I went and seen a friend and took

[Gare]

E-Trac-Ohio with me .He was showing us some of his finds. I had started My friend Jim metal detecting in 2009. He lived about 30 miles from me. He started showing us some of his best finds. Jim had a few finds he did not know what they was. We did not know so i am posting them here

This one we think is honoring the construction of the Panama Canal ?? I think it is a great find

 

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[Gare]

Next one is kind of a mystery. We have an opinion but we will see what you all think

 

[Gare]

The last item is kind of unique

 

[Whynotnow?]

Watch fob, brass knuckles, and maybe some kind of candle holder? The brass knuckles are cool, theyre the older style.

 

[Gare]

Watch fob, brass knuckles, and maybe some kind of candle holder? The brass knuckles are cool, theyre the older style.

We think the first is a watch type fob. I think it is from the Knights of Pythais . completion of the Panama CANAL. the last we think is the top part of a Umbrella ??

 

[Mackaydon]

First object is the lower part of a medal: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1915-panama-canal-san-diego-cal-2066206078

The image reflects the seal of the 1915 California-Panama Exposition as shown here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.co...-1915-portofcall-30may15-2015may30-story.html

Some history:
When construction began on the Panama Canal in 1904, all ports on the East Coast, in California and around the Gulf of Mexico dreamed of new riches stemming from faster shipments to and from the rest of the world. San Diego boasted it was the “first port of call” on the West Coast and positioned Balboa Park’s Panama-California Exposition as a giant marketing campaign. The seal for the expo depicts that very explicit message: smoke-spewing ship slipping through one of the locks. But note the palm trees and red geraniums flanking that industrial image. San Diego wanted to remind the world of its semi-tropical climate. This double-message -- “Smokestacks and. Geraniums” -- was to dominate regional politics for the entire 20th century. And by the way, the canal business for San Diego never transpired. That went to the manmade harbors at Los Angeles and Long Beach.


Nasty vintage (crudely made) brass knuckles. Nastier ones are spiked.
Don in SoCal.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

I couldn't find any photo's on Google of the same 1913 Knights of Pythias piece you posted here.
I could be wrong but I think it's a Medal or Medallion because it doesn't have a slot for the strap like most Watch Fobs.

The 3rd piece looks like it could be the top off an old Umbrella ?

 

[Kona Koma]

E-Trac-Ohio with me .He was showing us some of his finds. I had started My friend Jim metal detecting in 2009. He lived about 30 miles from me. He started showing us some of his best finds. Jim had a few finds he did not know what they was. We did not know so i am posting them here
View attachment 2110358
This one we think is honoring the construction of the Panama Canal ?? I think it is a great find

Really nice find.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

If I recall correctly (I could be miss-remembering), the 3rd object is a "wearable Tussy holder." If you don't already know, a Tussy is a small cluster of flowers. The small holes pierced through its side just below the top allow the tussy-holder to be sewed or tied onto clothing.

You might ask, how do you know that end is the object's top? (And it's not an umbrella finial/tip?) Answer: You'll see a cluster of grapes -- with leaves at the large end of the cluster -- on this object's side. If the flared end is not the top, the grape cluster would be upside-down.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

If I recall correctly (I could be miss-remembering), the 3rd object is a "wearable Tussy holder." If you don't already know, a Tussy is a small cluster of flowers. The small holes pierced through its side just below the top allow the tussy-holder to be sewed or tied onto clothing.

You might ask, how do you know that end is the object's top? (And it's not an umbrella finial/tip?) Answer: You'll see a cluster of grapes -- with leaves at the large end of the cluster -- on this object's side. If the flared end is not the top, the grape cluster would be upside-down.

"Good job on the ID "The CannonballGuy" !

 

[Red-Coat]

Agree on the tussy (tussie) holder, popularly known as tussie-mussies (mussies being the clumps of moss packed around the sprays of flowers to keep them moist). The knuckle-duster is a nice find too.

Although the Knights of Pythias item was worn in medallic form, these were ‘badges’ given to delegates at their annual conventions and kept afterwards as souvenirs of the occasion. The May 1913 date was for the 44th Convention, held in San Diego on 19th May. They have various ‘themes’ but I haven’t seen one with the Panama Canal on it before now. Here’s a similar one for the 39th Convention, held in Long Beach on 18th May 1908. The ‘FCB’ is for the fraternity’s motto: “Friendship, Charity, and Benevolence”.

But here’s the odd thing. Yours says “The Completion of the Panama Canal”, with a date of 1915. The canal was actually completed in 1914, with the first commercial ship transiting on 15th August that year. That was the cargo vessel SS Ancon, which might be the ship depicted, or it could be a generic ship. There had been an unpublicised ‘test-run’ by another ship prior to that (and a crane vessel that completed the run in stages as it worked during construction), followed by around 1,000 ships during the remainder of 1914. Surely the designer/maker (the Pettibone Manufacturing Company) wouldn’t have got that date wrong?


I wondered in the badge was produced for the convention of 1913 but giving an expected date of 1915 for the canal being completed, but that doesn’t seem likely either. Although the canal was completed well ahead of schedule, the target date for its opening was 10th June 1916.

 

[Mackaydon]

• Opening of the Panama Canal - S.S. ANCON entering west chamber, Mira Flores lower locks, Aug. 15, 1915.
• Source: https://www.loc.gov/item/2003653796/
• Don in SoCal.

 

[Red-Coat]

• Opening of the Panama Canal - S.S. ANCON entering west chamber, Mira Flores lower locks, Aug. 15, 1915.
• Source: https://www.loc.gov/item/2003653796/
• Don in SoCal.

Well, that's weird. This from Wiki, which says 1914 (and so do multiple other sources):

Wiki has it wrong? Other sources feeding off the same information?

 

[ARC]

Last item is a bud sconce... from a grave... or funeral parlor... or from church.

 

[Gare]

I think you all did a fantastic job ID-ing these. Thank you ALL VERY MUCH !!!

 

[Doubter in MD]

Most sources agree that the Canal opened in 1914.

By 1913, (when this fob/medal was made) with the project already ahead of schedule, maybe the opening had been re-estimated to 1915, and then they even beat that? Just a thought.

 

[Red-Coat]

Most sources agree that the Canal opened in 1914.

By 1913, (when this fob/medal was made) with the project already ahead of schedule, maybe the opening had been re-estimated to 1915, and then they even beat that? Just a thought.

Well, that’s a possibility.

I think the photograph held by the Library of Congress linked by @Mackaydon has a ‘misprint’ in the catalogue record for the date… either a modern typo or a faithful record of an earlier caption which wasn’t correct to begin with. Note that the photograph is from the John Barrett Collection and the library notes that their record “contains unverified, old data from caption card”.

The Smithsonian website has a copy of the same picture (with acknowledgement to the Library of Congress) but with the date corrected to 1914, which I'm sure is the actual date for the opening of the canal and the transit of SS Ancon… even if the picture was somehow later captioned as from 1915: