Baffling Disk

In November 2007 on an American forum, an English detectorist reported that he had found a ‘round brass tag’ on a beach. He said the object had a hole on the top ‘to hang it from something’, with the words COSMOS LINE on one side and AFTER USE RE-COIL CLOCKWISE on the other. The disk baffled him, and he looked for an identification. The picture below shows what he found.

Described on the Net as a Token, Coin or Jeton

Americans scoured Mr. Google and there were several possible leads, but all incorrect. There was one long and involved explanation saying – basically – that COSMOS was a shipping line (beach connection?) and the artefact sounded like a fire hose reel tag. The original poster welcomed the explanation and thought that the item could be from a shipwreck. Not a bad explanation and conclusion, but incorrect.

Other attempts at identification were rather more fanciful.’Numista’ who should know better, said that the scope of the product was unknown and it was a ‘miscellaneous’ token definitely used on the Cosmos Line ships. Wrong on both counts, I reckon. Cosmos Shipping Ltd was established in 1993 and now has a world leading container fleet. This artefact looks older. ‘World of Coins’ said . . . doubt the item has anything to do with the shipping line of this name. Perhaps fishing line. We’re getting there!

Moving Forward

I now move forward about twelve years to a post on one of the premier hobby sites of the time, now defunct I think. The guy reported that he’d found a lot of ‘lead and assorted stuff ’ plus an unusual ‘token’ containing the words COSMOS LINE and wondered if anyone knew what it was.

Within the hour he had a positive identification. He learned that what he’d found was the remains of a vintage tool commonly used by bricklayers and builders. The COSMOS LINE was a wind-up chalk line and the disc would have been on the end to prevent it from being reeled inside – and he posted a picture of the modern equivalent. Sometimes it takes a while to identify an artefact … well done, that man!

Modern Examples

Although manufacturers had different names like HEXO – RONDO – MASON – CORDO and RAPIDO, its generic name was COSMOS LINE. Here’s a crappy picture of the Spear and Jackson modern version currently being sold on eBay.

COSMOS Chalkline seen on eBay

Modern “COSMOS” Chalk Lines. Courtesy of Spear and Jackson