BMW – original vintage 1960s keychain – collector’s item

NOW SOLD – sorry this keychain has now been sold and can no longer be ordered

An original vitreous enamel BMW keychain which will have been produced in the 1960s.

When this keychain has been sold this listing will be cancelled.

Possibly the earliest BMW keyring ( keychain ) which we have ever listed .

This keychain is in superb condition with a vitreous enamel badge connected to the main splitring by means of a tiny splitring .

We know that it dates from the early 1960s as we have very occasionally seen similar keychains for other makes of vehicle – mainly Jaguar – with a badge with these markings on.

Bud Marston in USA has written a very well known book on the subject of Vintage Jaguar Keyrings ( running to some 280 pages ! ) which can be seen in the Jaguar section here in this website shop.

Bud has seen Jaguar keychain badges like this BMW one with the same markings on – but has never discovered who they were made by .

The marking is an elongated ‘B’ within an oval together with a smaller ‘C’ within a small circle.

It has been suggested that the ‘ C ‘ relates to ‘copyright’ but this has never been proven.

‘Made In England’ also marked on the back of the badge – at that time almost all keyrings/ keychains for the world’s cars were made in England – it became quite an industry centred on the badgemakers of the jewellery quarter in Birmingham where this badge will almost certainly have been made.

BMW motor cars were rare on British roads in the 1960s – and hardly any keyring manufacturers bothered to make BMW keyrings which adds to the rarity of this item .

It is interesting to compare how B-M-W is represented on this badge compared to the more blocky fonts adopted in later years.

The only flaw worth mentioning is a slight enamel flaw in the right hand side white enamel segment – common enough in early vitreous enamel badges like this one and can just about be seen in the enlarged high resolution listing photos but hardly noticeable when viewed at life size with the naked eye.

Also the very slightest wear to the nickel plating on the eye on top of the badge.

Difficult to establish a value as we have nothing to compare it to – all we can do is to establish a price based on what it costs us in order to put items like this one into stock.

All that can be said is that if this was one of the Jaguar keychains we have mentioned and in this condition then the price would be 2 or 3 times more – and this BMW item is much rarer than it’s Jaguar counterpart !

The keychain in the photos is the actual one which you will receive. SMOSO   00/522   01/22