Advertising Watch Fobs -- Oil Field Drill Bits

Advertising Watch Fobs

An elongated Hughes Tri-Cone Drill Bit figural [back] "Hughes Patent Simplex Reaming Cone Bit Manufactured by Hughes Tool Co Houston, Texas" "Sterling" {{{The Only Genuine Sterling Advertising Watch Fob of which I have seen}}}

OWECo Drill Bit figural [back] plain

Hughes Tri-Cone Drill bit chain fob figural with a Hughes Tool logo {notched right gear} [back] Hughes Tool Logo and "Go all the way with Hughes" "Hughes Tool Company" "Made in USA"

Appleman Gumbo Bit figural drill bit [back] Beaumont Texas

Hughes Tri-Cone Drill bit strap fob figural with a Hughes Tool logo {rounded bail} [back] "Hughes Tri-Cone Rock Bit" "Hughes Tool Company Houston, Texas" and a makers mark

Hughes Tri-Cone Drill bit strap fob figural with a Hughes Tool logo {notched right gear squared bail} [back] "Hughes Tri-Cone Rock Bit" "Hughes Tool Company Houston, Texas" maker "M.A. Co. Roch. N.J." (Metal Arts Co.)

Hughes Tri-Cone Drill bit strap fob figural with a Hughes Tool logo {notched right gear rounded bail} Hughes Tool logo mid strap [back] "Hughes Tri-Cone Rock Bit" "Hughes Tool Company Houston, Texas" makers maker

If you read the story, you will hear about how rare REAL watch fobs are in Sterling Silver and how fakes are often in Sterling Silver. The fob to the upper left is the only genuine Sterling Silver "Advertising" watch fob I have seen in person. It is VERY RARE.

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Hughes Tri-cone Drill Bits are one of my favorite. The invention of and selling of that bit is what started the Hughes fortune, by Howard Hughes father. I have three dimensional tri-cone fobs as well that turn. A Tri-Cone Drill Bit fob is actually one you might find in 14K Gold as a jewelers piece, not really advertising.

25 or so years ago, my wife and I were at her parents for Christmas. There were only two rooms heated in the turn of the 1900s house and there were 2 little babies and 10 adults in a small room, and nothing was happening. I worked for a metal detecting company and had two metal detectors with me. It was cold and a slight mist outside. But any thing was better than dieing of boredom as a sardine so I got up and started putting on my coat. That aroused the rest of the bored crowed and they wanted to know what I was going to do. I told them I was going to metal detect in the yard. They told me there was no sense in that as only poor people had lived in that house. I told them we would see what was there. Within a couple of hours I had what I considered 10 good finds including a 14K gold thimble from around 1898 (found it in an 1898 Sears catalog).

One of the other items was kind of a round medallion with a slot on one edge, and it was bent into a right angle. The medallion had a hand holding a large plow blade, and read "J.I. Case Plow Works Racine Wis."

The group gathered at the kitchen table to see what I had found and then as I was showing them the jewelry, they remembered the first owner of the house was a doctor. A couple of distant cousins dropped in as I was showing the items. I had never met these cousins, but they were known to be a bit eccentric. One was a single man and the other was his brother and his wife. The single man was recently returned from Alaska from mining gold, where a flood wiped out his operation. He took the medallion and asked if I would take $20.00 for it and I told him I didn't think so. He said he didn't know what it was but was sure it was supposed to be flat. He wanted to know if I wanted him to try to straighten it and told him to go head. With a couple of short pieces of 2"x4" wood and a hammer he did a fantastic job.

Later on I went to a flea market and set up to try to sell metal detectors as I bought them from the company at about half price, and I could sell them at a lot less than dealers with store overheads. It seemed everyone was thrilled with my finds, but not to interested in buying a metal detector. I heard a lot of lies. One man wanted to know how much the real little thimble was (about the size of a monopoly thimble) "because it would just fit his daughter." It would only fit if she was in diapers, and I doubt a child that size could sew, or would be trusted with a needle. He looked old enough to be my father. Another man wanted to know if I would "sell the brass thimble." I asked if he meant the 14K gold one and he said never mind. I kept telling them that only the metal detectors were for sell.

I went to the restrooms (bargain shopping on the way) and had been gone about an hour when I returned. My wife said a man had wanted to know if I would sell the J.I. Case medal. My wife told him she didn't think so but I would be back later and he could come back and talk to me about it. He gave her directions to his booth and told her to send me by to see him if I wanted to sell it or not. When I got back she told me of this older man and how nice he had been and said he seem real interested in buying the J.I. Case plow advertising thing.

I went to look him up and I found him. We talked about the medallion and he told me that it was an advertising "watch fob" and he collected advertising "watch fobs." He said they hung from a leather strap with the other end through the bail of a pocket watch to aid in getting it out of a watch pocket on your pants. He told me that he could tell that I didn't want to sell it, but if I ever did, not to sell it for under $100.00 as it was a very good one.

That was my first watch fob. I met this man every month at the flea market and talked fobs as my collection grew. He suggested I set a number for a maximum number to have, and when I reached that number to begin high grading to stay around that number. Selling off duplicates and ones of lesser interest. I reached my goal of 100 many years ago, but have been able to stay below the 200 mark. More stories will be posted as I have time on other listings.

Here are a few of the fobs I have acquired over the years. In this lot are a few military related. That is one area I like in particular. I show the back of the fobs as well as the front, because the back is important in determining if a fob is real, or a fake.

I have dropped into eBay to look at fobs there and it makes me sick to see people paying 50.00 for a "sterling fob I bought from the estate of a fob collector" and they are poor molded fakes. FIRST ... very few advertising watch fobs were made in Sterling Silver. Presentation fobs were some times made in Sterling. I have two presentation fobs from United States Steel, (25 years of service, and 30 years of service) that were sterling, and a military fob that was presented by a grateful city for WWI service.

The only other sterling fob I have is for Hughes Tool Company, and is VERY RARE. It likely was made for high company officials, or major buyers. When you consider the cost of a Hughes Tri-cone Drill Bit, and the cost of oilfield supplies for a major company, Hughes could afford to make some sterling fobs. Note I have only seen one of this design, mine, and never seen one of the other, sought after but more common, designs in sterling silver.

Any way ... to the postings!