posted 07-05-2009 11:05 AM            

I thought I'd try and get a watch fob thread going.

This one is from a secret society that got started in the late 19c at the U of MI. Several years ago it became embroiled in controversy over its use of an office in the university and its use of Native American artifacts and I believe it is no longer in existence.

You can see how perceptions have changed just by looking at the nickname on the back.

posted 07-09-2009 12:45 PM            

Good idea for a thread!

Here's my current favorite. I couldn't resist this one because of the visual pun--the shape of the fob echoing the shape of a bicorne hat. I'm pretty sure it's silver and lead, but no idea whether the musket ball was really found at Waterloo or whether it's from the famous 1815 battle.

Does anyone know whether I'll get lead poisoning if I wear it?

Edit: Forgot to say, there are no marks.

posted 07-09-2009 03:43 PM            

The length is one and a half inches, and the only markings are what look like the remnants of Native American decorations.

posted 07-09-2009 04:54 PM            

I love that perhaps-African object.

Here's my very favorite fob, my great-uncle Leon's scholarship medal. I wish I'd asked Uncle Leon about it while he was alive. It's gold (not silver), made by Tiffany's. Do they still make high school scholarship medals? Somehow I don't think so.

Back:

posted 07-09-2009 07:34 PM            

The dangers of lead ingestion come from lead compounds, which are more soluble, not from the metal itself, which is relatively stable in the environment of a body. It's not unusual for bullets to be left in someone - when removing them would cause more of a risk, or when they're in places where they aren't likely to move and cause harm - and for people to live full lives with them. I've known two people who carried bullets, one in his head and one in her hand.

Polly's Waterloo fob is a great piece, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it really is a bullet from the battlefield. There would've been thousands of them around. But next to impossible to prove one way or the other.

posted 07-10-2009 02:39 PM            

I'm afraid I can't relate to a scholarship metal, but it is a nice one. I'm probably treading on thin ice here but let me just say that this medal can be found online (absolutely no connection to me), not as nice as Polly's though.

I hope this thread flourishes.

posted 07-22-2009 01:40 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Polly:
Am I too innocent or not innocent enough? How are these rings used? Or are they symbolic?

How big are they?

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posted 07-23-2009 09:39 PM            

I've been handling lead every day now for the past thirty-eight years in making flatware, both in the bending of the handle for which we use a block of lead as a hammer and for the shaping on the bowls of spoons which is done into lead molds. I have no lead in my system and we have been told by OSHA that the handling of the metal poses no threat.

As to PBS, did they not, a few years ago, film a documentary about the African-American tank unit in World War 11 that liberated Buchenwald concentration camp? Just before the airing of the documentary veterans of the unit came forward and stated that they were nowhere near Buchenwald when it was liberated, in fact a number of hundred miles away. So PBS suddenly decided to not air it. I wonder how they could have filmed a documentary about an event that never took place without knowing that they were entirely wrong. They had to have been aware they were lying. That is why I take anything on PBS with a very large grain of salt.

middletom

posted 08-20-2009 12:46 PM            

Above is a watch fob that The Equitable Life Assurance Company presented to my wife's Uncle. He was an executive with the company some years ago and I suspect it was presented to him at an honorary occasion. His daughter now has the watch fob and remembers him wearing it with his pocket watch.

The fob has Tiffany and Company's mark but it is not marked with anything to indicate the metal content. The representation of a robed figure with a shield protecting a mother and child must have been Equitable's symbol at one time.

The base looks black in the photo, but it appears to be green jade.

posted 08-23-2009 05:25 PM            

Above are pictures of a watch fob, chain and watch that I used many years ago. The fob has what I think are call banded agates as the brown agate has a layer of brown on the top and bottom with white in between. The black one simply has black on the top and white for the remainder. The watch fob is hinged and when open reveals a good size compartment. It may have been a compartment for family pictures.

I included a picture of the watch as it has one of the most attractive faces that I have seen. The watch is a 15 jewel Elgin and the Keystone case is of the warranted for 25 years 14 karat type. These watches were often referred to as Sunday watches – worn more for show than for accurate timekeeping. Also the cost was contained as the case is not solid gold, but actually a sandwich of 14k gold over a base material. This construction is very similar to that used in Old Sheffield Plate and I suspect that it came about for the same reason. The middle class wanted to have pretty things, but did not want to pay the price for solid gold when it was not necessary for the look.