Found this yesterday, thought it was neat to research it...........

[seger98]

Went back to the mine that I was at the day before (where I found my first silver coin of the year) and found this brass plate that obviously came from a engine..... But what kind of engine? sometimes the research can be as fun as actually doing the metal detecting. The first picture is of the plate that I found, the second is of the kind of engine it would have been on, it's a hoist, I would imagine that it's a hoist for raising rock & or men from the mine shaft. thanks for looking! HH Seger98

[wyattrr]

Cool find...is the a ID plate from a drilling engine? Where's the rest of the machine? Maybe broken down over time, did you see evidence of other human activity? HH

[seger98]

Cool find...is the a ID plate from a drilling engine? Where's the rest of the machine? Maybe broken down over time, did you see evidence of other human activity? HH

It's from a hoist, to haul the ore and or men from the mine shaft, I found alot of activity in the area, at that time in history (early 1900's) these miners lived in tents, I could tell from what I found in different areas that you had a doctor in this area, a seamstress in another, workers in yet another. It's a pretty neat place! once you can put it all together.

[misterbeee]

That was way cool!!!! I'll be out of here in 4-5 days.

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Neat.  We have a couple somewhat local hobbiests who find and restore the old external combustion and hot-and-miss engines and run them at the county & state fairs.    Good stuff.

[Ken from Atlanta]

That's really neat! There are supposed to be some old "steam donkeys" abandoned in the woods near old logging areas out here that were used to pull logs out of the woods long ago, but I haven't found one yet. Guess I need to get out that way more.

[PBK]

Great find!  According to Antique Mining Equipment and Collectibles  by David W. Pearson & Ron Bommarito (2002), brass or bronze machinery plates can be worth up to $200, depending on age and condition.

[seger98]

Great find!  According to Antique Mining Equipment and Collectibles  by David W. Pearson & Ron Bommarito (2002), brass or bronze machinery plates can be worth up to $200, depending on age and condition.

NO WAY, GET OUT OF HERE! that's just crazy. I would have never thought it to be that much, it is in excellent condition. Thanks for the info

[PBK]

I guess the key phrase is "up to..."  The actual price range cited in the book is "$65 to $200," but I'd be willing to bet your plate is closer to the high figure. ;)

[ModernMiner]

Very cool find Seger!
Congrats on your banner find.
-MM-
P.S. I'll be up in Boulder Junction the first week of June.

[civilman1]

That's definetley half the fun is the reseach.Hope she's high on the collectable list....Nice find and HH!!

[TEXAN Connection]

Wow banner!  way to go, and a very unique find

[TreasurdiggrNY]

Congrats on a great plate and making the banner WTG!
Glenn

[seger98]

Congrats on a great plate and making the banner WTG!
Glenn

Wow, thanks for pointing that out to me, I'm proud to have both found the plate & make the banner!!

[oldhippiecoinhntr]

        Many times value's given in books, is somewhat speculative, and a matter of opinion on the writers part. Seen many erroneous facts printed in books.

       However from personal experience, I can say without hesitation, that this engine name tag, would never sell for as little as $50.00! NO, if this was put on Ebay, or offered on another form of sales venue, that is geared toward the engine collector, this tag would EASILY sell for $200.00 or possibly much more!!

      Been around the hobby myself for many years, though not active now. The West Coast engine is a very rare engine, with only several copies being around. Value of the engines runs in the many thousands of dollars each. Note the engine number on tag. That is a serial number, and not many more were likely made of this make. There were over 3000 makes of early flywheel style engines, and many makes never saw more than a couple of copies made, or lasted more than a year on the market. If one would be missing the original name tag, and assumeing the hp on tag matches the enigne size, imagine the price the owner would be willing to pay to get this tag. AND, a collector of this engine, would cherish another tag, to add to his collection of memorobilia for engines. The hobby has many collectors with seemingly un-exhuastable sources of money, that spend what it takes to own, and more accurately, outdo his fellow collector. Recent years have seen  the engine hobby being dominated by money men, more interested in status, than historical collecting of early machines. It didnt used to be that way. But the ego maniacs have come into the hobby. Though still many collectors in it, that collect for the joy of owning a piece of history.But working men are being left in the dust of "money to spend" eliteists.

        A freind for years has been re-casting, or reproduceing copies of other engine cast brass tags. He has been selling them for $50.00 to $100.00 each, depending on how large or complicated. So $200.00 for original would not be unexpected. Especially for rare one. I have sold many cast tags from engines not so rare, for somewhat less. So, dont discount the tags value, or sell it for first offer. Try a good auction site, like Ebay, I think you will be pretty surprised at what you get.

      OH, and thanks fellow detectorists, for listening to my rant on collecting.

[aa battery]

Hey congrats on the find and the banner...aa

[seger98]

        Many times value's given in books, is somewhat speculative, and a matter of opinion on the writers part. Seen many erroneous facts printed in books.

       However from personal experience, I can say without hesitation, that this engine name tag, would never sell for as little as $50.00! NO, if this was put on Ebay, or offered on another form of sales venue, that is geared toward the engine collector, this tag would EASILY sell for $200.00 or possibly much more!!

      Been around the hobby myself for many years, though not active now. The West Coast engine is a very rare engine, with only several copies being around. Value of the engines runs in the many thousands of dollars each. Note the engine number on tag. That is a serial number, and not many more were likely made of this make. There were over 3000 makes of early flywheel style engines, and many makes never saw more than a couple of copies made, or lasted more than a year on the market. If one would be missing the original name tag, and assumeing the hp on tag matches the enigne size, imagine the price the owner would be willing to pay to get this tag. AND, a collector of this engine, would cherish another tag, to add to his collection of memorobilia for engines. The hobby has many collectors with seemingly un-exhuastable sources of money, that spend what it takes to own, and more accurately, outdo his fellow collector. Recent years have seen  the engine hobby being dominated by money men, more interested in status, than historical collecting of early machines. It didnt used to be that way. But the ego maniacs have come into the hobby. Though still many collectors in it, that collect for the joy of owning a piece of history.But working men are being left in the dust of "money to spend" eliteists.

        A freind for years has been re-casting, or reproduceing copies of other engine cast brass tags. He has been selling them for $50.00 to $100.00 each, depending on how large or complicated. So $200.00 for original would not be unexpected. Especially for rare one. I have sold many cast tags from engines not so rare, for somewhat less. So, dont discount the tags value, or sell it for first offer. Try a good auction site, like Ebay, I think you will be pretty surprised at what you get.

      OH, and thanks fellow detectorists, for listening to my rant on collecting.

Wow, I really had no idea, thank you very much, the info you presented makes alot of sense....... Don't think I want to sell it though, I've really been saving all my finds for my granddaughter! But thanks again for your info!

[MD Dog]

You might wanna post it on ebay with a silly reserve price like ten grand. That way you'll see what the value is right now for insurance purposes. It's that time of year for me when I take a look and see if I need to reinventory my household goods to make sure they're covered in my Home Insurance policy.
Cool find BTW, congrats on banner.

[Ozzygold]

Sometimes finds like these are way better than the usual coins or jewellery, great find!

[desertfox]

Now that's a piece to be proud of.  That would fit right in there with any collecton, silver or gold.  Congrats and congrats on making the Banner, too.

Desertfox

[Tommi]

That's pretty cool, awesome condition!

[weasel606]

thats a real beauty  congrats  ;)

[Southern_Boy]

That is a way cool plate to have found. I do agree that research is as much fun as detecting, they both go hand in hand...thanks for sharing the information with us.

[woodpecker]

good discovery as sound as a pound .

Woody

[dgaughan]

very cool find  congrats and hh

[Ferrous]

Another area you might want to explore is just north of you. Searchlite Nev. and Nelson. Both prolific mining towns around the turn of the century. Lots of relics and just a couple of hours away. I found a stationary engine like that in Nelson years ago and on a later trip it was gone. Happy hunting.

[seger98]

Another area you might want to explore is just north of you. Searchlite Nev. and Nelson. Both prolific mining towns around the turn of the century. Lots of relics and just a couple of hours away. I found a stationary engine like that in Nelson years ago and on a later trip it was gone. Happy hunting.

Been to both of those places, not being totally familiar with Searchlight, I didn't want to trespass as I did see alot of no trespassing signs, as far as Nelson goes, I believe that is in the Lake Meade Recreational Area & metal detecting is not allowed. I did detect a little there before I knew the rules. Thanks to everyone for the nice comments!

[TreasureTales]

Very cool.   So happy to know what it came from, thanks for doing the research.