Tons of permission and a couple keepers...

[Big Fang Coin Biter]

Saturday I called two landowners to hunt old houses - first guy knew me from when I had the old WWII Jeep. Two permissions in a row! Then the weather forecast said rain all day Sunday. It was just a drizzle so I headed out to the first house. Not a lot of goodies found, but while hunting, the parking lot of the old church on the corner filled up with cars. One guy stopped and said I should try the church. I said I did not know who to ask for permission - he said he was on the board and that I could go ahead (after church). I never made it to the other house site. Found the merc. and the Gotez token at the church and J Harley token at the first house. I also found a nice sleigh bell and six wheat backs. It was fun to get out detecting again. I only covered about a quarter of the church site. It is on my old 1865 maps! I guess I am set for the next couple hunts!
HH - BF

 

[NealNoIN]

I've found a couple of telephone tokens made by Geotz but that looks like a trade token there.

 

[TokenDigger]

Nice finds. I'm not sure what the Geotz token is since I can't see what is written on it but the J. Harley token is attributed to Dowagiac Michigan. The Brunswick, Balke & Collender Co. first started out as JM Brunswick Co. then Balke joined in 1874 and then Collender joined in 1879 and in 1884 it became the Bruswick, Balke Collender Co. So this token dates from the 1880s probably until the early 1900s. If you are in the Dowagiac area, the local historical society or library might be able to give you a better idea when J. Harley was in business. Good luck and HH.

 

[Mike from MI "Iron Brigade"]

n/t

 

[Derrelld]

cool finds man!!

 

[Big Fang Coin Biter]

n/t

 

[Big Fang Coin Biter]

n/t

 

[Big Fang Coin Biter]

n/t

 

[TokenDigger]

Glad that Dowagiac token is local to you. Most of the tokens I find are usually from the area where I find them- I don't think they traveled too much. I took another look at the Goetz token you found and I could see the name written on it. These were used in pay phones. Most of them have an odd shape (like yours) or a slot in them which the pay phone accepted. These were used so that people couldn't use slugs or slot machine tokens in pay phones. These tokens were used from the teens until the 1940s. I've heard they were used primarily in the Chicago area. The ones that are nickel sized are worth 50 cents to a buck. Other sizes, like dime or quarter sized, are a lot scarcer and worth quite a bit more. Neat finds and I hope you can get back to that site. HH

 

[sangamon]

...2,008,415; was issued in 1935.

nice work, Robin, and thanks for sharing!