Sunday, November 08, 2009

Scrolling Circles

Here's an unusually patterned tie! Scroll-like patterns separate circles with differently colored dots at the center of them. Some of the circles are yellow with green dots, some red with yellow dots, and some green with red dots.

I believe this to be a forties era tie, primarily because of the fabric, which is the smooth, thin, acetate or silk, so typical of that period. The design is almost op art, reminiscent of the sixties and seventies, but sixties ties were thin, not wide, and seventies ties, when they got wide again, were generally made from thick polyester. So I'm relatively confident in my forties identification.

The tie has one label, which oddly, is sewn onto the back of the large end, about eight inches up from the end. It reads:

FASHIONED
AND
HAND MADE BY
Marilyn

The first letter of each word in the label is red, the others black. The word "Marilyn" is in a script style font, the rest in block letters. There is a small image of a woman in a long skirt and apron apparently hand-stitching a tie, to the left of the text on the label. A row of X's and dots surrounds the writing on three sides, with the image of the woman on the fourth side.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Golden Teardrops

Another recent eBay acquisition, this beauty has a background that is somewhere between burgundy and brown, with golden yellow teardrop shapes splattered about, together with some teardrops that are lighter in color, lined with the background to create a patterned effect.

I wish you could see the brocade in this tie, but it really didn't come through in the scan at all. Parts of it are elaborate leaf and plant shapes, but another part shows a fantastical beast, which looks like a phoenix perhaps, or maybe a bird of paradise, or some other mythical or imaginary creature. The lower half of this bird-like beast devolves into what almost look like more leafish figures. It's quite an amazing image, and hard to make out with the naked eye, let alone in a scan.

There is one label sewed into the small end, which is faded, and difficult to read, but appears to show a small coat of arms, under which it reads:

Exclusive Fabric
Resilient Construction