I didn't realize

When we cleaned out the milk barn to prepare for my Daddy's estate sale, I told Mama I wanted to keep the brass tags that we used to hang from a chain around the cows' necks.  At the time I didn't have a clue what I would do with those things but I just couldn't stand to part with them.

Earlier this year, I bought a few supplies at the craft store and put them together as wind chimes.  There were enough of them to make a chime for each of our children and one to keep.

The design is simple with a wood piece painted with metallic paint.  I screwed eye-hooks into it and strung the tags onto a piece of nylon cord.  The 'clapper' part of the chime is a plastic tag that hangs down below the others with a large galvanized washer that clangs into the tags.  They have a nice little tinkle in the wind and it brings back memories of getting the cows out of the pasture and up to the barn. 

I wanted the children to have the tags for sentimental reasons, obviously.  Little did I realize that the tags had any value!  I saw a blog post today which featured a similar tag as a keychain.  The post referenced this Etsy link as a source for the tags.  Wow!  My gift was far more valuable than just the sentimental feelings I had, evidently!

Hope they appreciate theirs as much as I do my own and I'm sure my Daddy is smiling about that!