Sunday, October 19, 2008

Brand New Thirties Era

No tie got posted last Sunday. Sorry. We were out of town. My sister lives on a big fruit orchard up in the Hood River Valley, in the little town of Odell, Oregon. Last Sunday we were at her place, canning applesauce all day. It was work, but it was fun! And we went home with almost 30 jars of applesauce. Plus another couple of jars of apple juice. My sister and our cousin canned another 85 jars or so between them (we helped) plus some more tiny jars for a friend.

So here we have an unusual tie. Unusual primarily in that it is still brand new! Never been worn. At least one presumes this to be the case, because it still has an original paper wrapper attached, as you can clearly see in the scan. On the front, the wrapper reads:

Murrytown Ties
Styled by Wembley
Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.

On the back, the wrapper reads as follows:

60% Rayon
40% Wool
Mfg. 4075

And then along the side, running the opposite direction, and kind of blurry, as though it were applied with a rubber stamp or something, it reads:

Section 13, MPR 580
G.P.A. Retail Ceiling Price $1.00

The tie also has a label sewn into the small end, which repeats some of the same information, as follows:

Murrytown
Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.

I may have obtained this tie in Santa Cruz also, like the ones I posted a few weeks ago, but if so, it was 11 years ago, the last time I was there. I had forgotten about it, and had it hanging on a special rack of ties, not in a place I would have ordinarily thought to have looked. My wife insists I got it more recently, but I know it's been at least a year or two. I found another brand new tie at the same time, although the other one is quite different, narrow, and with a straight cut end, no point (I have a whole sub-collection of those which I will post here some day, when I run out of other ties to post.)

So is it really 1930's? I suppose I should research publications and advertisements from that era, to see if $1.00 was a typical price for a tie in those days. And did they already have rayon then? When did it first come into production? I honestly don't know. Maybe some of my loyal readers can tell me. Right now, today, I'm too harried and hurried to even go Google searching to see what I can find out. I've got several other things I need to get done, and the day (and the weekend) is fast slipping away.

The tie has two typical 30's era characteristics, but lacks the third. First, it's about the right width, size, and shape, with the characteristic flaring especially on the small end. Second, although it's not visible in the scan, it has the typical off-centered and folded over finishing in the back that all of my other 30's era ties have.

But it lacks the one final characteristic, which is having the pattern woven directly into the fabric. Instead, the loosely stylized paisley-shaped designs appear almost stamped onto the fabric. Certainly they are ONLY present on the front side of the fabric, and do not penetrate through to the back side. As you approach the bottom of the wide end, the dark green paisley shapes begin to fade out, and become blotchy, as though the stamp were losing its ink. I suppose this fading effect could be due to exposure to sunlight, but that seems unlikely, as you'd expect the entire pattern to fade, not just splotches of it.

Well, that's more than enough verbiage to go with this tie. Enjoy!

4 comments:

Mike said...

Can you confirm that the label says GPA and not OPA? MPR-580 was, I believe, a World War II pricing regulation intended to keep industry from price gouging during the War.

Will said...

It could just as easily be OPA, not GPA. In fact, once you've suggested it, I think you're right. The letter is somewhat blurred, and filled in a bit in the area where you'd expect a G to have the cross hatch, but it's more a blur than a line.

If it says OPA, which seems highly likely, I presume this stands for "Office of Price Administration" (there's a Wikipedia article about it) which was established in 1941, which would mean this tie was sold after that date. Which puts it into the forties, rather than thirties, as I was assuming from its style and design.

Thank you "bathrick," whoever you are for illuminating this information! It is very helpful!

Will

Anonymous said...

I would agree with bathrick. The fact that the design is not sewn into the fabric would indicate early-'40s. The off-center folding, as well as lack of any lining, was evident even in that time period.

Will said...

Hello Lee B.

Thanks for your comment. Do you know for a fact that the design woven into the fabric characteristic, when it occurs, indicates thirties, more or less? I don't know where I originally got that information, but someone must have told me that, or I read it somewhere. But I'm not really an expert on ties, I just collect them! I'm always looking for someone who is more knowledgeable than me to provide me with better info.

Thanks again for your comment,

Will