More little mysteries to try and figure out.
This little box and gold pin were found in the old Hugo & Elsie (Kuhl) Wilhelm home at 1010 Maple Street by Joe Kalkhoff whose parents lived at this location for several years.
Apparently there was a salesman who lived there for a few years and then Art & Evelyn Pahl lived there before the Kalkhoffs.
The salesman and the Pahls don't have a direct Manning connection so my best guess is that this item was left there when the Wilhelm family moved out.
BUT Joe Kalkhoff showed it to Lois (Wilhelm) Peters and she didn't recognize it.
Joe said his dad kept the family up on their history so he is fairly sure it isn't connected to the Kalkhoffs.
Another option could be that the Pahls purchased some stuff at a local sale and the little box with pin was in it. I know the Pahls liked history and little knickknacks, but this is all a guess.

I often write about how every family's old pictures, memorabilia, and historical stuff will eventually get thrown away or lost, well here is a perfect example of a historical item that some family member once treasured and now no one knows anything about it.

I do like it that I can take some pictures of the Lewis & Reinhold jewelry box...a lot of history about this business, but so sad that we'll probably NEVER find out the history of this pin.

I did some quick searching for pins on the Internet.
I didn't think this is an Eastern Star pin - every image I found on the Internet was much more ornamental.
But now I've had a couple of people e-mail me and think this might be a pin some Eastern Star members in Manning wore.

Back: Louise Tisdale, Marie McGrath, Felicia Campbell, Edna Wyatt, Mary Lou Hansen (wife of John R. Hansen), Bertha Sutherland, Bertha Holmberg, Anna Karstens, Elva Gotch
Middle: Fredda Hinz, Fern Anderson, Gertrude Hoffmann, Clara Claussen, Clara Lewis, Odessa Campbell, Bertha Hockett, Ila Rix, Hazel Meyers, Letha Johnson
Front: Harry Hinz, Dr. Virgil R. Anderson, Harry Hoffmann, Claus Claussen, John Lewis, Robert Campbell, Loren Hockett, Arthur Rix, Henry Meyers, Clifford Johnson

I also searched for Gold Star Mother pins but did not find any with the black border...in fact I did not find any gold pins with this particular type narrow black border during my search.

So if anyone recognizes this specific style pin please let me know.

After a couple of people suggested this pin might be a Gold Star Mother's pin I searched the Internet again. I did find one Gold Star Service banner that has a similar black border.
The other two are WWII era banners. Gold Star Mother's began during WWI and continue on today.

WWII era banners

Pin found at 1010 Maple Street
The pin has some oxidation and scratches so I digitally cleaned them up.

10 K gold has 41.7% gold and 58.3% alloy.
Unfortunately no other markings on back.

This is the jewelry box the pin was stored in.
Now we have no way to know if the pin came in this box or the owner happened to have this empty box and stored the pin in it.
Either way the box is still historically important.

Cover of box

inside of box

Even though we will probably never figure out the history and background on this pin, I'm so glad Joe didn't just throw it away or give it to someone for a knickknack.
It has Manning history which is just another very small piece of the Manning puzzle I keep putting together...It will hopefully end up in a Manning Museum someday.

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