Has anyone seen S&W advertising materials or sales incentives from the 1870s - 1880s? I have a family watch fob with S&W Logo engraved and owner's brands on reverse side. See Attached.

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LV7 Watch Fob_52.jpg (76.3 KB, 115 views)

What an interesting piece! What are the "owner's brands" n the other side?

I'm going to suggest it's not a Smith & Wesson mark. As far as I know, S&W's trademark monogram has never changed and the watch fob engraving differs quite a bit.

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SWHF #448

Brands are "7", "V" and "L", two of which were road brands. Date back to 1870s.

Weathervane, As we know, the S&W entwined letters logo was designed by Gustav Young for S&W and trademarked on Jan. 19, 1892. A watch fob from an earlier time could not have had the S&W logo on it, so I suggest the letters are someone's initials and the item has no connection to S&W, unless there's a possibility your time estimate is off and the item is of a later vintage. Who is the family member that owned the watch ? Do you know of any connection between that person and the Wesson family or the factory? Animal husbandry brands are filed with and established by various counties of various states in the US. Where are your "road" brands filed ? Ed.

I did not know of the trademark date of 1892 and that is helpful information - negative, though. The style of engraving is freehand, so I was not concerned about an exact match. I thought some local jeweler made it on special order. The ancestor I suspected of owning it died in 1901 and the fob was well-worn, so probably made before 1892. He had no connection with the Wesson Family or the factory, as far as we know. The "S" part of the monogram has no family significance, which is why I stretched to associate it with S&W. So maybe he had it made later and was impressed by S&W engineering? Maybe it was another person altogether? Maybe there was an "S" person around somewhere? More to ponder. Thanks to all of you for your input.