Vintage Copper Tag with #30 and Initals?

I purchased this old copper tag with the number 30 and the initials C. W. on it today. Initially I thought it might be a cow tag with the owners or farm name initials on it but now I'm not sure since it's rather large with a diameter of 2". I searched around and most of the other cow tags I found only had a number on it and were smaller in size.

Does anyone know what this tag was used for and what the initials represent or how old it might be?

Thanks!
Kevin

 

Locker maybe. Hole looks too small for a welder/cutters tag.

 

it could be anything......

 

Chit

Could be for many things

It may mean that CW wasn't in the mine when it caved in

Or that someone was lent Crescent Wrench number 30

 

Yes maybe a tool tag in a factory, tool no. 30 from the tool crib id'd in the factory as "c.w.", maybe "concourse west" or whatever.

 

LOL, you guys are killing me! Yes, or it could mean Civil War!

 

Or even Clown Wart.

 

Actually, after further research, I was thinking it could have come from Civil War Camp Parole, in Annapolis Md, which is a couple of miles from where I live and a few miles from where I bought it. Possibly from Charles Welch's (could the C. W. be related somehow?) 250 acre farm that the Government rented in December 1863 to help accommodate the Camp Parole population.

Here's an excerpt from the link below about Camp Parole during the Civil War. Please see the link below for additional info. I know it would be hard to say that this tag came from there but you never know for sure.

http://www.pa-roots.com/pacw/campparole.html

"On May 1, 1863, the Federal government signed a lease with Charles S. Welch and Ann Rebecca Welch, his wife, for the use of their 250-acre farm outside of Annapolis, at a rent of $125.00 per month. The new site was near the Annapolis-Elkridge railroad."

 

I'm no expert in dating typefaces and fonts but I'm guessing that if you find such an expert, he/she would say the font of the stamps dates it to early 20th C. Or later. If you really want to dig into the age of the item, get the metal tested to determine what elements are in the alloy. If there's any aluminum in it, even trace quantities, it can't predate about 1895.

 

Thanks springfld.arsenal, that's entirely possible. It's really not an item worth pursuing at that level.

 

Since bovines are mentioned, I thought I'd weigh in on cow tags, which it isn't, in my opinion.

It's not too big for a cow tag. The larger tags are easier to read from a distance.

Cow tags are generally hung on steel chains, or at least with a steel link to a soft collar, so there would be wear at the hang hole, assuming it was used.

 

'O's are very expensive so they shortened up the word 'COW'.

 

Key tag. We have a few antique key tags like this with antique bit keys still attached. Could be for anything. Hard to tell now.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. I guess I'll have to eat this one and put it to rest...

 

Ha!!!

 

Ahhhh, so the tag is poison to metal fish !!!!