MG SA, SV, & SW – original vintage keyring with replaced chain – collector’s item

An original MG SA, SV & SW keyring ( keychain) which we believe will have been produced in the 1950s .

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

We have spoken to a couple of MG authorities about these keyrings – both of whom insist that this keyring will have been produced in the late 1930s .

One of them even insisted that these keyrings will have been issued with new MG SVW cars ………………………….

These authorities knew much more than we do about MG SVW cars – but vintage keyrings are something which we have been involved with for a very long time .

It is our belief that this keyring will actually have been produced in the mid 1950s ( the very earliest car keyrings did not appear until the mid 1950s )

At that time almost all the MG SVW cars would have been in daily use on the roads after most having been laid up unused during the war from 1939 – 1945 .

Owners would then have bought keyrings like this one to use with their cars as keyrings became available in the mid 1950s .

The only other keyring like this one that we have ever seen over the last 15 years was listed and sold in March 2023 – but it did have significant enamel loss .

This keyring is in virtually pristine condition .

The brass or gunmetal MG badge is overlaid by an SVW car in translucent vitreous red enamel with black vitreous enamel tyres.

The window glass is represented by white vitreous enamel .

We have fitted a replacement chain & clasp as the badge came to us without the original chain – which is usually the case with early keychain badges like this one .

The replacement chain & clasp are original new old stock items probably dating from the early 1960s . They match the brass or gunmetal badge very well indeed and had we not known that they were replacements we would not have questioned their authenticity .

The other example which we sold was actually fitted with a ‘snakechain’ …………..but we were unsure as to whether that was the original chain or a replacement chain as ‘snakechains’ were notorious for becoming kinked in use and subsequently breaking .

The keyring in the photos is the actual one which you will receive and the listed price simply reflects what we were lucky enough to pay for it .

It is our experience that a keyring of this rarity could probably command a very much higher price to a serious international collector of early MG automobilia .