Sterling chain ID bracelets (Speidel et al.)

Cafe Society
1

If you’re over 45 you probably remember people wearing these in the 1960s. They were sold to both men and women and consisted of curved rectangular plate that had the person’s given name, attached to a bracelet made of heavy, flat links. The company that used to advertise them was called Speidel. I’m curious about when they first appeared and when they disappeared, because they seem to have been quite fashionable for over two decades. This is what I know: [ul]
[li]In The Caine Mutiny, when the two ensigns are climbing the mast, you can clearly see that one of them is wearing one–I’m pretty sure that it isn’t a wristwatch.[/li][li]In John Updyke’s novel Rabbit Run, it’s mentioned that high school girls around 1950 were wearing such bracelets; no mention of boys.[/li][li]I remember them being fairly heavily advertised in the 1960s, seemingly mostly to teenagers.[/li][/ul]

I asked about these once before, and the thread sank, so I’m hoping for better luck this time.

2

BTW in the Caine Mutiny scene I mentioned, I’m pretty sure that such an item would have been a uniform violation. I imagine it was something that the actor Joe Parris wore IRL and the director made the minor blooper of not making him remove it.

3

They haven’t disappeared, but, you’re right, they did use to be more heavily advertised. I would have seen the ads in the 60s, too.

http://www.aspecialgift.com/speidel-id-bracelets.asp

4

We still sold them in my dad’s store in the late 80s. They were fairly popular but not super “in” at the time. We’d sell tiny ones for babies too.

5

When my daughter was a preschooler/gradeschooler, one of the kid safety tips that was floating around was “Don’t put your kid’s first name on anything s/he wears”, in order to prevent potential abductors from learning the kid’s name and telling him/her that the person is there to pick him/her up. I don’t know if this had much to do with the fading popularity or not.

Personally, I’d like to get one that says “See wallet card for medical info”, as I’m allergic to some things, diabetic, and have heart problems.

6

Hot dog! Now I know what I was asking for. I asked my former girlfriend for one of those back when we were trading bracelets. I couldn’t describe it properly, so I sketched it. Didn’t know if they even existed or what to call them.

I remember now. My grandfather wears one.

7

Wouldn’t it be simpler to get a MedicAlert bracelet? That’d have a fair amount of vital medical info right on the back, comes with a wallet card, and if you keep up your subscription emergency technicians can call the number on it and get contact numbers, etc.

My mom wears one (diabetic, hypertension, etc), and I never take mine off (morphine is not my friend). I’m actually how much info they managed to fit on the back of my mom’s.