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Thought is was a junker token..... boy was I wrong!

Ronstar

Well-known member
Helped a friend do some stuff today and once we were done we talked a bit about detecting. His lot is not wide but it is quite long. He said go for it but asked I stay in the grassy area rather than Mama’s flowers, not a problem.
Grassy areas were smallish and I figured 60-90 minutes to sweep. Collected $1.00 in clad and five Memorials. Along the curb strip in the front of the lot I hit a solid 90-91 repeatable signal showing 4-5” down. Silver or clad dollar? Nope. Looked like some type of junker token or maybe a track or scholastic medal, too dirty to tell. Numbers on the bottom looked like 2018 so dropped it in my unknown pouch.
Got home, soaked and cleaned it with Dawn and hot water for awhile and started brushing it with old toothbrush. Now I’m able to read it and I was still thinking it was some type of a promotional medal. Numbers on the bottom turned out to be 2948 so starting to think could this be real? Googled New Jersey Forest Fire Service badge and saw what looked like exact copy of the badge in a photo. Clicked on photo and about spewed coffee straight out my nose, this thing is old and real!!!!!

Now, a little help maybe from the brothers and sisters in NJ....... could someone check and see if there maybe is a record of whom was issued 2948? If there is a museum or historical society with a record, if you can get me the contact info I will take it from there. Thank you, if I can I will try and return it to the family.
 

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Helped a friend do some stuff today and once we were done we talked a bit about detecting. His lot is not wide but it is quite long. He said go for it but asked I stay in the grassy area rather than Mama’s flowers, not a problem.
Grassy areas were smallish and I figured 60-90 minutes to sweep. Collected $1.00 in clad and five Memorials. Along the curb strip in the front of the lot I hit a solid 90-91 repeatable signal showing 4-5” down. Silver or clad dollar? Nope. Looked like some type of junker token or maybe a track or scholastic medal, too dirty to tell. Numbers on the bottom looked like 2018 so dropped it in my unknown pouch.
Got home, soaked and cleaned it with Dawn and hot water for awhile and started brushing it with old toothbrush. Now I’m able to read it and I was still thinking it was some type of a promotional medal. Numbers on the bottom turned out to be 2948 so starting to think could this be real? Googled New Jersey Forest Fire Service badge and saw what looked like exact copy of the badge in a photo. Clicked on photo and about spewed coffee straight out my nose, this thing is old and real!!!!!

Now, a little help maybe from the brothers and sisters in NJ....... could someone check and see if there maybe is a record of whom was issued 2948? If there is a museum or historical society with a record, if you can get me the contact info I will take it from there. Thank you, if I can I will try and return it to the family.
Very cool piece of history there, congratulations!
Tony
 
What super rare find Mr. Ronstar!! It would be priceless if the family can be located.
 
That is quite a Historical Save Ronstar. Well Done sir, and that is a great gesture in attempting to return this to the family once the owner of this badge is revealed. We'll all be waiting to see what SL52's buddy can dig up on this piece. This could turn out to be some story. Congrat's to you and SL52 for helping with the research on this piece.
 
That is a wonderful discovery. Someone will be surprised and thankful to hear about it, and will remember back across the years as though it only happened yesterday. Please let us know how it turns out.

Cheers,

Joe
 
Working on a theory now..... N Idaho went through a large and devastating wildfire in 1910. It came relatively close to where we are located. Trying to research if woodlands fire fighters were brought in from around the country. It is plausible this could have been a base camp for those arriving to fight the southern edges.
 
Wow!! That was a massive fire!!! 3 million acres burned!!
Eighty-six people died in the Big Blowup, most were fire fighters on the front lines of the fire.
Ranger Edward Pulaski, led men to the relative safety of a mine tunnel. The fire turned trees into weird torches that exploded like Roman candles.
The 1910 fire burned three million acres and killed enough timber to fill a freight train 2,400 miles long.
Wallace, Idaho was in the direct path of the raging fire.
Citizens, mostly women and children, boarded trains to evacuate the threatened town.
The entire east end of the town of Wallace was burned down. Appalling desolation was everywhere.
The Great Fire of 1910 burned its way into the American conscience as no other fire had done.
The best estimate of timber salvaged was about 300 million board feet, less than 10 percent of what was killed.
Erosion was also a problem.
The Great Fire of 1910 affected forest fire fighting policy of the nation and influenced forest management to this very day.
 
I agree with your sentiments Hawgdawg. We learn from each other from the posts we read....

Have pretty much eliminated the import of fire fighters. There is a book written about this event and it seems homeless men, unemployed men, volunteers, etc were hired off the streets of Portland, Missoula, Spokane, Seattle, etc. There were no known imports brought in. Now, the University of Idaho was established and the Forestry Dept was formed near the same time. It may have been a fire fighter here attending wild fire behavior classes or something similar. It may be I dont solve this mystery unless I can find who it was issued to and hopefully follow a family history with surviving kin. I love this hobby to the point it hurts sometimes.....
 
Helped a friend do some stuff today and once we were done we talked a bit about detecting. His lot is not wide but it is quite long. He said go for it but asked I stay in the grassy area rather than Mama’s flowers, not a problem.
Grassy areas were smallish and I figured 60-90 minutes to sweep. Collected $1.00 in clad and five Memorials. Along the curb strip in the front of the lot I hit a solid 90-91 repeatable signal showing 4-5” down. Silver or clad dollar? Nope. Looked like some type of junker token or maybe a track or scholastic medal, too dirty to tell. Numbers on the bottom looked like 2018 so dropped it in my unknown pouch.
Got home, soaked and cleaned it with Dawn and hot water for awhile and started brushing it with old toothbrush. Now I’m able to read it and I was still thinking it was some type of a promotional medal. Numbers on the bottom turned out to be 2948 so starting to think could this be real? Googled New Jersey Forest Fire Service badge and saw what looked like exact copy of the badge in a photo. Clicked on photo and about spewed coffee straight out my nose, this thing is old and real!!!!!

Now, a little help maybe from the brothers and sisters in NJ....... could someone check and see if there maybe is a record of whom was issued 2948? If there is a museum or historical society with a record, if you can get me the contact info I will take it from there. Thank you, if I can I will try and return it to the family.
That's a cool piece i gotta say!!
 
SL52, thanks to him for trying!!! I’ve a good friend who is the LEO for the USFS District here, I’m going to see if he has any ideas to follow. I can’t believe there’s not some history of this outfit somewhere.......
I swear between the old rifle casing we dug up (and cant fully ID) and now this, Im gonna be a babbling mental case if I dont figure this out!!!! Is there a self destruct button on a detector or maybe reverse shock switch???
 
To date......... no one from that organization nor anyone from NJ Historical Society has answered my email inquiries. There is a National Firefighters Museum that I’m waiting to see if they answer. Otherwise I guess it just goes on display here at home. Im going to check with a local outfit that repairs/makes/designs jewelry from precious metals/rock etc and see if this bronze badge can be refurbished or cleaned appropriately.
 
You might try contacting the NJFFS on their Facebook page.
 
There has been no response from them....... I am going to give it a second shot tho! Thx
 
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