Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| John Brooks Beach Monday Morning. |
It seems like sand is everywhere. It is washing up on the beaches and being pumped on the beaches. We are well into summer beach conditions.
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| John Brooks Beach Monday Morning. |
Besides all the sand, with all the snow birds and local detectorists, most beaches are way overhunted. Take that into account when deciding how to approach one of those beaches.
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| Superficial Scallops at a Fort Pierce Beach. |
I did a few minutes of detecting and didn't find any coins but did find one piece of jewelry. I'll have to test and photograph it. I don't know if it is any good or not. It is a kind of thing that could easily be missed if you aren't careful. Evidently it was missed along with thebeeer bottle caps and buried cans.
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| Beautiful Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Monday Morning. |
A couple girls who drove from California were watching the beach renourishment and taking pictures too. Still a lot of out-of-state people here.
Some thunder and lightning this morning. And some mosquitos.
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| Several Buttons Found in One Small Area. |
I did some more metal detecting on the Indian River Ridge site where I've been finding tons of railroad hardware. My most recent finds there included the buttons and clothes connectors shown above. They were found in one small area with two or three times as many rusty bent nails.
The buttons appear to be brass. It seems to me these came from overhauls or work clothes. I also found what I think is a buckle from an adjustable suspender. It was in poor condition and fell apart.
Three of the buttons are marked Lee - with the long L. Five are marked Old Kentucky. A couple of buttons are still snapped together. You can see that on the one button in the photo above.
It seemed to me that maybe there was a garmet or two that was discarded or lost and deteriorated in the ground.
Here is a photo of one of the uncleaned Lee buttons.
The company we know today as Lee Jeans, began life as the H.D. Lee Company, based out of Salinas Kansas. Mr. Henry David Lee launched this business venture back in 1889 as a grocery wholesaler that used the burgeoning new network of railroads to ship fresh produce across previously impassable distances.
Lee stumbled into workwear after he had trouble getting adequate supplies from his Eastern workwear suppliers and began producing overalls for his workers in house. Overalls became coveralls, coveralls became locomotive jackets—and finally jeans and denim jackets.
Here are the reference links.,
Midwest Vintage | Vintage History (midwest-vintage.com)
Lee Storm Rider Denim Jackets - The Complete Vintage Guide (heddels.com)
I have not yet found as much information on the Old Kentucky Manufacturing Company. Here is one of Old Kentucky buttons.
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The Old Kentucky Manufacturing Company made Old Kentucky Well Made Brand work shirts, pants, overalls, play suits and dress shirts. The company originally started out as the Kentucky Manufacturing Company in 1904 and and was succeeded by Old Kentucky in 1909. At some point in the late 1960s the Old Kentucky name was re-registered by the Washington Manufacturing Company who manufactured the Dee-Cee brand.
Here is an advertising label.
Source: Union-Made: 1942 Old Kentucky Manufacturing Co., Advertising Envelope (union-made.blogspot.com)
Here is web site that gives some tips on how to identify antique bottons. You might find it useful.
Vintage Button Guide: Ways to Identify Antique Buttons - HobbyLarkr
The TreasureBeachesReport.blogspot.com has a lot of posts on old buttons.
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I have a variety of hunting sites I'm enjoying now besides the ocean beaches. I got addicted to the Indian River Ridge site. It just keeps producing stuff. Not great stuff, but stuff that I find interesting.
The surf will be small for at least a few days, and the tides are now pretty flat.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net