Mercedes Benz - original vintage late 1950s CUD torpedo keyring - collector's item

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

An original Mercedes Benz torpedo keyring which will have been produced in the late 1950s .

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

A very rare keyring – this is the only example of an original Mercedes Benz torpedo keyring which we have ever seen and listed over the last 10 years .

The keyring will have been made by Castles Unit Development Co. of Leicester UK – the famous ‘CUD’ Company .

Castles were the very first manufacturers of car keyrings from the mid to late 1950s until the very late 1960s when they became ‘Craftsman’ with a USA connection and then disappeared .

During the late 1950s and 1960s they made keyrings with this distinctive torpedo shape which sadly abruptly went out of fashion in the late 1960s when conventional keyrings as we know them today became much better preferred .

This keyring is in very good condition with the vitreous enamel badge mounted onto a torpedo keyfob in genuine black leather .

The leather which CUD used was actually goatskin with a very fine pebbly grain – the leather on this keyfob has become highly polished with use – we would think that this keyring has covered very many tens of thousands of miles to become polished to this degree .

The vitreous enamelling on the badge is in perfect condition – quite remarkable on a keyring of this age which has received so much use .

The back of the badge is marked ‘MADE IN ENGLAND ‘ -in the 1950s through to the late 1980s almost all automotive keyrings for the world’s cars were made in England – it was quite an industry .

The keyfob stitching is intact and tight whilst the little brass eyelet for the splitring is worn but still perfectly serviceable .

Many of our customers do prefer a keyring in this carefully used but completely serviceable condition rather than a new old stock pristine item which has not ‘had a life’ .

It is only through many years of use that a keyring can gain this patina – this cannot be artificially created .

This keyring is original & correct for use with any late 1950s or early to mid 1960s Mercedes Benz motor car .

We can only imagine the places which this keyring has been to in the days when Mercedes Benz was a rare prestige marque .

The keyring in the photos is the actual one which you will receive.

When it has been sold this listing will be cancelled .  SMOSO    00/543       08/21