Towers Fish Brand

[rousseau]

Last weekend after watching an episode of "Diggers" with my four year old, he insisted on going out in the yard and "digging for treasure." I obliged, expecting to find little as we built a house on the edge of an old Cotton Field.

As expected I found modern nails, screws and little bits of aluminum trim from where we built our house. To my surprise I dug up a "Towers Fish Brand" button. I know it's a button from an AJ Towers Co product but it is unlike any that I've seen previously listed here. Do you have any insight to what this particular button was on and the date? I also found a couple of old cut nails which indicated to me that an old building was once here.

To satisfy my curiosity, I started looking at old topo maps and found that my house sits almost exact on top of where an old home was in the early 1900's. It last showed on a topo circa 1936 and disappeared from the circa 1940 topos. Unfortunately, I can find aerial photos on almost every side of me but can't find one exactly where I am at. I haven't had time to look around any more but I believe my new treasure hunting partner and I will spend a few hours in our yard. I believe this will be a fun way to aerate the yard.

 

[trikikiwi]

Cool find

It could be from the 1920's
http://buttonworks.blogspot.co.nz/2011/10/towers-fish-brand.html
Welcome to Treasurenet; you and your little treasure-hunting mate.
It sounds like your yard is going to get a good going over.

Cheers, Mike

 

[surf]

Hello rousseau ,

Welcome to TNet, and thanks for the view of your button.



"I found several sites which date this company doing business in Boston between 1904 and the 1930s (and perhaps later). The A.J. Tower Co. was a maker of coats, particularly of heavy raincoats/rainslickers, such as the US Navy used ...but it did not manufacture the metal buttons for those coats.

The company was in business from the 1870's to at least 1946, when it was involved in a Supreme Court case which caused it to become bankrupt. It was the maker of the old "Fish Brand" slicker the Texas cow boys had with them on the cattle drives. Here is an artist’s depiction of one of these old raincoats." President's Page - Miller County Museum & Historical Society

 

[mrmartinez1]

We found the exact same button today in Abiquiu, NM. It was our first treasure hunting adventure with the metal detector. Did you find out any more info about it.

 

[surf]

Hello mrmartinez,

Welcome aboard the Fish Brand Society. It is now incumbent upon you to show us yours. Talk story, too.

​

 

[mrmartinez1]

Hello & thank you! My family and I are hunters, we were on a hunt a couple of weeks ago and we drove back to an area where there is an old, man made, artesian well. We regularly watch all the treaure hunting/gold prospecting shows and have been debating whether or not to invest in some gold prospecting or metal detection equipment. As we were driving through the area, we were discussing how it seemed like a great area to treasure hunt. The landscape looked like the terrain we regularly see on the shows. The area is most famously known for the artist Georgia O'Keefe. Today just seemed like a great day for an adventure. My signifcant other and our 2 youngest children walked along the edge of the arroyo because we had a recent rain storm. Based of his research, he though that would be our best bet to find treasure. Low and behold, the metal detector started beeping, he dug a small hole and sifted through the dirt to uncover the button. At first we thought it was a coin but once we cleaned it, we were able to read the writing. He thought it was a newer button. When we got to the truck and got cellular service, I searched it and discovered this post, we were very excited! The nearest home to this area is several miles away.

 

[surf]

Nice button, and a good story.

Thanks for showing us.

 

[rousseau]

We found the exact same button today in Abiquiu, NM. It was our first treasure hunting adventure with the metal detector. Did you find out any more info about it.

Not really. creskol sent me a link to a previous discussion where he had posted some information on the company http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/147873-what.html The best I can figure is that it probably was made sometime between the turn of the century and 1950ish. Outside of what are in these two threads, I couldn't find anything else. If you do, please share.

 

[gearjammer]

found one today

Last weekend after watching an episode of "Diggers" with my four year old, he insisted on going out in the yard and "digging for treasure." I obliged, expecting to find little as we built a house on the edge of an old Cotton Field.

As expected I found modern nails, screws and little bits of aluminum trim from where we built our house. To my surprise I dug up a "Towers Fish Brand" button. I know it's a button from an AJ Towers Co product but it is unlike any that I've seen previously listed here. Do you have any insight to what this particular button was on and the date? I also found a couple of old cut nails which indicated to me that an old building was once here.

To satisfy my curiosity, I started looking at old topo maps and found that my house sits almost exact on top of where an old home was in the early 1900's. It last showed on a topo circa 1936 and disappeared from the circa 1940 topos. Unfortunately, I can find aerial photos on almost every side of me but can't find one exactly where I am at. I haven't had time to look around any more but I believe my new treasure hunting partner and I will spend a few hours in our yard. I believe this will be a fun way to aerate the yard.

View attachment 846254

I found one just like yours today.