The key fob was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 by Robert Hines.
Pentagonal, shield-shaped, dark red-brown, hard plastic key fob attached to a small, silver-colored key by a silver-colored, metal wire loop. The loop passes through a small hole just below an arched tab at the center of the fob’s straight top edge. The fob’s upper sides are straight, while the lower sides slope inward toward a rounded bottom point. The fob is flat and stiff with smooth sides and embossed designs on the front and back. Centered on the front is an image George Washington in right facing profile, from the neck up, with his hair pulled back at the nape of his neck. He has a defined brow and nose, his lips are pressed together, and his chin juts out above a prominent Adam’s apple. Curving around him is English text along the inside of a thin, raised, circular border, and to the right of his neck are two years are stacked one on top of the other. On the back, there is a large swastika with a stippled surface and outlined with thin, raised borders. The flat, lightweight, corroded key is for a tumbler lever lock and has a wide, flat body with a hole at the top, sides that bow in at the center, a rounded end, and a single, multi-stepped bit. The fob is worn smooth from use; there are small losses around the loop hole, and there is a small, black accretion to the right of the swastika.
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overall: Height: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) | Width: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
Hard plastic key fob commemorating the 1932 bicentennial of George Washington’s birth bearing his image on one side and a lucky swastika on the other. The fob was most likely manufactured in the United States around 1932, when the US had an official commission to manage nationwide bicentennial celebrations. Many prominent manufacturing companies produced medals, medallions, tokens, fobs, and other novelties for use during those celebrations, and their designs were widely copied by less reputable manufacturers. This fob is likely one of those copied novelties with a common image of Washington along with the swastika, an uncommon association for the bicentennial novelties. The swastika was an ancient, worldwide symbol of auspiciousness and good luck, and had regained popularity in the United States and Europe during the early Twentieth century. In 1932, the swastika was still considered a common, everyday symbol of good luck and was found on military insignias, town names, prominent products, and advertising novelties. Many of these materials were widely circulated in the US, and while they were not originally intended to support the political and social ideals of the Nazi Party in Germany, they could have been repurposed for that role later. During the latter part of the 1930s and early 1940s, many fervent pro-Nazi sympathizers, including German American Bund members, used common American symbols such as George Washington to emphasize the idea that they were patriotic Americans, and that their pro-Nazi, isolationist agenda was representative of what America really wanted and needed.
Key fob commemorating the bicentennial of George Washington’s birth with a swastika on the back