Jaguar XK 140 – original Manhattan Windsor vitreous enamel on gilt badge remounted onto a new leather keyfob – collector’s item

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

An original Jaguar XK 140 keyfob badge which will have been produced in the late 1960s or 1970s which we have remounted onto a new leather keyfob as can be seen in the photos .

We have just this one keyring with this badge to offer – when it has been sold this listing will be cancelled.

We would usually only describe a particularly rare completely original keyring with an original badge still mounted onto it’s original leather keyfob as a ‘collector’s item’.

We have made an exception in this case as this original badge is so rare that we have described it as a collector’s item even though the badge is not mounted onto it’s original leather keyfob ( so far as we are aware these badges were never originally mounted onto keyfobs at the time )

These badges are very well described and photographed on 2 pages of Bud Marston’s ‘Vintage Jaguar Keyrings’ book .

The badge is in new condition as it will never have been issued .

The translucent red & gold vitreous enamel is laid into a gilt plated badge .

Made by Manhattan Windsor of Birmingham – their M over W mark is cast into the reverse of the badge .

As already stated – we have mounted the badge onto a new leather keyfob in full grain black leather with a new splitring in ‘antique gold’ to match the gilt plating of the badge .

So far as we are aware , specific keyrings were never produced for XK 120 or XK 150 , and what few XK 140 keyfob badges which have ever appeared like this one are the only ones which were ever produced for XK 140 .

Apparently they were produced a few years after the cars themselves – at which time most XK 140s would still have been in regular use on the roads .

At the time of the XK 120 ( 1948 -1954 ) car keyrings had not yet come into general use .

Similarly car keyrings had only just appeared towards the end of production of XK 140 ( 1954 -1957 ) and were still not in full production during the time of XK 150 ( 1957 -1961 )

This is the reason that this badge was produced a few years after production of the XK 140 itself.

So far as we are aware these gilt plated badges were never originally mounted onto leather keyfobs and very few examples have ever appeared .

We did see just a few around 10 years ago which we similarly remounted onto new leather keyfobs but so far as we can remember have only seen a couple or so since .

This particular badge has recently been found amongst other original Manhattan Windsor badges from the original source where the others came from around 10 years ago and we would not expect any more to appear from there .

We would mention that some keyrings with chrome plated copies of these badges appeared on an internet auction site some time ago .

These badges had plain backs and were in modern resin based enamel – so unlikely to be confused with an original badge .

The keyring in the photos is the actual one which you will receive – a keyring with a very rare original badge of which very few examples have ever appeared. SMOSO  00/524   09/23