Around these parts, in the coal country of WV, miners used pins very similar to these to hold the check tags they hung on each car of coal they loaded coming out of the mines. That's how they tallied their pay for the day.
I have one of my maternal grandfathers check tags, found by chance buried in the soil around his old house when my parents were doing some landscaping after they bought the place from all my aunt's and uncles after Grandma died. It rolled right out of hill bank they were cutting back with the tractor blade. Being made of brass, it cleaned up nicely considering how it looked when found. I also have his pay envelopes with this number on them, which make a nice set for display.
The check tag now occupies a special place in my coal mine scrip collection from the county Grandpa worked, lived, and died. I never got to meet him, he passed several years before my birth.
