Blue and Yellow "newbie"

This tie, along with another (to go up next week) is the latest addition to my collection. While on the "vacation from hell" a couple of weeks ago (my wife and I both came down with the stomach flu), we managed to visit one junk store--oops, make that a second-hand store (we always refer to them as junk stores) in Seaside, down on the Oregon coast.

This tie, and its companion were tagged at $4.00 each, a real bargain, but not only that, they had pink tags, and all pink tags were half price that day, so I actually only paid $2.00 apiece for them. They're undoubtedly worth much more than that. If the prices at vintage clothing sites such as RustyZipper are any indication, they are easily worth $15-$20 each, possibly more.

Blue and yellow together aren't my favorite color combination, but it is nevertheless a nicely designed tie, much more interesting than plain old stripes would be. Note the stylized leaf-shape brocade pattern woven into the fabric, or could those perhaps be incipient paisleys? Nah, I don't think so. Most of them aren't twisted enough at the end for paisleys.

I've also loaded a full length image of the tie, so that you can see how the pattern progresses up the tie, and notice the abrupt line where the yellow comes back. As with so many ofther ties I've posted, the knot is intended to be entirely in the yellow color.

The tie has two labels, both a seller's label and a manufacturer's label. The latter is so interesting that I decided to scan and load a picture of it as well. There are three cockaded and booted gentlemen resembling the Three Musketeers of Alexandre Dumas fame. Each has a capital letter "W" emblazoned on his lower half. An early example of "WWW!" It almost looks like the three are drummers, and that the "W's" are written on the drums, with each fellow rapping out a drum roll, but I can't make out quite enough detail to be sure of just where their arms are placed.

The label reads:

Wilcrest
All Silk
Pure Dye
Wilson Brothers
Made in U.S.A.

The seller's label reads

Desler's
Seaside, Ore.

Based on that label, this tie never made it very far from its original point of sale, as Seaside is where I picked it up, well over half a century after its presumed original date of sale.

A fine addition to my collection! And a lucky find, to boot.