BMW – original late 1950s/ early 1960s vitreous enamel badge inlaid into a new leather keyfob

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

The BMW  keyring in this listing has an original gear lever knob insert badge which will have been produced over 50 years ago .

We are listing just this one keyring with this inlaid badge  – when this keyring has been sold this listing will be cancelled .

This vitreous enamel badge is in excellent original condition despite a couple of ‘flaws’ – more on this later …………………

The vitreous enamelling is as bright and lustrous as when it was fired over 50 years ago and the enamel is individually hand laid which has led to a couple of low areas in the enamel which can be seen at 7 o’clock & 9 o’clock on the edge of the badge .

These can be seen in the enlarged photos and are not enamel chips – they are low areas in the enamel where the liquid enamel has dipped for some reason and has then solidified leaving a ‘ fish eye’ in the enamel surface .

These ‘ fish eyes’ have been present since the enamel was fired in the kiln and many early vitreous enamel badges have them – all part of the allure of these vintage badges .

Badges with slight flaws like these would probably have been considered unsaleable at the time and up until 2 or 3 years ago .

Since then there has been a dramatic change in acceptability towards flaws in vintage badges by our customers – many now actually seem to prefer a badge which really looks it’s age as this one does.

The badge is also interesting as it is only the 2nd example which we have ever seen where the stylised propellor rotor quadrants in the centre of the badge are represented in light blue enamel and gilt plating rather than the usual white enamel .

Additionally the ‘BMW’ font is a very early version – compare it with the fonts on later badges .

The bright gilt plating on the badge has mellowed to give a most attractive soft ‘antique gold’ finish which is a process which takes place over the years with these old gilt plated badges.

We have inlaid the badge into a new keyfob in full grain black leather .

As can be seen we have fitted a splitring in a similar finish to match the mellow plating on the badge.

Badges like this one will have been produced for inlaying into gear knobs at the time ( this badge being a very early example of this ) – but lend themselves to inlaying into keyrings which is something which we have done with other gear knob badges for other makes of car over the years .

The keyring in the photos is the actual one which you will receive and despite the photography we know that you will be delighted with this keyring if you are ‘into’ originality and appreciate a keyring which is very different and something which no other BMW driver will be using .