🥇 BANNER Indian chief badge

eu4ia

Full Member
Nov 13, 2013
145
243
California
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
at pro
etrac
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Found this at a small tear out at an elementary school. It was made for a 1915-1917 Indian chief bicycle. Came up as a 12-46 on the etrac. Not silver but still a pretty cool find.
ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1435678710.017688.jpg
 

Upvote 62
Just go to the top post and click on the "Nominate Banner" button and put it a reason why you think it's a banner find.

Your badge is so neat, that's why this hobby is so great, you just never know whats next. I don't know how you vote here, but my vote is in for the banner? Nice Find.
 

Thanks everyone. And thanks for the banner votes. Like someone mentioned you never know what you're going to find. It's stuff like this that definitely makes detecting fun.
 

I think yours is in better shape. It cleaned up nice. I still have some crust on mine. Any suggestion how clean it?

I just used a tooth brush and good ole water.. I would suggest the same way maybe alittle vinegar. My pic does look better but, once you get urs cleaned up I know it will shine. Urs def. has more of the porcelain. Trust me, mine didn't look so good when I first dug it either. Oh btw, it wasn't a one shot n clean deal. I cleaned it several times over a period of days hah. Mostly cu I liked looking and showing it off. Every Time I looked at it I noticed it could be cleaned more. That's how I got it looking as nice as it was. Again awesome find congrats.
 

Don't forget to post pics when you get it cleaned up. I know it's gonna look awesome. Maybe you can do alittle LIGHT electrolysis on it. It will remove what looks like rust on urs. Like I said u have so much color left I know it will look great. WAY better then mine l.
 

I just used a tooth brush and good ole water.. I would suggest the same way maybe alittle vinegar. My pic does look better but, once you get urs cleaned up I know it will shine. Urs def. has more of the porcelain. Trust me, mine didn't look so good when I first dug it either. Oh btw, it wasn't a one shot n clean deal. I cleaned it several times over a period of days hah. Mostly cu I liked looking and showing it off. Every Time I looked at it I noticed it could be cleaned more. That's how I got it looking as nice as it was. Again awesome find congrats.

Thanks for the info
 

Really nice old find.
I've never seen one before and had no idea how valuable they were.

You just never know with this hobby do you??
congrats.
 

A bit of warm (to the touch) hydrogen peroxide might help to loosen the crud. I'd probably try that before the vinegar. Keep an eye on it. Also I can't imagine a little baking soda on the toothbrush would hurt it. The straight vinegar might be a final resort to loosening the green crud. It did wonders on a livery button I found in England that was barely recognizable due to encrustation:

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...-livery-button-griffin-cleaning-progress.html

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/313020-cleaned-livery-button-griffin.html
 

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Here it is cleaned up a little
ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1438109976.400113.jpg
 

Looks really nice! Great job on the cleaning! And thanks for the follow-up pic.

Please describe the cleaning method(s) you chose. I re-iterate that I think it's a Banner find!
 

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Where was it positioned on the Bicycle?
(if you don't mind)

Positioned on the motorcycle gooseneck between the handlebar and the top of the front wheel fork...same as on bicycles.

Indian bicycle and motorcycle badges are extremely rare and depending on age, could command a high price...like its weight in gold...
 

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that's cool looking
 

DANG HOW DID I MISS THIS POST. NICE LOOKING HONEST INJUN BADGE.
 

I'm voting banner because of the uniqueness and rarity of the item. Very cool. Thanks for sharing.
 

Looks really nice! Great job on the cleaning! And thanks for the follow-up pic.

Please describe the cleaning method(s) you chose. I re-iterate that I think it's a Banner find!

Thanks for the banner vote.
I used a Q-tip and very little dabbed some rust remover just on the areas that had the crust build up and let it set for couple of minutes. Then used hot water and a medium, stiff, plastic brush to scrub the crust away. It took a couple of applications. What little I used was able to bring back the brass color in some areas just enough without over doing it. Some of the other methods mentioned didn't work on this particular piece. Maybe not the ideal method but it seemed to work.
 

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