El Camino Real desk top bells

In the 1760s the government of Espana Nueva (New Spain, now Mexico) got word of Russian encroachment on their claim of Alta California and dispatched a patrol to plan out a series of settlements along the California coast. By reports, they scattered mustard seeds along their route to help find the way back. This trail of mustard plants was soon followed by a more vigorous move northward to carry out the King's order of creating a presence in Alta California. That wandering path became, like every other road in New Spain, the King's Roadway (El Camino Real). From San Diego in 1769 north to Sonoma, this "camino real" was pounded into the California countryside for the next 64 years as an army of soldiers, priests, homesteaders, livestock and supply wagons created and maintained what became a network of 21 mission settlements.

Fast forward to the early 1900s - Helen Hunt Jackson's "Ramona" had stirred a national romanticization of early California and the Mission Revival aesthetic was in full swing. In 1914, Mrs. A.C.E. Forbes made a proposal to place marker bells in front of each of the missions and along the route of the old "El Camino Real". Mrs. Forbes began casting the bells herself in the foundry she and her husband owned. The 80-pound bells on 11-foot shepard's crook-shaped stands were placed under the direction of a couple of SoCal women's clubs. Eventually over 450 of these bells were erected. But Mrs. Forbes was also wise to the ways of marketing and, from 1915 through 1955, these desk top replicas were created and sold in profusion as souvenirs.

Picture 2 shows an original Forbes desk top bell. It stands 9 1/2" tall. The bell and base are cast bronze and the underside bears an in-mold Forbes mark. Picture 3 is a Forbes desk top bell that was custom made for United California Bank as a premium to be given away to customers during the California Centennial of 1950. It is 3/8" taller due to the addition of the custom base.