A scarce WW1 Fumsup Touch Wood lucky charm pendant doll in hollow silver with moveable arms and wooden head with four leaf clover to the forehead, white glass eyes, the reverse embossed with very faint 'Touch Wood', and 'Rd 638612' embossed to the back of body being the Registered Design and Patent Date for the year 1914, and FUMSPUP impressed to chest, complete with integral loop and ring suspension.
Condition. Good Condition.
Some have suggested that the Fumsup character harks back to the days of the Roman Empire when in Gladiatorial contests it was believed that the Emperor would decide whether a Gladiator would live or die with a simple ‘thumbs up’ to live or ‘thumbs down’ to die. While this practice has since been disproven, in the late nineteenth century when this character emerged, the stories of bloody thumbs down, or glorious thumbs up endings to Gladiatorial contests would have been accepted as historically correct.
Fumsup charms were often sold with a card with a perm dedicated to the Fumsup and Touch Wood charms.
Behold in me the birth of luck,
Two charms combined TOUCH WOOD-FUMSUP.
My head is made of wood most rare
My thumbs turn up to touch me there.
To speed my feet they’ve Cupid’s wings,
They’ll help true love 'mongst other things.
Proverbial is my power to bring
Good luck to you in everything.
I’ll bring good luck to all away,
Just send me to a friend today.
While popular in the late Victorian and Edwardian times, it was not until the outbreak of the Great War that Fumsup charms saw their popuarity soar. It also saw the emergence of the charm with a metal body and wooden head, the ’touch wood’ and Fumsup charm. These were commonly given to soldiers by their sweethearts on leaving to go to war.
