BMW – original vintage 1960s vitreous enamel keychain badge with replaced keychain

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

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

The keychain in this listing has an original  BMW keychain badge which will have been produced around 50 years ago which we have provided with a replacement key chain .

An original vitreous enamel BMW keychain badge which will have been produced in the 1960s which we have provided with a new keychain as can be seen in the photos.

We have just this one keychain to offer – when this keychain has been sold this listing will be cancelled.

We did recently list and sell a very similar BMW keychain but it was simply marked ‘ Made in England ‘ on the reverse of the badge without the ‘elongated B ‘ symbol .

A very early BMW keychain badge with the classic early ‘BMW’ typescript  – very different to the typescript used in later badges .

This vitreous enamel badge is in superb physical condition but the original keychain was missing ( as they almost always are ) – so we have fitted a new keychain & splitring using a new old stock keychain & splitring which will probably date from the 1970s .

The two white vitreous enamel quadrants in the badge have some slight yellow staining – yellow staining was a common flaw in white vitreous enamel at the time .

This can be seen in the enlarged high resolution photos .

‘Made In England’ marked on the reverse of the badge – in the 1960s 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.

Additionally the reverse of the badge also contains the mysterious ‘ elongated B’ symbol which we occasionally encounter on the reverse of early keychain badges like this one .

We know that the badge dates from the early 1960s as we have very occasionally seen similar keychains for other makes of vehicle – mainly Jaguar & Audi – 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.

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 .

The keychain in the photos is the actual one which you will receive – this keychain badge would be original & correct for use with any 1960s or very early 1970s BMW .

SMOSO  00570626