find of a lifetime!
~Nash~

That tells me it should be taken to an antique dealer for an appraisal. Only one known before you found yours tells me it could be worth a bundle...if there is a market for it...don't know much about rr tags.

 

[Ridley]

ONE OF TWO KNOWN TO EXIST?? HOLY CRAP!
I can't wait to see how this follow up goes! What a find of a lifetime!
~Nash~

That tells me it should be taken to an antique dealer for an appraisal. Only one known before you found yours tells me it could be worth a bundle...if there is a market for it...don't know much about rr tags.

There's a lot of history in that tag. The letters and numbers are a code from over a hundred years ago. They map out the journey of someones luggage through a very strange time in my local area.
The reason those tags are so hard to come by is most of them were melted down in metal drives during WWI and WWII.

It's the local aspect of the tag that gets me excited. I'm just hoping to match the number and route to a passenger name. In doing some research. I found out this rail line was interwoven into a lot of Civil War action.

It seems the trains still ran and people traveled on them during the war. Then every now and then, the Northern and Southern armies would fight over them and use them.

That check tag has a story to tell. Maybe that's its biggest value. Who knows?

It sure would be nice if was worth a lot of money, but I live here and all those towns and cities (even the tracks) are still right where they were during the Civil War.

That thing is like a little metal time machine you can hold in your hand.



Ridley

 

[99Brown]

Absolutly awesome! Love it and hope it is worth a ton for you!

99Brown

 

[Trash Digger]

That check tag has a story to tell. Maybe that's its biggest value. Who knows?

It sure would be nice if was worth a lot of money, but I live here and all those towns and cities (even the tracks) are still right where they were during the Civil War.

That thing is like a little metal time machine you can hold in your hand.

That is one of the attractions of this hobby, actually holding a piece of history in your hands. I would love to know some of the messages that went out over that telegraph key I found last summer.

Mike

 

[Leon]

Very nice tag, WTG!!!
I love the ones you can acually connect to a place and time in history...
Good luck, & Happy hunting~