My friend and I have been hunting an old school house site that was in use from 1898 to 1965. We have found several old coins, but the most interesting finds are the relics that range from toy gun parts to roller skate wheels, train wheels and jewelry. One day I was not having much luck and was ready to give up when I ran across a nice quarter signal about 5" deep. I pulled out this brass item that had a date on the top of 1936 and had a dial with letters and numbers on it. I wasn't sure what it was, but the first thing that came mind what the secret decoder pin from the movie Christmas Story. After cleaning it up a little I noticed it had the initials ROA, so I decided to look it up on the internet and sure enough ROA stands for Radio Orphan Annie and after further research they were made by Ovaltine from 1935 to 1940 and the 1940 version is what was used in the movie. In 1941 Ovalrine stopped sponsoring ROA and Caption Midnight switched the decoders to paper because of the shortage of metal during WWII.
Bear - Ohio, USA