Interesting piece of history at an estate sale today ...

[Thumper]

This guy had a massive collection ... lots of WWII stuff and even quite a bit of Vietnam War memorabilia. This one thing really caught my eye and it was a reminder of a time in our history that is really hard to comprehend in a lot of ways. It's a "Slave Tag"

From the net:

Slave Tags or slave badges were used by slaves in and around the well-known seaside and slave trade city of Charleston, SC from the late 1700s to 1865.

There were laws in place in the early 1800s which allowed slave owners to hire out their slaves. These laws were in place in southern cities including Mobile, Norfolk, New Orleans, and Savannah. But, the only southern city that had a strict regulatory method for keeping track of these slaves was Charleston. Slave owners could rent out the services of their slaves to others for a fee. Slaves were required to wear a slave tag or identification marker.

Here's a pic of the one I found today. It says:

Nappy John
Buck Nigger Slave
Lowes Hog Farm
Columbia, S.C.
1854

There are some other markings (numbers and crosses, etc) but I don't know their significance.


slavetag.jpg

[LJ3]

Jesus... that's kinda hard to look at!

[HideHunter]

Wow.. Cool piece but I agree with Len.. ouch.

On a slightly lighter note.. Thump, there's an old dump washing out of the bank on my stretch of river (remember I found the Gargoyle sign?)



another quick note on the sign.. I gave it to my bil. He just built a new shop for all his old "muscle cars". They were at an auction the other day and chased a Gargoyle oil can to $136.. Man - the right *old* crap is valuable.

Yesterday I was fishing so I stopped to "pick" - not nearly as valuable but possibly even more remarkable I found a perfectly intact china tea cup from a children's set. Hard to believe it was thrown in a dump probably at least 80 years ago (probably longer. Dad has lived right in the area all his life and never remembers a dump there and he's 85).. remained under ground and washed out for me to find..

[Thumper]

Yeah Hide, I remember that sign. Didn't you give it to your brother (or something like that)? Old oil signs bring big $$$ these days ... especially the more rare examples. It's hard to believe the journey that cup made without being broken.

Yeah, looking at that slave tag kinda gave me the willies in a way. It seems so archaic, it's kinda hard to believe that really wasn't all that long ago.

[Thumper]

Ooops, I guess you slipped the edit in while I was typing. I was close ... you gave it to your bro-in-law. Yep, gas & oil stuff is hot these days. I've sold quite a few old oil cans ... I just haven't had anything super rare yet.

[Bwana]

Hey Jim, is there any market for old "parts cabinets?"

Years ago my dad used to have a service station which sadly burnt down. Though most of the building was destroyed most of the office area was not. It was in this area where the parts cabinets were. These cabinets, or other forms of containers, were either mounted to the wall or were stand-alone and had the name of the parts company on them, such as "Hastings" or "AC Delco" etc. and were used to store/display things like oil filters, wiper blades, ignition parts, etc.

Now that Dad has retired from farming and sold most of the machinery he doesn't really have a need to keep all that stuff. Is there a market for it and if so, where should I look?

[Thumper]

Bwana, almost any vintage gas & oil item with advertising is at a premium these days. The problem with your parts cabinets is the shipping would really eat into your profit. You could always list on eBay as a "local pick-up" sale and see what happens. Otherwise, I'd suggest Craig's List, although that really cuts out a LOT of potential buyers. I practically grew up in my dad's service stations as a kid (Sunoco & Phillips 66). I'd LOVE to have some of the old stuff i remember from those days.