46 - 6” Numbered Copper Tags and Key

[TexasJeff]

Found on vacant lot, most found in a 6 square foot area around 6”-12” deep. 37 seven of them in that bunch, within the 6 square feet.
The key was in the middle of the same bunch.
Porter, Texas.

 

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[creskol]

Are the sequentially numbered?

 

[cudamark]

Might be telephone pole tags

 

[ticndig]

I guess post office box related , don't know why but that's what came to mind .

 

[Molewacker]

Well, that is a cool dig!

My guess is some form of vintage inventory tags as you see numbers in sequence. Perhaps Furniture as the script is fancy and is meant to be nailed to wood.

Congrats!!

 

[TexasJeff]

Are the sequentially numbered?

There are 10 digits. The first 6 numbers are identical. The last four are not. Within 2000+ of each other numerically.

This site is target rich, semi trashy. Has produced lots of non-ferrous keepers, clad and older coins. I do not believe it has been hunted due to the number of finds. The plates that weren't in the main dig spot were in a straight line. It is also extremely high traffic. It is hard to keep a low profile.

 

[Anduril]

Might be telephone pole tags

Agreed. Pole ID numbers.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

The "key" reminds me of the keys used for watch clocks. Factories and warehouses and other places with would have security guys who had to make their rounds and at different stops there would be a different key they had to put into a clock and turn to show they were there and what time. I'm not sure it is one, it doesn't match the one I have and I couldn't find a match online.

The tags are really neat. My first thought is that they are serial number tags and that whatever they were on, a whole lot of them were scrapped out on that spot. I have 16 serial numbered makers plates from scrapped out machines that I found in about a ten square foot area long ago so that's a possibility.

I have a hard thinking they would be for labeling shelves or drawers just because of the length of the numbers, seems a bit much to have 6 repeating numbers when the sequential numbers would be all you'd need.

I'd say look into the history of the site and the surrounding area on old maps and see if there were any manufacturers nearby that may have gone out of business and sold their remaining stock for scrap

edit.... whatever they are, the font of the numbers makes me think they are no newer than early 1900's... I could be wrong on that but it just looks older to me

 

[TexasJeff]

I weighed them all together at 3.7 pounds. They do seem large, but besides my shovel damage, they are relatively surface scratch free. The dirt around them was very compacted and hard to dig. On the first pile, I damaged a few, they were deeper than my target. I took my time after that.
Wow, not finding a match for that key is interesting. I will have to attempt to check it out.

 

[TexasJeff]

I weighed them all together at 3.7 pounds. They do seem large, but besides my shovel damage, they are relatively surface scratch free. The dirt around them was very compacted and hard to dig. On the first pile, I damaged a few, they were deeper than my target. I took my time after that.
Wow, not finding a match for that key is interesting. I will have to attempt to check it out.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

I agree with Ken, "The "key" reminds me of the keys used for watch clocks. Factories and warehouses and other places would have security guys who had to make their rounds."
But I don't feel the key has a direct connection with the tags you found. My impression is your tags were produced for an industrial purpose, possibly to identify shelving sections in a factory setting.

Date wise based on the font style I'm thinking these are likely from the 1920s.

Your find reminds me of a bunch (50+) aluminum tags I found on an old farm/homestead site.
These were spread over a 100 acre site, to-date I have never been able to figure out what their original use was.

Dave

 

[A2coins]

Tree tags