Rare Railroad lock?

[jopher]

Had dubbed today a "Family Day" and had no intention of hunting.....however, by about 5:00 my family had enough of me and they were all hiding or crashed in various areas of the house.
O.K......maybe just a short hunt before dark (just to get out of thier hair).
With little time, I headed to a little park in Scaryville.(Flint)...theres great finds to be made in Flint, but its an unnerving area for a dweeb like me.
Anyway, as I pull up to the park, I notice that the thicket on the back side had been brush-hogged....some new ground! I mosey back there and start tectin with my disc up a bit to help make sense of the ever present trash layer. First diggable signal I get is a high VDI....dollar size, and its deep.About a foot down I find my prize...an old railroad lock. The locking bar is broke but the lock itself is solid brass and in good shape. I tuck it in my pouch and continue on for about an hour, finding a 70s pocket spill, a dark green glass bezel thing, a nice 24 Merc, a flipping coin, and finally a 39 Wheatie. The Merc was a nice find , however the lock was definitely the most exciting find. I did a quick search when I got home. Not yet sure of its age or orgin, but I did find one that was complete and sold on Ebay in 99 for 360.00.....must be a goody!
Both ends of the locking bar are there ....seems like it could be easily restored if it could be dissassembled??
Well...heres the pics....best of luck to all, and to all you Michiganders....its begining to look alot like Christmas!

 

[utah1066]

HEADS token what is it lol cool

 

[Deerhunter24]

Wow. Great finds jopher. I hunt sometimes with a guy from Lapeer and a guy from Clarkston. Maybe sometime we'll hunt some parks in Flint with ya. Give ya some back up. We've hit the Flint area a few times...it is pretty scary.

DH24

 

[STH69]

Nice rack?

 

[HolyDiver]

Haha. That "heads" token is great.

 

[beetle662]

I've seen those "heads" "tails" tokens before but haven't found one to call my own!

Congrats on the finds. Can't help with any info on the lock, but it's a nice one!

 

[oldschool]

neat finds, congrads

 

[PBK]

Great lock... rare and valuable, too!

The latest edition of Arnall's book lists it at $400, and one brought $300 in a Schofield auction a few years ago.

The token is called a "Busty Betty." There are many varieties.

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~cns/Bustybetty.html

Rich Hartzog offers at least 19 different:

http://www.exonumia.com/fs/mixed.htm

 

[mlayers]

Nice fines there.....Matt

 

[allen]

way to go on those good looking finds...

 

[Bridge End Farm]

nice nice finds

congrats on them

awesome to see

 

[John (Ma)]

Great looking finds, congrats!

 

[Nana40]

What a GREAT lock, Joe! 8) Very nice hunt!

Nana

 

[postalgriff]

nice finds jopher! great score on the lock, all neat finds. looked like a foot of snow out there this morning crazy michigan weather HH

 

[jopher]

Thanks for all the kind replies.
Spoke to an "expert" online about the lock.....given the obvious condition issues, the lock wouldnt be that desirable to a collector. So I said screw it and cleaned it up....Looks desirable enough for my collection

 

[Mike from MI]

Nice digs! Congrats!

 

[John Deere Digger]

Super digs, I love that lock. Looks good for any collection.
JDD

 

[camperlee]

cool nice afternoon hunt.

 

[Michiganne]

Very cool lock!

HH

 

[kdismuke1]

I LIKE THE RAILROAD LOCK. BEST OF LUCK ON YOUR HUNTS.