First Walking Liberty Half & Alabama Vulcan Park souvenir

[Minrelica]

I hunted a friend's yard this morning which is about 30 minutes outside of the city. The house was built in 1918 and to the best of his knowledge it had never been hunted so I was hoping to find some silver. As always, I brought a 2nd machine machine for the homeowner to give a try. While teaching him how to pinpoint & recover a target, he dug a 1952 silver Roosevelt dime. (his first ever target).. After that I cut him loose and we both had high hopes after starting the day with a silver. I finished the large front yard finding only a couple 1950's wheat's and nothing more. I was starting to wonder if it had already been cherry-picked.

After a short break I moved on to the back yard and not more than a couple minutes in I hit a nice signal and said to myself "let's do this".. I flipped over the plug and right at the bottom I saw a nice half dollar sized circle sticking out. My first Walking Liberty Half Dollar.. Funny that my friend was right there when I flipped the plug because he was excited to show me his first memorial cent. I think he was almost as excited to find the penny as I was to find the silver but just not cursing as much.



Because of a 50/50 deal I struck with his 10 year old son earlier in the morning, and due to his interest in the hobby I felt obligated to give him the coin. He was at church when I dug it but was pretty surprised when he saw it. I brought it home just to photograph it but it will be turned over next week.

I went back to hunting and of course the coin was on my mind and the fact that I wouldn't be keeping it but I just figured I'd have to find something else to keep for myself. After a few minutes I hit a semi-junky signal and figured it may be a penny or rusted washer but after flipping the plug I reached into the hole, grabbed a handful of dirt and saw a silver circle in my hand. I immediately thought I had another half dollar but then I realized it was connected to another piece, and another, and another, and another, and another...

I know very little about this 'medal' so I could use a little help from anyone who may know something.

- I do know that it's probably a souvenir from Alabama's Vulcan Park(?) but from what era?

Text reads as follows:

'Colossal Stores of Iron and Coal'
'City of Comfort as well as Enterprise'
'A Great City Forging Ahead'
'65 Cents Assembles Materials for a ton of Pig Iron'

I really needed to find this today after giving up my first Walking Liberty Half. I'm pretty confident that I'll find another half but I'll never dig another medal like this.

 

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[david680]

I got no info on it, but it's a great piece, undoubtedly many times rarer than the Walker. Great hunt!

 

[Minrelica]

I would have had a much harder time giving up the medal than I did giving up the half, that's for sure.

 

[BigWaveDave]

That medal is just amazing! How it got lost, and not tore up by a lawn mower is beyond me...

 

[BuckleBoy]

I would strongly suspect that the medal is from the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis. That date is also consistent with the cost of pig iron listed on the item too. To find something like that, intact, is really special!

 

[BuckleBoy]

PS--you could probably get more information about your medal by contacting the Vulcan museum in Birmingham.

http://visitvulcan.com

 

[trapperart]

Nice finds congrats

 

[46Wheat]

Wow... the medal is a great find

 

[Minrelica]

That medal is just amazing! How it got lost, and not tore up by a lawn mower is beyond me...

Thanks.

One side of the top piece got clipped by something but that's about it. I wonder if there was anything on top. Perhaps there was but it was a ribbon or string and dissolved.

 

[Minrelica]

I would strongly suspect that the medal is from the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis. That date is also consistent with the cost of pig iron listed on the item too. To find something like that, intact, is really special!

PS--you could probably get more information about your medal by contacting the Vulcan museum in Birmingham.

Vulcan Park & Museum: Birmingham, AL

Interesting suggestion. It does have a bit of a World's Fair feel to it. Good comment.

While doing a quick initial search I believe I saw that the museum was looking for contributions. I'm planning on contacting them to see if they can tell me any more info.

 

[Minrelica]

I would strongly suspect that the medal is from the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis. That date is also consistent with the cost of pig iron listed on the item too. To find something like that, intact, is really special!

I emailed the museum earlier this week and I received a response back this afternoon. Looks like you nailed the ID

Mr. Whitaker,

Thank you for contacting us about your recent find! We have a couple of these in our collection and I’m happy to share with you the information we have based on our research:

What you have found is a souvenir watch fob (not to be confused with a watch chain.) I believe it is a souvenir from the St. Louis World’s Fair where Vulcan was first displayed in 1904. When on display, Vulcan was actually the official exhibit for the state of Alabama, however he was specifically representing Birmingham’s iron industry. That explains the references to both the state of Alabama and the city of Birmingham. The first four links are all referencing Birmingham on one side and showing Birmingham sites on the other. I’ve listed them below in order from top to bottom:

1. The first image is hard to place. Considering all the other images are of buildings in Birmingham, I think we can assume this one is as well and is either an iron ore or coal mine.

2. The second image is of Hotel Hillman, built in 1901. It was the city’s premiere hotel until the Tutwiler Hotel was completed in 1914. Unfortunately, it was demolished for parking in 1967.

3. This is Birmingham’s City Hall building, also built in 1901. This particular building survived 2 fires, the second one in 1944 causing extensive damage requiring a new building to be built in and completed in 1950 and is the building currently in use today.

4. This is an image of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (TCI) iron furnace in Ensley.

Thank you, again, for contacting us! I hope you find this information helpful. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you,

Lindsay
____________


That makes 2 Worlds Fair souvenirs found this year. The first being a 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair spoon from the Columbus Expedition.

 

[guardez]

Dont worry about the half dollar. If you had kept it you would have inherited a world of trouble. Remember karma.
Now you have set yourself up to find a gold coin(s). what goes around comes around.
GL & HH

Guardez

 

[tomhighland]

Congratulations on the watch fob. Finds like that are what it's all about. Not the oldest, not the most valuable, but definitely one of the coolest finds.

 

[Tnmountains]

That is very nice. I always remember seeing the iron man statue in Birmingham,Ala. Very cool !

 

[against the wind]

Congrats on some outstanding finds.
A "First " Silver Coin denomination is special. I keep each "First" in a coin folder and mark it with the date and location of find. I also mark it with RED lettering, "FIRST"
One way for me to not to break an agreement with that young man would be to purchase a replacement Walker of the same date. That way I would have my "First Walker " and he would have a half dollar.
That's just me and how I feel about a "FIRST."

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congratulations on the large silver and cool relic!

 

[Minrelica]

Congrats on some outstanding finds.
A "First " Silver Coin denomination is special. I keep each "First" in a coin folder and mark it with the date and location of find. I also mark it with RED lettering, "FIRST"
One way for me to not to break an agreement with that young man would be to purchase a replacement Walker of the same date. That way I would have my "First Walker " and he would have a half dollar.
That's just me and how I feel about a "FIRST."

I think the fob took my mind off of the half. I could have easily purchased the same coin off ebay for less than $10 shipped and nobody would know the difference. I'll never forget finding it, so I still have that.