MYSTERY BAGGAGE TAG OVERSTRIKING SOLVED

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V20 2017 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 23, June 4, 2017, Article 10

Two weeks ago Bill Miller asked about this interesting overstruck Civil War token. We published a suggestion by Jeff Rock in last week's issue, but before he saw it Jeff Kelley of Massachusetts submitted this wonderfully detailed analysis which syncs well with Jeff Rock's thoughts. -Editor

The May 21 edition of The E-Sylum included pictures of a counterstamped Civil War token submitted by Bill Miller of Denton, MD, who was hoping that a reader might have some clues about the origin of his mystery item.

I took the opportunity to engage in a little exercise to see if I could fill in some blanks for the incomplete text of the counterstamp which might in turn help identify its origin. My analysis includes quite a bit of speculation, but I will provide the reasoning and method for coming to the conclusions I reached.

The critical key to the analysis was found in the upper left side of the counterstamped surface: a dot flanked by two lines, which was intended to delineate the text above it from text below it. That small dot provides an important clue as it can be assumed that it is the center point of the width of the lines of text. Also, while the letters in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines of text have the same height, the spacing and width of the letters varies, and I assume this was so that the overall length of each line of text could be kept roughly the same.

With these two assumptions in mind, I was able to estimate the center of each line and the number of characters (letters and spaces) in each row. I identified five rows of text, with the top one being so truncated both vertically and horizontally that it was of limited use in my analysis, except that the partial word seemed to have a B, possibly an A, a G, and then possibly a second G. With that sequence of letters the word BAGGAGE popped into my head.

I began by drawing an imaginary line downward from the dot near the top of the counterstamp; that line provided the middle point of each line of text. All that was left to do was fill in the blanks. To illustrate my method I will start with the last line.

Line 5: Although the first word shown is only partially there, the two words are pretty clearly HUNDRED DOLLARS. The center of that line is the letter E in HUNDRED. There are then 9 characters (letters and a space) to the right of it, which means there should be 9 letters and spaces to the left of it: ----HUNDRED-DOLLARS. So, we need a three letter word to fit in front of the word HUNDRED (leaving a space in between them). Since we are looking for an amount, that three letter word would be a number, which means the word is ONE, TWO, or SIX.

The text that can be read suggests this is some sort of indemnity disclaimer, and based on the assumption that this a 19th century counterstamp the amount of $600 seemed excessive and a bit odd for this purpose, so I am leaning towards $100 or $200 being the amount; for no particular reason I went with $100 since that seems a generous amount for 19th century insurance coverage for a piece of baggage (assuming this is related to baggage).

Using the same method I cane to some conclusions about the text on the other lines.

Line 2: the partial first word reads ERATION. I discovered a handy website that allows you to type in a sequence of letters and chose to search for words that begin or end with that same sequence (http://www.wordbyletter.com/). So, I was able to generate a long list of words that ended with ERATION, and the most suitable one for this application seemed to be CONSIDERATION, and using the imaginary vertical center line, that meant that there was enough room to add the word IN in front, so now we can fill in the blanks with the words IN CONSIDERATION. At the right side of line 2 is a partial word starting with FR, and based on my assumption that each line of text is about the same width, there is only space for a couple more letters, so I settled on the word FREE.

Line 3: this was a tough one as so little of the first visible word on the left side is included. I calculated the number of characters that I was looking for and came up with the word CARRIAGE; the last word on that line only shows the first letter but since there is only room for one more letter I assumed that word to be IS.

Line 4: this is nearly an impossible challenge. Between what we can see and what we can easily deduce, the partial text reads TO BE LIMITED TO. There are seven characters to the left of that, and based on what we already know about the subject matter I speculated that the missing word is AGREED.

IN CONSIDERATION OF FREE
CARRIAGE ITS VALUE IS
AGREED TO BE LIMITED TO
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS

This begs the question about what is being subjected to this condition. My initial speculation about the top line including the word BAGGAGE would make this text an indemnity disclaimer for transporting baggage. Line 1 has space for ten letters and spaces to the left of the word I have assumed is BAGGAGE, and of course there could have been more lines of text above that line on the original counterstamp. So, what is above the dot flanked by two lines is the subject of the limitation that is being described below it.

My speculation is that this token was counterstamped with a die used to make a railroad baggage claim tag. The metal tag would have included a unique number which would have corresponded to a similar tag attached to the baggage or luggage. I did a little cursory searching on the Internet and I did not find anything with this type of text, but perhaps some experts in that field could offer more insight.

Jeff Rock came to the same conclusion via an alternate route, even locating the suggested text on the web, linking it to a court case regarding lost baggage involving a railroad. Now Julia Casey has found a baggage tag showing the exact wording that The Two Jeff's independently predicted. E-Sylum readers sure are a smart and resourceful bunch! -Editor

I think everyone is correct with the baggage tag suggestion - here is a tag that looks to have the same imprint on the reverse. Neat item!

This vintage brass railroad baggage tag measures 1 1/2" x 1 7/8" and reads "Hoole, N.Y., Rochester and Pine Valley 113 VIAN-Y-C. N.C." on the front. On the back it reads "Check for Baggage, In Consideration of Free Carriage its Value is Agreed to Be Limited to One Hundred Dollars".

It is great that The E-Sylum has readers who could definitively identify it, and with pictures, no less. After I concluded that this was text from a baggage tag I looked at a couple sites dedicated to railroad baggage claim tags, and for some reason the backs of the tags were never shown. It may be that this was a stock disclaimer that was used on many tags as there apparently were only a few manufacturers of them.

I am in awe that I was able to figure out what I did. I never had the occasion to use that method of analysis before, but it proved to be unbelievably accurate. I stopped before trying to figure out the full text of the top line, but CHECK FOR BAGGAGE is exactly the amount of characters that I had estimated. I will have to keep this method in mind for similar counterstamp challenges in the future.