Mike, I think this ten year pin belonged to someone who worked at the Studebaker Automobile plant. The watch company that was owned by the Studebaker brothers was South Bend. They were entirely separate companies. Regards, Brad
Posts: 956 | Location: Wenatchee, Washington in the USA | Registered: December 14, 2010
At the turn of the Twentieth Century the Studebaker Corporation was the world's largest manufacturer of wheeled goods. The corporation which began in 1852 was originally family owned, eventually became publicly held, during the depression went through receivership and recovered to continue producing cars through the 1966 model year.
Brad is correct, the pin that Mike found was given out upon ten years of service with the automobile company which was always separate from the watch company, here is a watch company history...
I've always liked the Silver Hawk and Golden Hawk models. I think that they are the most beautiful and proportionally perfect American cars ever built. It's a small miracle that the same factory could make such an ugly contraption as the Avanti. That's my opinion of course, you are entitled to yours.
Regards, Krister.
Posts: 375 | Location: Backaryd, Sweden | Registered: April 19, 2009
The Studebaker Corporation gave out pin awards for length of service. They started with a 5 year and we know of some 50 year pins. the most common are 5 and 10 year pins. We know of at least a 20 year in this series.
They started with larger pins about the size of a half dollar with the image of Clement Studebaker on them around 1900. In about 1920 they went to the smaller style like the one pictured in this post. They only used this series for a few years and we know of a 5, 10, 15, and 20 year in this series.
Sometime after the depression the company switched to a pin the same size but featured the lazy S design. We know of at least 1 50 year pin issued in this series.
Here is a photo of a 20 year pin I had made into a ring.
Posts: 900 | Location: Wisconsin in the U.S.A. | Registered: April 28, 2008
A friend of mine's father was a jeweler in NYC and made jewelry for Raymond Loewy. He has a money clip that belonged to Raymond Loewy in 18K gold with Raymond Loewy's signature on it and something else engraved that I can't remember. I know he was willing to sell it for gold value at one time. If anyone is seriously interested in this item let me know and I'll get more info.
Posts: 1078 | Location: Ticonderoga, New York USA | Registered: March 01, 2008
