Picture from Gwynne Hales

At Pull Tab Archaeology we love pull tab stories. So when Gwynne Lockwood Hales sent a picture of some tabs she found walking the the shores of lake Michigan near Chicago, Illinois, we asked why she collected them. She answered:

“I was raised on the east coast of United States and followed in my mom’s footsteps of enjoying treasure findings on the beaches of Massachusetts and Florida.  Sharks teeth, shells, and was always told to pick up garbage.  That lead to finding plastics and metals, which usually I threw away. 

“I probably threw the first few away until I noticed how different they were..”

It was not until I moved to Chicago about 25 years ago that I started going to the beach.  I didn’t think there would be much in the lake’s out of my own naïveté.  About 15 years ago I started collected “Lake Glass or beach glass” and kept coming across pull tabs.  I probably threw the first few away until I noticed how different they were and figured they too must but older and would have some history or story behind the design changes. So, I threw them in a jar.  I eventually thought someone else out there must collect these and that is when I found Pull Tab Archaeology.”