Mystery Solved

A while back, a friend who knows my obsession with fabulous junk managed to stump me. She gave me a bag of these strange metal tags, each with a number and a ring soldered through it. 
But what were they?  Where did they come from?

She had found them--get this--under the cushion of an old easy chair in a house she moved into. So she passed them along to me, sure I would find, if not their origin, something awesome to create.  At long last, I finally tracked down these little mysteries, thanks to this photo.

Lo and behold, they are vintage laundry pin tags!  I found these at http://www.kittredgemercantile.com/

Mystery solved!  Now if I can just figure out what to do with them....