Vintage Summit 11: A Vintage Summit of the industry's leading eccentrics discussing vintage clothing.

Fujiwara:Finally, I brought a variety of novelties from work brands, and I particularly like the one from [Carhartt]. Mr. Konno also had a different pattern, and I was impressed that he used it as a pendant head.

Abe:What is it originally used for?

Konno:It is called a watch fob and appears to be an accessory attached to a pocket watch, which was common at the time.

Abe:Heh. So is it very old?

Fujiwara:It probably dates from the 1910s.

Abe:If it is that old, it is no longer an antique. Were they so-called sales promotion goods?

Kurihara:Or it could be a commemorative gift given to an employee who received an award, etc.

Abe:I see. I've known about their existence for a while, but I can't find them at all, can I?

Fujiwara:Yes, I knew it existed about 20 years ago, and I remember it cost about 80,000 yen at the time, and I thought, "Well, eventually," but then I realized that I had not seen it at all, and I finally managed to get it recently after more than 10 years of searching.

Konno:The specifications are slightly different from mine, and I can confirm three patterns depending on the age, but I'm sure there are more.

Kurihara:It looks like there are several patterns of vehicle details on the front and factory and branch office notations on the back.

Abe:Heh. Of course it's expensive, right?

Fujiwara:They don't appear first before the price. Anyway, the number of balls seems to be low.

Abe:I see....doesn't it show up on ebay or something?

Fujiwara:Yes....I have a copy of the book.... I should have bought it back then....

Kurihara:What are these Levi's button-type things?

Fujiwara:This pendant head was produced in small quantities in the 1980s under the double name of "Tiffany & Co. There are not so many of them, but compared to this watch fob, you can still find a few of them.

Abe:Watchfob. I'll keep that in mind for a bit.