Burro, Sombrero, and Hay Wagon

Friday was, of course, Cinco de Mayo, which is NOT Mexican Independance Day, but celebrates a great victory over invading French forces in 1862. That this is a holiday worth celebrating in the United States is due to the fact that the French were supporting the Confederacy, and the outcome of the Civil War could have been different, had the French won in Mexico.

Anyway, in looking for a vintage tie to post today, I thought of Cinco de Mayo, and tried to find something to celebrate all things Mexican. The best I could do was this charming folk image of the plucky burro, pulling the hay wagon, on which reclines the sombrero-wearing farmer, taking his justified rest from the labor of loading all that hay.

In the 40's, as now, tie makers often manufactured the same tie design in several different fabric colors, as shown here. For collectors, finding more than one of the colors is rare indeed, all these many years later. Here three colors are demonstrated, although I had to use the narrow end of one of the ties, in order to fit all three onto my scanner.

How did I come to find all three? They were part of an estate, where the gentleman who had owned them obviously liked the tie, and undoubtedly purchased all three at once. I found them at a vintage clothing store at Pike Place Market in Seattle, in 1991, the year we traveled back from Texas to attend our 20-year high school reunions, Arline at Auburn Academy, and me at Laurelwood. Somewhere in there, we found time to visit Pike Place Market, and I snapped up these ties, along with several others. There is another set of three matching like these, which I will post at a later time, and tell the rest of the story about the original owner of the ties.

None of the ties has a label in it. They must have been popular with their original owner, because they show some staining and signs of wear.

Enough for now. I'll just say "¡Viva Mexico!" and let it go at that.