A Few Ghost Town Relics

[William-NM]

Spent some time at a local ghost town this weekend and found a few things amongst the amazing volume of rusty cans and party debris. I spent some time at the site of the old schoolhouse (unfortunately, the area around it was graded and is a partier hangout, but found the little lead toy piece, some modern coins, and one surprise find was this police pin from Hurley, a nearby town (it's small, about an inch tall:

Then, I moved down the hill to this cabin:

And found some relics- harmonica reed, heavy lock with Y&T on one side, Yale on the other, a tin stamped "United States Tobacco Co.", used for target practice, of course.

I also found some military cartridges, a mentholatum jar (it's too bad that the hundreds of milk glass, vaseline glass, cobalt, etc. bottles I come across have been smashed or shot), a tube of Gilette Brushless Shaving Cream...

and a few nice Copper specimens:

Here's the outhouse:

If there's a prize for the BIGGEST find, I should be a contender (or maybe the biggest, sweatiest waste of time on a white elephant):

Getting late, darn it!

And the usual disturbing homeless children leavings:

Thanks for looking and HAPPY HUNTING!!!

 

[xwyokid]

Nice finds. Had an uncle that lived in Hurley until he passed away 3 years ago. Still have a bunch of relatives in Deming. How, "friendly" are you with the ranchers in the Hurley area? I have a lead on something that could be really good in that area however, I've had no luck in getting in. PM me your phone number and I'll give you the info. I'm in Albq. area.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Nice finds. Those harmonica reeds sure show up often. Finding things like kids toys, clothes etc. is s common site up here too. We have a high native population and all the social issues too.

 

[Eric in RI]

Nice variety William! Also that silverish looking rosette piece, is it silver? Sure looks like it Love the police pin too!

 

[Hank68]

Thanks for sharing your photo's, nice relics William!

 

[William-NM]

Nice variety William! Also that silverish looking rosette piece, is it silver? Sure looks like it Love the police pin too!

I wish! It has 4 sm. anchor pins on the back- no markings- maybe I'll test it, just in case.

 

[hotrodzincoln]

Good finds! I like that oil company sign. Do you have any idea how old the badge is? When I was a kid I found a 1912 sheriff badge when I was digging through an old bottle dump. I traded it to a friend for a couple of model car kits. I could kick myself now.

 

[William-NM]

Sorry to say, the police pin is modern - made in china stamped on back, but still a cool find to me - interestingly, the pin back was still on it - maybe a little scuffle and it got torn off or just new and a pocket drop....
Yeah, I dream of finding early badges, spurs, guns, etc. It's gonna happen, I've got a long list of sites that I've been plugging into the gps - some will be 2 or 3 day trips, 'cause it will take some hiking to locate them. In any case, I really enjoy being out in these forgotten places and just seeing what turns up. I mentioned in another post last week, I had just found a couple of 1942 nickels (one silver, one not), a Silver 1952 Rosie dime, and a little silver ring in a most unlikely spot out in the GIla, when a County Officer stopped to check me out. We ended up talking for 45 minutes and swapping stories. He had found a set of spurs, belt buckle, & GUN! out in AZ (around Prescott). How cool would that be?

But I digress.... I hear 'ya re: Sheriff Badge, arggh! When I was in my late 20s, my dad died. He had a stamp, coin & collectibles shop in the Chicago area (Oak Park). I was his executor with help from one of my sisters. We sold it off in lots - didn't know what to do with a lot of the categories - he had tens of thousands of pieces of political buttons, paper items of all kinds, antiques, jewelry, mounted butterflies and insects, military - you get the idea. We basically gave it away. If only eBay had been around back then, I'd be a rich man (much as we all love to hate feePay, myself included!). Ah, well.

Good finds! I like that oil company sign. Do you have any idea how old the badge is? When I was a kid I found a 1912 sheriff badge when I was digging through an old bottle dump. I traded it to a friend for a couple of model car kits. I could kick myself now.