Original Vintage & Restored Leather Keyrings for Classic Cars & Motorcycles

BMW motorcycle - original vintage late 1950s/ early 1960s keyring by AE Wassell - collector's item with some damage

NOW SOLD – sorry this keyring has now been sold and can no longer be ordered but has been left on view as a rare example of an original BMW motorcycle keyring .

We are not licensed by BMW or any of their representatives to reproduce any of the registered BMW designs.

The keyring in this listing is an original BMW motorcycle keyring  which will have been produced around 60 years ago .

Just this one example to offer – when this keyring has been sold this listing will be cancelled .

Original keyrings for BMW motorcycles like this example are very rare items – we have listed very few for sale over the years .

A very rare original BMW motorcycle keyring dating from the late 1950s or early 1960s .

The vitreous enamel badge is mounted onto a keyfob in genuine black corrected grain leather .

Corrected grain leather was extensively used in the 1950s & 1960s & involved removing the top ( grained) surface of the leather to reveal a surface with a consistent smooth texture .

60 years ago leather was all they had for keyfobs and was considered to be a rather common material which was sometimes ‘dressed up’ to look rather better – particularly for a keyring for a prestige motorcycle such as a BMW .

Plastic had thankfully yet to come into general use and nowadays we generally prefer to see the grain of the leather !

The badge is in virtually mint condition whilst the front of the keyfob is also in excellent condition.

Turning the keyring over reveals that the leather keyfob is in good serviceable condition but has suffered surface damage – probably as a result of being in contact with a hot exhaust pipe at some stage .

This surface damage is unsightly but does not affect the structure of the keyring – the extent of the damage can be seen in the final listing photo .

The edges around the damaged area are rough to the touch – we have not made any attempt to smooth the damage .

We know that it is likely that this keyring will be bought by a collector who will value it’s original condition – so we have not remounted the badge and have listed the keyring with the original damaged keyfob as can be seen in the photos .

Mounted in a collector’s cabinet the damage is invisible of course – the front of the keyring looks perfect .

However if the purchaser intends using the keyring then we would be happy to remount the badge onto a new leather keyfob at no additional charge .

The keyring was made in England by  AE Wassell of Birmingham ( Wassell’s distinctive diamond logo is on the reverse of the badge )

Wassells specialised in producing keyrings specifically for motorcycles but didn’t make many of these keyrings for BMW bikes at the time as they were rare on British roads .

Almost all keyrings for the world’s cars & bikes were made in England in the 1960s & 1970s – it was quite an industry .

Interestingly another British keyring manufacturer – SCHALL ( SC HALL )  did produce some BMW motorcycle keyrings at a slightly later date with exactly the same badge design but enamelled by hand in coach enamel .

It may be that SCHALL had bought the badge dies when AE Wassell went out of business in the early 1960s .

We do currently have just 2 examples of SCHALL’s badges listed here in the shop which we have remounted onto new leather keyfobs  ( unless now sold )

The keyring in the photos is the actual one which you will receive. SMOSO 00/59  02/23