J.B. Ernst Square-Ended Ties

This picture shows my collection of J.B. Ernst square-ended striped ties. J.B. Ernst (aka Ernest J. Beale) flourished in San Francisco designing his unique ties from 1952-1970. I have been a fan ever since I stumbled upon my first Ernst tie in a Seattle thrift store back in the late 1970's. I wore that tie for years before I ever found any more, or learned anything about the designer. 

There is some information about Ernest Beall on a web page that I found, via Google of course. With lots of pictures. I wasn't really able to start my own collection in any serious way until the advent of eBay.

 Also, my sister-in-law and her husband live in Santa Cruz, CA, and whenever I visit, I'm usually able to find a few Ernst ties in vintage clothing stores, or even in the local Goodwill. I found three that way this past summer. One in the Goodwill, for which I paid a mere $3.50, and two in a vintage clothing shop, for which I paid $7.00 each. On eBay they go for varying amounts. I haven't been buying many lately, as I probably have too many already.

Once in a blue moon, I find one in a thrift store in this area, but it's rare. They are much more common in Mr. Beale's original back yard, so to speak, near his original San Francisco locale.

So I wear a different tie to work each day, and (providing I don't forget), before I leave for the day, I remove the tie, and hang it on the outside of my cubicle wall. I keep on until the wall is full. I take pictures, and then take the ties home, and start over with another collection.

As a tie collector, I never run out of different ties to wear. The ties depicted here represent about half of my J.B. Ernst tie collection, but the other half are mostly more traditional with the standard pointed end, and the stripes run diagonally across the face of the tie, as is typical with most designers. The design of the stripes is often quite original, however, and the color combinations are sometimes unusual, although always very well thought out.

These pictures don't really do full justice to the colors and patterns in these ties. I brightened up the shots somewhat with a photo editor, but many of them still look dull compared to the real thing. And others are too brightly colored. For example, the tie in the picture to the immediate left of this block of text, should be more red, than orange.

The green tie near the middle of this picture, is one of the ones I found this past summer; the one I picked up at the Santa Cruz Goodwill for $3.50. It features very fine, almost hairline stripes in various shades of green. It is one of only a few I have in this particular style, described in more detail on the page I linked to, titled Ernest Beall, Prince of Ties. Look for the picture with this description: "Some of my favorites are Ernst’s hairline-stripe ties with hundreds of different colors of thread."

The brightly colored tie in shades of blue and turquoise located on the right side of this picture is one of my favorites. It is fabricated from raw silk. Two more raw silk ties are found in the first closeup picture. The third in from the right, and the last one depicted in full length on the left side of the screen. Mr. Beall was not partial when it came to choice of fabrics. His ties feature various combinations including wool, cotton, polyester, and, of course, silk.

The widths vary a little, but the majority of the square-ended ties depicted here are about 1 & 3/4 inch in width at their widest point. The next picture down on the page depicts the widest and narrowest square-ended ties in my collection. The widest ones, one in a combination of turquoise and a spring green, the other orange, darker green, and pale blue, are about 3 1/8 inch in width. The narrowest one, in olive and brown, at the far right in the picture, is 1 & 1/8 inch wide.

The left-most tie in this picture, in dark green and orange, is the original Ernst tie that I owned and wore.

So I realize it's been several years since I posted any pictures here on my vintage tie blog. I'm thinking I'll post more of my cubicle wall shots in future, as I find the time. Maybe more will show up once I get around to retiring from my full-time job. We'll see. I hope you enjoy!