Posted 9 years ago
SpiritBear
(813 items)
I dig these all the time. Not all in the photos do I still have, as I also sell them, but after I think 35 I stopped cataloging them (I catalog everything I dig.)
It used to be that I could bring only 2 home in my damaged backpack, plus other finds.
Then I got baskets on my bicycle, thus bringing it up to 4 for the baskets.
Then I bought a car, so it kind of went to dozens if I desired (as seen in last pic.) LOL
Why I put these in both railroadiana and advertising is because any train-station from the Victorian era to early 1900s should have pavers. It's just that they rarely let the side advertising the brand be seen. But, flip the large pavers (not small) over, and you'll likely see these,
They covered city streets-- the important main roads. Carriages crossed these, early automotives too. Children skipped along these as horses trampled over.
Now, they're found dumped in woods, in water, found in industrial filling, but most easily found in old train-stations.
Pavers are still made, but rarely debossed (sunken-in lettering) or embossed (raised-up lettering.)
These photographed are from the "Golden Age" of pavers, the 1890s to 1910s. There are countless companies that put them out, and even more variants. The fact that many bricks are also debossed can confuse people who know little on these, but those are also collectible.
If you're a digger and stumble along these, don't throw them out. People tried using them to "compact" garbage in outhouses, so you may find these even in privies. They're collectible, but shipping is costly so they aren't usually worth much for online auctions.
Still, $5 per paver is a good price for one in good condition with words all over its front. Ones with images can be even better, although just a simple star is questionable.
Sadly, most of these will be mortared-over, and that can be difficult to clear off without damaging the paver.
Hah, they moved it.
Where do you live SpiritBear? Where is all this prime digging territory?
Stranger danger! Joking. LOL. I'm in historic Muskegon, Michigan.
You probably won't find this stuff in areas built up after 1930. I started out in the lake, actually. I moved on to hiking through the woods and kicking around anywhere that looked to be promising. I learned how to put a general, if not specific, date on things and went from there.
Currently there's snow covering the ground, so I'm out of commission for now.
The first pic of two pavers I pulled off Muskegon Avenue when they tore it up and revealed the scattered remains of a few pavers under all that had been over them for God knows how long.
The first and last paver in pic two, of 3 pavers, I found by a lake on a hill. The central one I found at another lake in the sand.
The sand was for the one in the next pic, too.
The others I found when digging into the ground in an area of forest with the foundation to an old building still there. Same goes for the cans, which can be cleaned, and bottle.
That's like out here in Gold Country. California hasn't much really old history. Gold country you find all kinds of stuff around old gold camps & logging camps etc.
California is quite old. It's just that progress saw quite a bit of it get buried, and the rest is hidden.
There are a lot of people who live out there and dig/collect Californian history.
Being from Ohio, I like that Buckeye one. I have two old brick molds I'll have to post.
The really nice Buckeye Block went as a gag gift to our Church's former pastor Wally as "Mom's holiday fruit-cake" wrapped in pretty paper. He loves the Ohio Buckeyes.