Found on old rail bed in Colorado, what is it?

[dmk6]

I found this on an old rail bed, it is lead about the size of a penny. On the front is 77 the back has a blob of lead in the middle covering most of the letters, all that are visible are D & RY. Anybody have any idea what this is

 

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[PBK]

Welcome to TreasureNet!

Your find appears to be a lead seal of the type used on boxcar doors, and sometimes also on mail bags and certain types of containers. The blank lead seal is crimped onto a wire by means of a hand press, which also embosses numbers, letters, designs, etc. on the seal. Often those used by railroads will bear the line's reporting mark (initials).

http://www.railroadiana.org/hw/pgSealers.php

Since it was found in Colorado, the "D" likely indicates one of the Denver-name railroads, a list of which can be found at:

http://www.geocities.com/cpawlus.geo/d-1.html

 

[dmk6]

Thank you! that is exactly what this is, when I found it had rust on one side, now I can see that is where the wire went through it.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

PBK pretty much covered it all but I want to add that RY is for "railway" in case you missed it.

 

[TimC]

Welcome to the t-net dmk6. This isn't your average chit-chat net. Their are experts in many fields on this net, many of those fields are linked by metal detecting. Take your railroad artifact, for instance. On this net you may find current and retired rr workers. Or model rr buffs or collectors that are also md'rs. Some of these people can id your find even before you post it.
Again, welcome.

TimC

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Thanks for the education!

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Some of these people can id your find even before you post it.

LOL I have seen this before here where I cant even see the pic and it is already IDed by someone.