#fob chain

[artschoolglasses]

Josiah Wedgwood Fob Chain, 1785-90

From the Victoria and Albert Museum

[dragonheadskilax]

I wanna talk about fobs. Here’s a lil image that helps show what they are:

The common known type of fob is a fob chain for a pocket watch but the word fob came from the pocket. 18th century watch chains were actually ribbons and tassels, kinda like a landyard but more ends for more stuff:

These chains always had stuff, wax seal, watch key, lil charm to show what your job was, mechanical pencil, portrait, locket, hair, badge, knife, knick knacks like musical fobs if you’re real fancy. Oh and of course a pocket watch, but sometimes they were painted and fake to lowkey seem rich enough to have owned one!

By the late 19th century they started getting simpler to hold just a charm and watch

Typically worn on the waistband but they look nice on a waistcoat too.