This week a customer came in to the shop with a pocket watch fob he had found at the bottom of a moving box. He was wondering if I could tell him anything about it and if it had any value. After a little Google searching I uncovered some information for him. Although the monetary value might not be his Antique Roadshow moment of glory, I'm sure this piece will play a part in his family's treasure chest of stories and memorabilia. Here is what I found. 

The piece was marked FMCO which is the manufactureres mark for The Finberg Manufacturing Company. Here is a little history about this company and a link for more information. 

This watch fob looks like the one that was brought in to Marin Jewelers Guild.

The Finberg Manufacturing Company - A Legacy Of Fine Enameled Cases

The Finberg Manufacturing Company made vanity cases for just two decades during the 1920s and 1930s when vanity case production in America was at its most inventive. Despite its short life as a vanity case manufacturer it did leave legacy of some of the most decorative and collectible cases ever to have been produced in the Attleboro region.

Joseph Finberg

The company founder was a Jewish immigrant named Lazar (Leizer) Fienberg who, like so many others at that time, arrived young and alone carrying the hope of families left behind, beyond the Pale, in increasingly repressive circumstances. At just 15 years old he arrived in the United States from his native Lithuania in 1886 and it seems as if he made his way quite quickly to Attleboro, MA. Whether he arrived with some skills as a jeweler, or learned them as an apprentice to an unnamed Attleboro jeweler, is not clear but by 1891, and still a young man, he was being listed as a jeweler in the Attleboro Business Directory; although by then he was calling himself Joseph.

For the complete history of Finberg Manufacturing Company please visit: collectingvintagecompacts.blogspot.com

I encouraged the young man to ask his parents if they remember his grandfather ever wearing this watch fob before he decides if he is going to sell it or not. He left the shop with a spring in his step, happy he found out something about this new found treasure.