Pocket Watch Fobs: A Waning Collection?

I recall one of our earlier garage sales. Our daughters were 5 and 6 and had a lemonade stand in the driveway leading to my mother-in-law’s garage. We were renting at the time and since her home had a basement, nice garage and lots of storage, having a sale at her place worked well for us.
Our daughters sat in their little sun dresses, lovingly made by my mother-in-law (a story for another time), hair in pigtails and sweet little faces. Folks would come and go and most were charmed by them, often giving them a dime or two whether they had a cup of the tart liquid or not.
Out of an old, worn-out Cadillac came a very tall gent. He had a baseball cap, long white beard and was chewing on a cigar. He took long strides, walked up to the lemonade stand, very purposefully and questioned in a loud voice “Got any FOBS?” The girls looked at each other and just stared. He was quite imposing, but also what had he asked? The younger one asked him “what did you want to know?” He said it again, this time with even more gusto “Got any FOBS?” By then, I had finished wrapping a customer’s purchase and walked toward them. I overheard his question and replied “Sorry, no we don’t.” He abruptly turned and got back in the car, driving off.
The girls still sat there, not sure what had just happened, and then they started to giggle. Then they chuckled, quietly at first and then it erupted into a full blown belly-laugh! Before their imaginations could lead them in a wrong direction, I went to the table and explained that the man had meant ‘pocket watch fobs’, generally medallions or ornaments that were attached to watch chains from years ago. These would aid in removing the watches from the vest pocket. At that time, they were highly collectible and sought after.
Through the years, this episode has brought some laughs. We have repeated it to friends and when the girls hear we are setting up at a flea market, one or the other inevitably asks “got any fobs?” We generally do, because they do not seem to be as collectible as in years gone by.
We’ve listed some on ebay recently and of the four we put on, only one sold. The other ones went to re-listing, and eventually, back to their box in the ‘inventory room.’ Most of the examples we have had through the years were advertising fobs, from companies such as Allis-Chalmers, Harnischfeger, Cutler-Hammer and the like. We also had quite a few from fraternal groups such as the Masons, Odd Fellows, Elks, Eagles and Modern Woodmen of America. Others were from insurance companies, banks, religious groups and various college fraternities.
We have a reproduction of an 1896 Marshall Field & Co. Catalog. There are quite a few “high end” fobs shown. The ones with 10 karat gold mountings went for $5-$11, the lesser ones for $1.50 to $3.00.These were also given to valued employees as presentation pieces, perhaps for long service or reaching a company-set goal.
Fobs were made of many materials including gold, platinum, sterling, leather, cloth even human hair. These hair pieces were lovingly made by the wives who saved strands in hair receivers on their vanities, then wove them for their husband’s cherished pocket watch. These still sell today, but more for the hair-jewelry-concept.
A few years back we were offered the chance to buy a collection of 700+ fobs, all of them advertising for manufacturing firms in the mid-west. We realized that these were not selling as readily as in the past and also that there are TONS of reproductions out there and these are not highly valued. So we passed. It is one of those things that you just never know for sure. But in hind-sight, we are glad we did not take them. We are just not seeing the sales where they should be. We mentioned this to a dealer-friend. He shook his head and said – who do you know that wears a pocket watch today? Even if they have a new one, or grandpa’s, with casual attire at work being so popular, you don’t see suits and vests being worn. Plus, many of the companies are gone and unknown to the collectors who are starting out today. I repeated our garage-sale-story to him and he laughed. He said a lot of younger folks would be laughing at that request today.
There are still a lot watch fob collectors out there, and from what we understand, an active group known as the International Watch Fob Collectors Association as well. But they do not seem to be as popular as years gone by. We wonder if they will make a come-back and we’ll see them proudly displayed by our grandsons – but it is doubtful.
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