Jewett amulets?

[bighara]

Sort of an odd request.

 

I posted this in a thread down in Graham & Paige, but no response so I thought I'd try asking here in General. I am researching religion and spirituality in the early 20th century and wanted to include a reasonably clear photo of the infamous "Jewett Amulet" that was supposed to be embedded in the cars' dashboards. Jewett's wife, a follower of mysticism, believed they would protect the cars' owners from harm. At least that's the legend. I've found references to the amulets online but no pictures. Any help is appreciated!

[Restorer32]

Very interesting.

[1937hd45]

The Martin Wasp came with a factory installed St. Christopher medal. 

 

Bob

[bighara]

49 minutes ago, 1937hd45 said:

The Martin Wasp came with a factory installed St. Christopher medal. 

 

Bob

Interesting. I hadn't heard of this. Found this image though of the Wasp's St. C medal.

Edited July 27, 2021 by bighara (see edit history)

[ch1929]

I have a 1925 Jewett Sedan, nothing on dash other than gauges, ignition switch and a clock. In looking at dash board pictures in my collection of sales brochures and reference manuals I do not see any amulets on the dash.

[bighara]

Fascinating! Maybe the idea is apocryphal? I see the surname. Any relation?

 

The Wikipedia entry for the cars has a passage about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewett_(automobile)

 

"Embedded in the dashboard of every Jewett was an amulet, visible on the Passenger side as a dashplate. Harry's wife Mary was something of a spiritualist, and these amulets were purported to have mystical power that protected the occupants"

Edited July 27, 2021 by bighara
updating information (see edit history)

[ch1929]

No direct relation.

[bighara]

I appreciate the effort anyway. It's an interesting bit of history (or would be) as it ties into some of the "pop culture" of that period.

Edited July 27, 2021 by bighara (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

Background. When I was fifteen, well over fifty years ago now, my dad bought a 1927 Paige intended to be the 'family project'. It was the small Paige for that year, the Paige automobile's last year before becoming Graham Paige. My model 6-45 Paige was what had been intended to be the Jewett for 1927 before they rebadged the model as a Paige in hopes of increasing sales. My dad being what he was, the car never got restored, and eventually became mine. Since that time, I have done some work on the car, but have lacked the resources to do a decent restoration. Because of that car, I have had an interest in both Paige and Jewett automobiles for a long time now.

I recall reading something of this amulet a long time ago. I believe it was mentioned in a book I checked out from a library nearly fifty years ago (I checked out a LOT of books in those days!). However, I do not recall what book it may have been, and didn't see much more about it for many years. Some time ago, maybe fifteen to twenty years ago, on the internet, I ran into this tale again. However again, little in the way of details or facts were being shared.

 

Bighara, I knew I had once yet again recently seen an inquiry about this. As I routinely check the Graham and Paige threads farther down in the AACA forum listings about once or twice a month (not much activity there unfortunately), I had to go looking to find your inquiry. You chose to attach it in an unrelated thread about the former Jewett website, which was unfortunately going nowhere. It might (probably not?) have done better if you had started a new thread and properly titled it about the mysterious amulet. I parenthesis the 'probably not' because a few previous threads on the subject (one of them actually started by me!) had never gotten anywhere.

In the past, a couple (claimed?) Jewett owners have said that their car has the amulet. However, I cannot recall any of them ever showing a picture of it. That in and of itself does not mean they didn't have a car, nor that the amulet doesn't exist. A lot of people on antique automobile type websites are not adept at computer functions. Probably half of us have never posted a photo! I also recall someone saying it is pictured in a Jewett owners manual. Again, no shared pictures, and one person saying it is there against a dozen or more saying it isn't in their manuals places that claim in the 'maybe not' file.

Personally, I would like to see this resolved. Not that it is any big thing. If true, it would be an interesting tidbit in automobile history! If not true at all, it would be a footnote in the land of urban legends. And, maybe a few Jewetts did have such a thing?

There  are a tremendous amount of fascinating stories attached to our beloved automobiles.

Edited July 27, 2021 by wayne sheldon
I hate leaving typos! (see edit history)