Red Hazard (Almost)

OK, this may be the very last of the vaguely heraldic,
pseudo fleur de lis design ties, and to even call this one that is probably stretching things a bit.

Actually, the patterns on this tie bear a slight resemblance to a skull and cross bones, or even worse, a bio or nuclear hazard warning symbol. Somehow, I don't think today's tie designers would use a symbol quite like this one.

Alternatively, you might say they just look like anchors. Or maybe the don't resemble any of the above. I suppose the designer was just aiming for a sort of nondescript masculine looking patterns. Something you can't really say looks exactly like anything, but has a vaguely mannish quality to it.

Unlike some other recently posted ties, this one does NOT appear to have been cut down or refolded to make it narrower. The red fabric comes clear out to both edges of the tie behind, and there is nothing to hint that it might have been wider once.

The tie has one label, the containing the venerable "Arrow" brand, and the words "Made in U.S.A."

One Giant Ornament

This tie has just one giant ornament on it, but with those characteristic curlicue type figures that I've been calling pseudo-fleur de lis, vaguely heraldic. I'm in a hurry tonight, so I'm not going to say much about it, since most of it would be a repeat of what I've already said about the others.

I will point out, in case you haven't already figured it out, that the point you see at the bottom of the tie, is not the real end of the tie. I had to cut off the bottom, in order to get the entire ornamental figure included in the scan.

I should also mention that this tie, like the one from two weeks ago, has almost certainly been cut down from its original width, to make it more fashionable as tie widths were narrowing early in the fifties. The obvious clue is that the ornament is significantly off center on the tie.

Less obvious, and not obvious at all in the scan, is the fact that just like the tie from two weeks ago, inside the back of the tie, the fabric of the tie is folded over the lining on one side, but not on the other.

Finally, this tie has one of the more interesting brocade patterns of any tie I've posted. You can see it most clearly on the small end of the tie. An abstract pattern that somewhat resembles flames of fire, or maybe, patterns in water, with bubbles floating through the middle. The pattern embedded in the fabric is to my eye, far more interesting than the ornamental design printed on tie, which is a bit too pretentiously formal for my taste.

There are no extant labels to transcribe. So there you have it.

Orange, Gold and Brown

This tie is like a combination of the semi-formal vaguely heraldic type patters, and the more flamboyant, free-flowing, out there, abstract designs. It's got that sweeping free-form look, with the curved patterns of golden pebbles slashing its way down the tie, offset by the brown and orange sections, but superimposed on top of that is a sort of formal looking symmetrical type design, containing elements somewhat reminiscent of typographic ornaments, or something sim'lar (to Heinrich Himmler, as Ogden Nash once rhymed).

If you can make any sense out of the preceding paragraph of prose, well, then to quote another poet, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

What I like best about this tie is first, it's width: it's a four-inch plusser (4 1/4 inches at its widest point, to be precise about it), and its vibrant colors. Frankly, I'd like it better if it DIDN'T have that semi-symmetrical ornamental thingy-ma-jingy surrounded by the three smaller postage stamp looking boxes, each with a vaguely floral, perhaps amoeba-like shape enshrined within. A similar shape sits at the heart of the ornament.

Again, I'm feeling flaky today, as reflected in my purple prose. So I'd better stop before I get any further behind (I daren't suggest that I stop while I'm ahead, because I seriously doubt if I am.)

The tie has a label, which reads as follows:

Esquire
Cravat
TheTieofDistinction
Resilient Construction

In between the word "Cravat" and the tie of distinction part, is embroidered a tiny "coach and four," an old-fashioned Three-Musketeers style coach, pulled by four horses. There may even be a cockaded coachman or guard riding at the back, facing backward, but it's hard to tell, the entire image being so small, and limited in detail by the embroidery stitching.