MDL Tag

[lil1steve]

Hello Everyone,
Brand new here and want to share and gather information from the old timer's, My brother in law and I have been hobby detecting for about 2 years in Central Wisconsin, we recently came across and have been detecting a dump from the late 1890's and we have a tag, copper, the size of a quarter and MDL
9.
1890
We believe it might be or stands for Mosinee Dog License.
Our question is, Are these common

 

[Digger Don]

My guess would be that it could be a dog tag. and no, they are not common from 1800s.
Very cool find.

 

[aloldstuff]

I have to agree with Digger Don. Very rare to see a dog tag from the 1800's.

If you feel like introducing yourself to the forum go to New to American Detectorist.

 

[OxShoeDrew]

Maybe a tool tag of some sort? What is attached to it? Great to have you here!! I hope someone can help you out! Any other cool finds from your previous hunts?
PS I hope someone can ID it as I've found a few like it.

 

[Digger_O'Dell]

Hello lil1steve and welcome from SE Wisconsin! Its always a cool find when it's dated, eliminates half the research! :lol: My guess is that you are correct and probably a dog license.

 

[Lodge Scent]

Looks like a tool tag but because it has a date I would lean towards dog tag. Either way a very nice find.

 

[MangoAve]

I think I will go to point out one thing most wont think of. The clasp or hook is obvi not iron. That might be a factor making it a tool tag vs a dog license. So far I haven't seen a dog license without an iron clasp. With the item having a date, I'd agree with Jeff on dog license. By 1907, though, there were 5 digits on dog licenses, not just one digit. They are kind of rare before 1900, but they do exist. I think the earliest was sometime around 1870 dog licenses started appearing. One map I found for CT had a dog pound marked and the map was drawn 1868.

 

[del]

It very well could be a "dog license " although the common term was "dog tax tag" but you could confirm what they used by checking into the old town records. #1 to see if they did indeed have a animal tax back then and #2 if they called it a "dog license" and issued them . It could be very valuable to a collector.

Dan

 

[calabash digger]

cool find either way! love finding stuff with writing on it, welcome.