Glorious Green

I'll admit that my titles for these three matching set ties have been just a bit over the top. Opulent Orange, Ruby Red and now, to finish the group, Glorious Green. But I can't help it.

These are some of my all time favorites in my collection. They remind me of those brilliant, old-fashioned Christmas Tree ornaments. So I wanted to save them for a special occasion, and the holiday season and end of 2007, another year almost gone, will have to suffice.

Just about the only thing left to say about these ties is to transcribe the one and only label that each of them sports, namely "Made in California." The tag is so pretty, however, done in multi-colors, with a sunburst above the text, that I think I'll upload an image of it here. This particular tag is from the Ruby Red tie, since I didn't flip the small end to include the tag in my scan of the green one today.

Here's wishing all my loyal readers, and anyone else who stumbles on this blog entry, a VERY VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ruby Red

Here's the second exemplar from my matched set trio from the Spokane lingerie salesman's hoard. This one is a brilliant deep-hued crimson red color, certainly suitable for Christmas. And the design on the tie is somewhat reminiscent of an ornate Christmas tree ornament, or several such ornaments, if you will.

So, how to describe the design on these ties? It's difficult. A main feature are the several ornament shaped patterns that stand out from the rest of the busy surface. Three of them are depicted in the scan, with one more just a bit further up the tie, that didn't fit on my scanner bed. These are made up of four tulip-shaped patterns forming a kind of rosette or floral shape, each with a small red flower inside, on a yellow-gold background. Another small red flower sits in the middle.

Around them is a lighter colored border, giving the entire ornament a more rounded shape. This is surrounded by a more difficult to see border of deep red segmented ovoids. I've loaded a larger view of one of these rosette patterns which may be a little easier to see.

The remainder of the tie is filled with what almost look like shadow echoes of the primary rosettes. Sort of half- completed or outlined versions of the others, each one typically has a small portion of its shape hidden behind one of the primary patterns. These are over top the primary background of the tie, which is composed of hundreds of tiny red pebbly shapes, differentiated by small black lines. These are probably only barely visible in the scan, if at all.

Overall, it's a very busy, very ornate, elaborate pattern, somewhat reminiscent of arabesque style designs, based on Islamic or Arabian kinds of patterns. Which create a very opulent and rich effect, especially since the fabric of the tie has a lush, silky soft feel to it.

Opulent Orange

This is the first of three ties I'm presenting in recognition of the Christmas season. I realize that orange isn't normally considered a Christmas color, but wait until you see the next two! The next two weeks I'll feature this same tie in red and green, the traditional Christmas colors.

This tie is one of a threesome I am fortunate enough to own, all the same design and pattern, each in a different color. As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, when I presented the same tie in two different colors two weeks in a row, it is fairly rare for modern collectors to find the same tie in more than one color combination. I'm fortunate enough to own several sets of this type, all of which, if I remember correctly, were purchased at the same time, and all of which came from the same estate sale, all owned by the same individual.

I obtained the tie from a vintage clothing store in Pike Place market in 1991, I believe it was. According to the store's proprietor, the ties in question all came from the estate sale of a lingerie salesman out of Spokane, Washington. He had apparently been quite a man for ties, and a substantial collection of them came into the possession of the store when his estate was put up for sale.

Quite a few of the choicest specimens had already been purchased by the time I saw the ties, but I was able to buy these sets of multiple ties of the same color. I bought a few other ties--singles--from his collection at the same time, but to be honest, I no longer remember which ones they were. But I definitely remember the sets! Apparently this fellow, when he saw a tie that he really liked, occasionally at least, he bought the same tie in more than one color. And thus they were preserved together for me to find, many years later!

With Polka Dots

As you can see, I've decided it's time to move on from fall images. Winter is most definitely here, at least weather-wise. We had snow lightly falling all morning today, and there's still a light dusting on the ground, although we didn't really get any significant accumulations.

The color combination on this tie seems kind of wintery to me, although that's certainly a subjective analysis. I'm calling it "With Polka Dots" instead of merely "Polka Dots" because the entire tie is not covered with them, just a geometrically shaped segment of the tie.

The bottom segment of the tie is a deep deep forest green color. It probably appears closer to black in the scan, but trust me, it's green. The left side of the tie is a pale turquoise shade, while the rest features white polka dots on a dark brown background.

Interestingly, the various sections of the tie are separated from one another by a white line, which is somewhat unusual in tie designs. Just above the portion of the tie that fit onto the scanner, is another horizontal white line, much like the one at the bottom, and above it, the rest of the tie is the same solid dark green color.

The fabric has a shiny, silky feel to it, and is probably either silk or acetate, as is so typical of 40's era ties. Unusually, there is no brocade woven into the fabric, though. There are two labels, shown in the scan, which read as follows:

THE FISHER CO.
SHOP FOR MEN
TACOMA, WASH.

and

ULTRA
TROJAN

The second label continues on the reverse as follows:

Trojanott
Construction

Under the "Ultra Trojan" appears a carriage, pulled by four horses, with five or six individuals depicted as riding atop, and what may be a whip or two curled out over the horses' backs. I don't know how visible the tag will be in the scanned image.

This is quite a nice tie, but one that is difficult to wear with modern colored shirts, as nothing ever quite matches. It was obviously intended for the ubiquitous white shirts of the time from which it came.

A Variation on Last Week

This isn't my tie. But I have it to share with you thanks to one of my faithful Vintage Ties readers. Thanks, Jim! He wrote as a comment on last week's posting that he had the same tie, only in a different color scheme. I asked if he could send me an image, and he did!

I hope you don't mind my posting it here, Jim, and thanks for sending and sharing it. I love seeing vintage ties in sets. They are very difficult to find and collect, as rarely did they remain together. That is, rarely did one individual buy more than one color in a set.

I've only posted two previous examples. One, a set of three ties, featuring a Mexican folk scene. The other, a pair of summer Hawaiian style ties. Anyway, another big thanks to Jim for letting me share his tie, same design, different color!