Benjamin Franklin Hotel 1925
- Thread starter Jim Bob
- Start date
SoOregonMd
Elite Member
I am sure it is a Room Key chain fob .. that is a VERY cool find you have there Congrats!!!
SoOregonMd
Elite Member
I am sure it is a Room Key chain fob .. that is a VERY cool find you have there Congrats!!!
Here is a little history on the hotel for you
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Franklin_House
Here is a little history on the hotel for you
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Franklin_House
Mud-puppy
Forum Supporter
Thats cool alright! You should do a google search and give us the info on what you find out about that hotel etc.....thats half the fun of an unusual find like that! I'd put that beauty right on my keychain!
ToySoldier
Forum Supporter
Based on the Wikipedia info it is no later than 1980s.
Bilgemaster
Full Member
Turns out, if you're going to be in Philadelphia for a month or more, you can rent a room there at what's now known as The Franklin Residences. It's currently a sort of a mix of condos and furnished and unfurnished apartments available for short term lease (minimum 30 days). Just for a gag, I called them just now to ask if they still have a Room 3080. Sadly, they renumbered all the rooms during the last renovation. So, no more "3080" as such.
Still, if you're in Philly anyhow, it looks like a pleasant enough place to dive in for a beer--like getting hammered in the British Museum. Bet you could chat up those two cuties at the bar with that ancient key fob laying there next to your Beer Nuts...especially if you were dressed like Humphrey Bogart or maybe Dr. Who, and assured them you'd been "simply waiting for ages for someone like them to come along"...
Still, if you're in Philly anyhow, it looks like a pleasant enough place to dive in for a beer--like getting hammered in the British Museum. Bet you could chat up those two cuties at the bar with that ancient key fob laying there next to your Beer Nuts...especially if you were dressed like Humphrey Bogart or maybe Dr. Who, and assured them you'd been "simply waiting for ages for someone like them to come along"...
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Mud-puppy
Forum Supporter
I'd chatter up that Bar Maid! What a Hottie! She looks just like Rachael Weisz!
Of course I would never mention I like to Metal Detect!..Thats a Chick Repellant! Worse than saying, "I enjoy farting"
.I'd just say something like I enjoy long walks on the beach and in parks etc..and see where it goes?.
Of course I would never mention I like to Metal Detect!..Thats a Chick Repellant! Worse than saying, "I enjoy farting"
.I'd just say something like I enjoy long walks on the beach and in parks etc..and see where it goes?.
Perquimans
Forum Supporter
That's a really nice find--unique... Congrats. 
Jim Bob
Elite Member
Thank you bilgemaster for the information. I haven't been able to get a date when this key fob would have been in use. I saw one on ebay but it looked to be much thinner and the wording on the back was different. Any Idea of a date? thanks, Jim
Jim Bob
Elite Member
I did a little more research on the key fob and at the very bottom on the reverse side, below Philadelphia in small letters is the manufactures name. Whitehead & Hoag. Benjamin S Whitehead 1858-1940 started the company and manufactured buttons among other things. Pretty interesting. Have you see the movie with Brad Pitt named "The curious case of Benjamin Buttons" Just a thought. Anyway if you google the company it has an interesting read. Love this hobby because you never know what you will find, Jim
Bilgemaster
Full Member
While I cannot discern a date, as a former night shift desk clerk at a Motel 6, I believe the illustration below may depict the great man himself activating one of the actual room keys as astonished guests (un)dressed like they're already ready for action observe...except those in the background at the bar, where there appears to be some kind of brawl or really freaky-deaky frolics well underway...
Sadly, according to the WHITEHEAD & HOAG COMPANY HISTORY webpage, concerning its eventual sale to a competitor:
"W&H first offered the sale of the company to Bastian Bros. The sale took place and W&H closed its factory in May, 1959. The president of Bastian at the time of the sale came to Newark, ordered the factory to be sold and any unusable machinery, dies or tools to be scrapped. W&H kept records of every item they ever made and these records were ordered destroyed [emphasis mine]. Bastian continued to use W&H's name, finally phasing it out in 1964-65."
However, I can tell you that there were reunions of Civil War veterans in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in both 1913 and famously their last hurrah in 1938. This might well explain how a keyless fob from a Philadelphia hotel could find its way to Georgia: a souvenir of the trip north. Apparently 63 veterans from Georgia attended, and all would almost certainly have taken the train there via Philly. Remember playing Monopoly? Now what were those railroads?...
Mr. Monopoly really enjoying the ride!
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GLASSHOPPER1955
Elite Member
I'd chatter up that Bar Maid! What a Hottie! She looks just like Rachael Weisz!
Of course I would never mention I like to Metal Detect!..Thats a Chick Repellant! Worse than saying, "I enjoy farting"
.I'd just say something like I enjoy long walks on the beach and in parks etc..and see where it goes?.
Spoken like only our Mudpuppy can!
Bilgemaster
Full Member
I dunno, Mud-puppy...I think you may be selling us "swingers" short. For example, since my wife naturally gets first dibs on any blingy bits I haul out of the sand, she's pretty content to see me, early riser that I am, all geared up and trudging off towards the beach at sunrise whilst she and the kids carry on malingering in their fart sacks until the sun's high in the sky. I may not make this year's "10 Sexiest Men Alive" list, but in my experience few gals are completely dismissive of nearly any schmuck holding shiny baubles.
