Anatomy Of A Keychain

It's come to my attention that my usage of the word "keychain" is somewhat flawed. The term keychain technically refers to only one of several parts that make up what I think of as a keychain. In this post, I will be listing each part by name along with a brief description. There are three separate parts on this list, although some keychains can get by with only utilizing two of them.

 visual aid

a Rawcliffe pewter keychain from the Medieval Times dinner theater chain

Part 1: The Keyring
The term "keyring" specifically refers to a split ring, which I referenced in a previous post on Keychain Terminology as being one of the most common types of keychain "findings". As I explained in that post, not every keychain uses a split ring finding. But in my online research, I found the term 'keyring' being used in a generalized way to refer to the part of the keychain that holds the keys.

Part 2: The Keychain
In this context, the "keychain" is an actual chain that connects the part that holds the keys to a decorative or personalized ornament. In some cases, the chain used is a "snake chain" (which I mentioned in my Keychain Terminology post) rather than a standard chain. However, I have seen a lot of keychains in my time that don't actually have a chain part. In those examples, the part that holds the keys is directly connected to the decorative part using a jump ring finding. This brings me to the third and final keychain part.

Part 3: The Key Fob
The key fob is the decorative or personalized, ornamental part of a keychain. Whether it's printed with the name of a business or shaped like a cartoon character, it's generally the part that makes people want to collect keychains in the first place.

Despite me having discovered all of this information, I don't think you'll see me stop using the word "keychain" anytime soon. The fact of the matter is, I haven't been able to find a term that I can substitute which refers to the whole keychain, rather than just a part of it. So I guess I'll just have to keep using the word keychain the way I always have. But now, if someone asks me what the difference is between a keychain and a key fob, I'll be able to tell them. And so will you.

Signed, Treesa

Shop 'Til You Drop (Tips For Buying Secondhand Keychains)

Here are a few shopping tips I'd like to pass on to anyone buying keychains on the secondary market. I already mentioned yard sale shopping in my introductory post. Now I'll be discussing flea markets, thrift stores, and online shopping.

Flea markets can vary widely in price, depending on the market and the seller. If the seller is a professional dealer who makes his or her living buying and reselling, he or she may be more informed about the current market and might take more time to research items. If this is the case, then you can usually expect to pay a little more. There are some amateur sellers who will look stuff up on popular online auction sites, to see what other people are charging. But in terms of keychains, they usually will only bother if the keychain looks 'vintage', or if it was a "big ticket item" that someone paid a lot of money for in the first place, such as a designer brand.

Also, flea markets that are held once or twice a year by a school or a house of worship will often have lower prices, because they tend to attract fewer professional dealers. The pros seem to prefer setting up at larger markets that are held one day a week at a designated location, and they will likely have a reserved spot that they return to week after week. Some dealers will travel on a circuit from market to market, seeking out large, well-known venues that attract the most customers.

Prices at thrift store can also vary a lot, depending on the store. I've noticed the larger chain stores tend to have higher prices than the smaller shops run by local charities or houses of worship. Of course, if the smaller shop bills itself as specializing in "antiques and collectables", then that's a whole different thing. Adding the word 'antique' to anything always seems to up the price. Something else to keep in mind is that some larger thrift stores only sell keychains in bulk lots.

Shopping online may be convenient for many, but you tend to pay for that convenience in the form of added shipping and handling costs. Many online sellers will market their keychains in lots, and one downside of collecting keychains is that, in bulk, they can get heavy very quickly. This means that it can end up costing more to ship the lot than you paid for the lot in the first place. For this reason, I tend to do very little of my keychain shopping online.

I'm hoping these tips will be helpful to you in growing your own collections, whatever you happen to collect. However, keep in mind that these are just generalities based on my personal experiences as a longtime 'thrifter' and keychain collector. There are exceptions to any rule, and your own shopping experiences may differ somewhat from mine. As they say, your mileage may vary.

If you have any secondhand shopping tips of your own that you'd like to share, feel free to leave a comment.

Signed, Treesa

There's A Word For It

Let's face it, some collectables have more status attached to them than others. In the more respected collecting fields, collectors will often have a fancy designation they can use to refer to themselves, to show that they are serious collectors. Coin collectors are numismatists. Stamp collectors are philatelists. Teddy bear collectors are arctophilists. But did you know that there's a fancy term for someone who collects key rings? That term is copoclephilist.

According to my online research, the word copoclephislist originates from the combination of three Greek words: kope, kleis, and phile. Kope means handle, kleis is key, and phile translates as "one that is attracted to".

Just don't ask me how to pronounce it.

Signed, Treesa

Clip Or Keychain, Is There A Difference?

I used to have the opinion that anything with a clip type attachment wasn't really a keychain. In my mind, keychains were designed to store keys, while clips were designed to hang from backpacks or purses. Clips were glorified zipper pulls, as far as I was concerned, and didn't belong in my collection. However, my narrow, black-and-white viewpoint did allow for some grey areas. If something had a traditional split ring along with a clip type attachment, like the example below (made by Applause) of Piglet from Disney's Winnie The Pooh popping out of a watering can, then I still considered it a keychain.

Sometimes I even took the clip attachment off, if it was one of those large, plastic clips. At the time, I was still set on earning a World Record for the World's Largest Keychain Collection, and I think I was worried that at some future date someone was going to challenge me and say that something 'didn't count' because it wasn't really a keychain.

Then something happened that threw a monkey wrench into my whole system. Basic Fun Inc. began producing their licensed keychains with a new type of attachment that had more in common with a clip than a traditional split ring, yet the packaging still labeled the items as keychains. The "Birthday Barbie" keychain shown below is one such example.

I'd been collecting Basic Fun Inc.'s keychains for a long time, starting with their Barbie line, and this change threw me for a loop. I still loved Basic Fun's products. The question was, were they really still keychains, or had they become something else?

I eventually decided that, if the product packaging said that they were keychains, then they were keychains. Besides, the new attachment was different enough from a more traditional "lobster clasp" style clip that I could sort of convince myself that they were two different things. However, I still keep any keychains I own that only have a clip type attachment in a separate box, just in case.

Signed, Treesa

Split Rings, Ball Chains, And Snake Chains (Basic Keychain Terminology)

This post is intended to give a brief summary of the various types of hardware used to make keychains. In jewelry maker's lingo, any metal component that is used in making jewelry is called a "finding". Despite what non-collectors might think about all keychains being the same, there are actually a variety of findings that can be used to make keychains. The most common of these findings seems to be the "split ring" or "keyring".

A split ring is shaped like a circular coil with two ends. To attach a key to a split ring, one end of the coil is fed through the hole in the top of the key. Then the key is slid along the length of the ring until it passes under the other end.

This isn't as complicated as it sounds, but it can be a little tricky if your fingernails aren't long enough to separate the coils of the ring.

The second most common finding, at least for older keychains, would probably be the "ball chain" or "bead chain".

As the name suggests, a ball chain looks like a chain made up of tiny metal balls. The last ball in the chain slides into a clamp of sorts at the other end.

To attach a key, simply unclip the last 'bead' of the "bead chain", then slide the chain through the hole in the top of the key and snap the end 'bead' back into the clamp.

An "infinity ring" keychain is similar to a split ring, except that instead of being shaped like a circle, the loop part of an infinity ring is shaped more like a figure 8.

The example shown above commemorates a Revolutionary War re-enactment event in Bordentown, New Jersey. Turned sideways, the figure 8 shape becomes the symbol for infinity, which explains the name "infinity ring".

The "snake chain" keychain was named, not for the clasp that the keys attach to (which is called a "snap end") but for the snake like chain that attaches the snap end to the decorative part of the keychain.

I've also seen snap end keychains that use a standard chain, instead of a snake chain. An example would be this vintage 'tiki' keychain from United Airlines.

The next type of keychain used to be called a "c-ring", but the term seems to have fallen out of favor, since nowadays the word 'c-ring' refers to something completely different.

(Incidentally, the bird keychain pictured above is branded on the back with the 'designer' fashion brand, Chico's.)

This keychain finding was likely referred to as a c-ring because it's shaped like a letter C, with a ball or some type of decorative element on each end. On the Philadelphia Phillies major league baseball team keychain that is pictured below, one end is shaped like a baseball while the other end is shaped like a baseball glove. I believe the pink ribbon charm is for breast cancer awareness.

A key is attached by unscrewing one of the ends, sliding the key onto the 'C' shaped part of the keychain, and then screwing the end back on.

A "screw lock" keychain sort of combines the functionality of a c-ring with a more traditional keychain shape.

Screw lock keychains feature a rectangular or an ovoid shaped loop at the top. A segment of this loop is unscrewed so that keys can be attached. The screw lock keychains pictured above are souvenir items from Glenhardie Country Club in Wayne, Pennsylvania and the city of Schweinfurt in Germany, respectively.

Keychains can also be made with a clip type finding. There are a few variations of these, some of which might not technically qualify as keychains. But I'll be discussing that in more detail in my next post. For now, here is a photo of a few different clip type findings.

The first clip in the row is called a "lobster clasp", due to the fact that it resembles a lobster's claw. As you can see above, some clips are plastic rather than metal.

"Carabiners" were also popular as keychains for a time.

Originally used by rock climbers, carabiners became trendy with the general public, who used them for keychains and backpack clips. Basic Fun Inc. even released carabiner versions of some of their popular board game keychains.

I've done my best to verify the names of the different keychain types, both online and at my local craft stores. If anyone reading this post notices any corrections that should be made, please leave a comment. If nothing else, I think I've proven my point regarding keychains not all being the same.

Signed, Treesa

A Link In A Chain (An Introduction)

It seems to me that keychain collecting as a hobby is underrepresented online. After doing an online search for 'keychain collecting blog', and not getting many promising results except for Heathersmoo's "Keychain Of The Day", I decided to write my own. It's my hope that this blog will be a place where I can share my keychain collecting obsession in a way that is both fun and interesting. I'm also hoping that this blog will help me to connect with other people who share this hobby, hence the title of this post.

I first got into keychain collecting by accident. My collection started with just a few stray keychains that I'd acquired here and there during my early childhood. Some were carnival prizes, like this skill game keychain.

Some were vacation souvenirs. But then the moment came when I realized that I actually had enough keychains to start a collection. I decided to run with it, and began more deliberately looking for keychains to build up my collection. When I was in grade school, I even based a class presentation around my keychain collection.

I'll admit that in my younger days, I dreamed of earning the World Record for the World's Largest Keychain Collection. But I gave up on that goal a while ago. Believe it or not, there's a lot of competition for the award. And the last time I checked, the past winners had reached totals that were way out of my league. My personal collection peaked at around 1,800 keychains. Unfortunately, I can't give you a more accurate number at this time, since the computer-based list that I was using to keep track of my collection got messed up and I had to start cataloging all over again.

There are several reasons why I love collecting keychains. One is that keychains are small. As a result, they take up far less space than many other collectables. It's therefore possible for a collector who has storage issues to still amass a sizeable collection. The second reason I love collecting keychains is that there are a seemingly endless variety of keychains to collect. Some collectors may prefer to specialize, collecting only advertising keychains tied to a particular industry, or keychains from a particular tourist destination. Some will specialize even further, building their collections around a specific animal or cartoon character. As for me, I collect a little bit of everything.

Another great thing about collecting keychains is that keychains are relatively inexpensive, especially if you buy them secondhand. A run of the mill used keychain will typically cost somewhere between 25 cents to a dollar at the average yard sale. Of course, the thing about yard sales (versus other secondhand venues like thrift stores and online auction sites) is that the prices are usually lower. In most cases, a yard sale seller is just hoping to get rid of stuff as quickly as possible, and so will charge accordingly. (I'll be sharing some other secondhand shopping tips for buying pre-owned keychains in a later post.) No matter where you choose to buy them however, keychains are still less of a drain on the wallet than many other collectables.

I think that covers all the what, when, and why aspects of my collecting. If there's anything else about my keychain collection that readers would like to know, feel free to leave a comment. I will do my best to answer them in a timely manner. Thank you for stopping by.

Signed, Treesa