Tan and Brown Circles on Red

This is an intriguingly patterned tie. First we have some largish tan circles, filled with smaller solid brown circles. Then we have an arc shaped slice filled with concentric brown circles on a tan background. All superimposed over a solid deep red background.

All in all it makes for quite a striking design. Striking enough that we don't really miss the lack of a brocaded fabric in this case.

The tie appears to have been well liked and frequently worn by its owner. Or else he was careless, as the tie shows some dark staining towards the end.

There is one label which reads (not unlike several others I've posted):

Resilient Construction
Towncraft Deluxe Cravat
Fabric Loomed in U.S.

Orange Rosettes

This beauty is another of my favorites, and hangs on my rack of orange, brown and tan colored vintage ties. There are over 25 ties on this one rack alone.

I have similar racks for blue, red, and green. The green rack also holds some miscellaneous ties in silver, gray, and other colors. Plus there is a separate rack devoted to ties with autumn leaves, most of which were featured on the blog last fall.

I don't know that the shapes on this tie are proper rosettes, but that was the only term I could think of to describe them. The fabric has one of those rich brocades woven into it, of an apparently floral design, which is probably difficult to see in the scan.

There is one label sewn into the small end of the tie which reads:

Pebble Beach
Made in California

Green and Silver

Now here's a tie that no one has cut down, refolded, and narrowed! It's fully 4 and 1/4 inches in width at its widest point.

Quite striking in design, with two dark green patterned sections cut from much larger circles impinging on a silver background, the circular patterns themselves filed with small overlapping circles, some plain, some filled with many pointed stars, some of which have a smaller silver circle imposed on them. The areas between the small circles are filled with small silver dots.

The tie also sports a fabric brocade consisting of vertical rows of diagonally oriented squares forming a kind of checkerboard pattern. The brocade continues unabated through the green circular patterns, but are not as visible there unless you examine the tie closely, and probably aren't very visible in the scan.

This tie is difficult to wear with any color other than white. I typically wear it with a matching dark forest green shirt, but then, finding a pair of slacks that doesn't clash in tone with the silvery background of the tie is a challenge.

Unfortunately, no labels survive.

Vertical Stripes

Look Ma! Vertical Stripes! Unlike most traditional striped ties, which place the stripes horizontally, or more often, diagonally across the front of the tie, these are straight up and down. Not quite your normal stripe arrangement.

The tie itself is beautifully brocaded, with an elaborate arabesque pattern that includes paisley-like figures here and there. What is an arabesque, you ask? Here's one definition, as found via Google:

A motif consisting of intertwining vines, branches, leaves, or blossoms. These could be woven in a geometric or curvilinear pattern.

The term "arabesque" undoubtedly relates to the fact that the type of pattern so described is frequently found ornamenting mosques and other Islamic buildings. I don't suppose the pattern on this tie represents a genuine arabesque, but it has the flavor.

There are no extant labels surviving on the tie for transcription here.

Blue and Silver Abstract

Here's another beauty with a modern, abstract, yet geometrical kind of design. Like the "One Giant Ornament" tie from a few weeks ago, I had to cut off the normal, pointed end of the tie, in order to show you as much of the design as possible.

I always regret it when I'm forced to do this--cut off the end of the tie in a scan--because it's that pointed piece at the end of the tie that gives all ties their iconic and unmistakable look. Which isn't to say that you don't occasionally find ties with squared-off ends, and I have quite a collection of those, too, which I may share at some future point. But with out the pointed end, most ties just don't look quite the same.

Like several others posted recently, this tie appears to have been refolded and re-stitched with new creases installed, in order to make it much narrower than it originally was, as tie fashions narrowed significantly at the end of the glorious tie era that was the forties. This one is remade even narrower than most. I wish I could find a good tailer/seamstress type person who could effectively remake these ties back to their original widths. I've not had too much luck so far.

In addition to the wonderfully abstract mod-art style design on the tie, the fabric is also embedded with a beautiful leaf and vine and berry brocade which thankfully came through fairly well in the scan.

The tie has one label which reads:

PENNEY'S
Towncraft
Made and styled
in California

Orange Geometrics

So, where have I been for the past three weeks? Inquiring minds, my adoring fans (all one of them--Thank you, Jim!) want to know. This is the first time since I began this blog that I've ever missed more than one week, and this time, I've been gone for three! Shame on me.

So where was I? Well, the first weekend I was in Washington D.C. attending the American Library Association's annual conference. That was work (at least, I was getting paid). The next weekend I was in Portland, Oregon, attending the American Guild of Organists' regional convention. That was play (or, at least, vacation).

Last weekend, I had just returned from a week off, and had SO MUCH stuff to catch up on, that I barely had a chance to sit down at the computer long enough to check my e-mail, let alone scan and blog a tie.

Well, I'm back. And changing gears with the ties. No more pseudo fleur-de-lis, vaguely heraldic designs, at least for now. I'm not sure there are any more of those in my vintage collection, anyhow. Nope, on to other things, tie-wise.

This is probably one of my all time vintage favorites, and certainly is one of the best ones not yet blogged. The pattern reminds me somewhat of some of the Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass window designs. The colors, especially the off-white and pale orangey background, are wonderfully summery, perfect for this time of year.

The tie has two labels. The seller's label reads:

Frederick & Nelson
Men's Shops

The manufacturer's label reads (like several others I've posted):

Fashion Craft
SN
Cravats
Resilient Construction

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.

Silver, with Black and Gold Ornament

This may be the last in the recent series of what I've been calling vaguely heraldic pseudo fleur de lis designs. I'll have to hunt carefully through my collection next week to see if I can come up with any more, but I'm not aware of any off the cuff, so to speak.

Is it mixing metaphors while referring to ties, to use the expression "off the cuff?" I don't know, but at least it's a clothing-related expression.

I think this is the first time I've placed the small end of the tie over the top of the large end in my scan. I tried it initially the other way, but as you can see, in the arrangement I used, the design on the small half would have been directly behind the large end, and wouldn't have showed at all.

I decided it made more sense to see the design twice, rather than just viewing an uninterrupted stretch of those groups of four parallel lines, resembling blank music staves.

I have fairly good reason to believe that this tie was once wider, a true four-plus incher, but that as tie fashions narrowed, someone took it to a tailor and had it cut down, or re-folded. I've always been suspicious of the fact that the design is off center. For this kind of symmetrical design, you'd expect it to be precisely centered on the tie, not visibly closer to the left side, as it is now.

Next, when you examine the tie in the back, the silver fabric comes all the way to the edge of the tie on one side, but on the other side, the silver fabric has been folded under, which is not normal construction for a tie. And the silver fabric overlaps significantly in back, again, not normal. The two sides are sewn up the middle with loose stitching.

I'm considering undoing the stitching, having the tie dry cleaned flat, with no crease, and see if I can refold it to approximate what I believe to have been its original wider size. If and when I do, I'll have to post another picture for your benefit.

The tie has one label, sowed in lengthwise on the small end. It is presumably a seller's label, although I suppose it could be the manufacturer. It sounds like the name of a prestigious law firm:

Woodward & Lothrop
Washington

The two lines of the label are separated by a fancy typographic ornament.

Silver, Yellow and Blue

Yet another in the series of vaguely heraldic, pseudo fleur de lis designs. This one is a change from all of those that went before, in that, instead of the designs being scattered somewhat randomly or even evenly over the surface of the tie, here we have a rigidly symmetrical design.

One elaborate design suspended, chandelier-like from one of the two geometric crossing points on the tie, with a very close imitation of the fleur de lis above, picked out in a reverse colored white on navy. The petals on either side are too small, and the central flower is diamond shaped on the outside, rounded on the inside, but if you compare this shape to the classic fleur de lis design as shown on Wikipedia, you can't help but notice the resemblance, even though skewed somewhat.

You should be able to see the elaborate leaf-patterned brocade woven into the fabric. It shows up best on the central silver panel, although it flows through the entire tie, equally. Unfortunately, in the scan, the brocade is not visible in the deep navy blue sections of the tie.

The tie is another narrower example, measuring only 3 3/8 inches across at its widest point. There are no extant labels to record. A very nice, obviously expensive tie in its day, but nevertheless, not one of my favorites, for a couple of reasons: First, it's not wide enough! I like those 4+ inchers. Second, I prefer the more abstract freer-form designs to the rigid symmetry displayed here. I said a couple of reasons, but here's a third: Yellow just isn't my favorite color.

Gray-blue with Flourishes and Squiggles

The squiggles are the angle bracket markings which cover the surface of this tie.

The other patterns I'm calling "flourishes" today, because they aren't quite as heraldic nor do they probably even qualify as pseudo fleur de lis, like the designs on the ties from the past 3 weeks.

In comparison with those, these flourishes make me think of Paul Klee and his "Twittering Machine." I guess because they are more thinly drawn, and composed of less substance, somehow, than the vaguely heraldic designs of the past weeks.

That's about as far as the resemblance to Klee goes, and it's not much a of real resemblance, I grant you. But the thought passed through my head, so I had to mention it. That's what blogs are for, right?

It is perhaps worth noting that the back side of the tie is a slightly brighter shade of blue than the front, suggesting that the front of the tie has faded somewhat over the years. Fading usually comes from exposure to the sun, and that seems a bit hard to countenance, given that the tie was originally sold in Seattle, and I found it somewhere in the NW also. One wouldn't think a tie worn in these parts would get enough sun exposure to fade!

This tie strikes me as another less expensive example, like the one from April 15, mainly because it is not made from a brocaded fabric. But I may be completely off base, since the fabric is an all silk foulard, according to one of the labels. Per usual, when two labels survive, one is the seller's label, and one the manufacturer's. They read as follows:

Rhodes
Department Store
Seattle

and

Devonshire
Foulard
All Silk

The term "foulard" is an interesting one. Read some web definitions via Google here.

Silvery Gray & Red

Here's yet another tie with those vaguely heraldic pseudo Fleur de lis type symbols scattered about on it.

This one has a lovely brocade woven into the fabric, with overlapping circles filled with a checkerboard type cross hatching pattern, the circles surrounded by circular, oval and even somewhat paisley shaped objects, arranged around the circles somewhat like flower petals.

I've also loaded a couple of closeup detail images, showing the two versions of the heraldic devices. The first one is mostly red, with white and gray highlights, while the other is partly white, partly red.

The upper central portion of these designs almost resembles a human figure, raising its hands (or wings?) above its head.

This tie, like the one from last week, is only 3 1/2 inches across at its widest point. Unlike last week's, this one has no surviving labels to record.

The brocaded fabric is beautifully designed, but the tie itself is, in my view, on the boring side. The color, gray, is not exciting, and these vaguely heraldic designs project a more conservative, traditional image than do the freer, more abstract designs that I prefer. Still, it's a definitely a tie worth having in my collection. To be honest, I'm not sure if I've ever worn it. I suppose I ought to find an appropriate shirt, and wear it to work, some of these days.

Blue and Silver with Crimson Highlights

Here's another vaguely heraldic, not quite Fleur de lis, continuing the trend from last week. This is a prettier color combination, though, at least in my view. My only complaint about this tie is its slightly narrow width, measuring as it does, a mere 3 1/2 inches at its widest point.

What are those repeated shapes on the tie? The bottom part looks like bird wings. The top almost, but not quite, resembles a ship's anchor.

The fabric is richly brocaded with an inlaid pattern of crosshatched squares, turned on their sides to form diamond shapes.

So from what time period does this tie hail? I'm not positive, but it has that 1940's look. The slightly narrow width could indicate the beginning or end of the wide tie era, although I don't know that for sure.

The tie has a single label, sewed into the narrow end, which, printed in an elaborate script, reads simply,

The Bon Marché.

This grand old store, for over a century synonymous with good shopping in Seattle, is unfortunately no more. It was bought out, and its vintage name replaced with that of Macy's in 2004. To read the history of the store, check out this article on HistoryLink.org, which calls itself The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History.

Not quite Fleur de lis

Here's another vintage tie with a rich brocaded fabric, but not, I have to admit, one of my favorites. I prefer the more abstract designs. This one looks like it's trying to be vaguely heraldic, imitating but deliberately avoiding the classic French Fleur de lis pattern.

And its chocolate brown background color is not my favorite, either. Brown, yellow and red, together. Not exactly a favorite color combination for me.

Nevertheless, it was probably an expensive tie in its time, and as a collector, when you find a vintage specimen for a reasonable price, you grab it. Although to be honest, it's my wife you probably found and grabbed this particular item. But the fact still remains: in this day and age, the vintage tie collector has to take what he (or she) can get.

This one does have good width, 4 1/4 inches at its widest point, albeit that is a quarter of an inch narrower than last week's specimen. No labels.

Red, White and Gray--Spots!

Now that I've finished displaying my thirties era ties, it's back to the bigger and bolder forties. Even here, I'm afraid that many of my most colorful and opulent examples have already been featured, so it's on to the more ordinary, probably less expensive in their day, examples.

Take this relatively prosaic pattern of uniformly distributed red and white circles on a gray background. Not even any particular creativity in the positioning of the dotty spots. Just evenly spaced alternating rows. And no fancy fabric with embedded brocade patterns here. What you see is what you get.

It is worth noting that the red circles, ovals actually, are shadowed , while the white ones are not. To me, this tie looks like something that would be worn by Bozo the Clown! About the only thing it has going for it is it's extreme width, fully 4 1/2 inches across at its widest point, just before it tapers to its inevitable point. The width does make its own kind of statement. No shrinking violet, this!

The tie does have one label extant, which states:

Made in California

The word "California" is set in a fancy script style font, and a palm tree graces one corner of the label.

The Last from the Thirties

Holy Week can be a sort of "hell week" for church organists, such as myself. Simply because of the thousands of notes to practice and perfect. And the extra musical events, extra music, period, for which to prepare.

That explains why no tie got posted last weekend. I had my regular Sunday service in the morning, then several hours of practice, followed by a hymn sing that evening. The next day I played a 30 minute noon recital sponsored by the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists, of which I am dean.

I practiced Tuesday evening, Wednesday evening, and Thursday evening there was a Maundy Thursday communion service to play for, with the final Easter choir rehearsal afterwards.

Saturday afternoon saw a couple more hours of final practicing for the big Sunday Easter celebration, which included no fewer than six big choir anthems, culminating in The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, which has to be one of the most difficult pieces to play in the entire repetoire.

All of that effort comes together in a very rewarding fashion, but it's still very tiring, very labor intensive, a lot of hard work!

But this is supposed to be a blog about ties, not about church music. This is, so far as I have been able to determine, the last of my 1930 era ties. If I have any more, they're hiding. I call this one "Leaves of silver, blue and copper on a burgundy background." It's one of the more glamorous entries in these richly fabricated ties that I have been featuring since January first, this year.

I'm also loading a second image, of both ends of the tie from the back side, primarily to show another unique characteristic of 1930-era ties. These ties are invariably put together in an off-centered fashion. Look closely at the image of the back side of the tie, and you will see that the fold where the two sides of the tie come meet and are stitched together, are not centered, but are severely lopsided.

This is the way all of these ties are put together, and is quite distinct from most ties of later vintage, which, if not perfectly symmetrical, are generally more so than these. You can see a couple more examples, albeit only of the small ends, by taking another look at "Red Paisley" and "Red Spiderweb," both of which show the back side of the small end of the tie.

"Red Spiderweb" definitely shows the lopsided stitching, while "Red Paisley" is a little more centered, but demonstrates another aspect of these ties: looser stitching. These ties are typically only loosely stitched together in back, unlike later examples, which are generally more tightly and evenly stitched.

So, now that we're done with the thirties, at least for the time being, what next? I haven't decided, so you'll have to wait (with me) until next week to find out.

Maroon and Blue with Silver Trimings

I think I've finally figured out the trick to adjusting the images of my maroon ties so that they appear correctly on screen, at least on MY monitor. I can't guarantee how they appear on YOURS.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I have the red vs. cyan and blue vs. yellow sliders all the way toward red and blue, and then I adjust the green vs. magenta slider back just a little from all the way toward green, to get exactly the correct shade of maroon.

Then I can play with the automatic brightness and contrast, hue and saturation controls to further enhance the image. My goal is always to make the tie appear on screen the way it looks when I hold it in my hand. I am particularly pleased at how this one turned out. The blue is such a brilliant and vibrant shade that contrasts so vividly against the maroon.

Now that I've got a better handle on how this works, I probably ought to go back and play with some of the earlier samples that I couldn't get quite right before. If I ever have time, I will probably do so.

This tie's labels are showing, albeit upside down on the image. They read as follows:

The Bon Marché
Seattle

and

Fashion
Craft
Cravats.

Tiny Paisley Print

Are these really paisley's? The little pink/red shapes scattered evenly across this tie? They are too small, and don't have enough detail to be absolutely certain, but their shapes are certainly reminiscent of paisleys, so I'm going to assume that that is how they were indeed intended.

I don't know what to call the paired silver shapes that alternate with them. They could almost be commas or apostrophes, or perhaps bent bowling pins, or maybe telephone receivers (probably not). Whatever they are, they add their own glossy glistening glissade, gliding down the face of the tie like glad glib and glorious globules of glossolalia.

I have to admit that "glissade" and probably "glossolalia" and "globules" for that matter, are only marginally apropos to my usage of them in describing this tie, but I couldn't resist the alliteration.

This tie amazingly has two labels still attached, shown in the scan. The first reads

The H.C. Capwell Co.
Store for Men
Oakland

And the second a single word:

Eton

Maroon Coils and Silver Bubbles

Once again I had to struggle with my scanner's inability to handle shades of maroon. The scanner picks this range of colors up as a dull brown, with none of the real shades of red and blue that it should be resolving. I had to run the image through my image editing software (I use Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8) , and manually adjust the Red vs. Cyan, Green vs. Magenta and Blue vs. Yellow sliders, most of them heavily toward the right (Red, Green and Blue), to get an approximation of the right shade.

Until I ran this scan, and began trying to "fix" the color, I had never even noticed that in addition to the silver colored "bubbles" (that's what I'm calling them), there are also some red bubbles, almost identical in shape, but barely discernible against the dark maroon background. I don't know if you'll be able to spot them or not. It may help to click on the image for a larger version.

This is obviously another in my 2007 series of 1930's era ties. I think I'm getting close to the end of these. I know I have at least one more, and there might be some others lurking in my myriads of tie racks that I will be able to seek out if I hunt for them. At any rate, it probably won't be too much longer before I'm back to the more colorful 40's era ties that I started out displaying on this blog.

This tie has no labels to report on, so that's about it until next week! See you then!

Green and Brown Swirled Lines

So far all the thirties era ties I've posted have been either red, maroon, or blue. So I decided it was time to switch colors, and the result is this brown and green exemplar. Although the thin lines with the more brightly colored dots and dashes on them include a red color, probably not highly visible in the scanned image.

I've decided to load a second image this week, showing the inside of the tie, or to be more accurate, the reverse side of the fabric, so that you can see you these designs are created.

When you look at the image, the brightly colored parallel stripes you see running across the fabric are the little brightly colored dots on the narrow stripes on the front. Those dots are created by threads that run clear across the fabric, but somehow they are only allowed to show through to the front whenever they cross one of the swirly lines that curve across the face of the tie.

Incidentally, those lines you see on the reverse side of the tie would be running in absolutely straight lines across the tie, if the tie weren't folded a little. It's hard to keep the tie absolutely flat while trying to close the scanner lid down on the tie, since I've unfolded the tie along its creases, to show more of the fabric backside. So the lines all curve where the tie managed to fold in on itself.

Well, I'm sure I'm boring the life out of anyone who is actually trying to read this entry. Just look at the tie, and ignore my unnecessary verbiage. So until next week, au revoir.

P.S. I have just (8/12/07) reloaded a newly edited version of the primary scan for this tie. The previous version was so dark that it was almost impossible to make out any detail on the tie. I certainly don't recall it being that dark when I originally loaded it, but it certainly looked dark now. This version still isn't accurate color wise, but at least you can make out some of the detail.

Brushstroke Swirls

Another '30's era tie. This one I'm calling "Brushstroke Swirls" for lack of anything better. My scanner really seems to have problems with dark shades of maroon. I had to really run this scan through the image enhancement software process in a major way to get it to come even close to the actual color.

It's pretty close now, but just a bit on the dark side. (Not the dark side of the force, mind you 8^)

I believe I mentioned embroidery in one of my previous 2007 entries. These ties have a unique kind of fabric that resembles embroidery, but unlike embroidery, the design is not stitched on TOP of the fabric, but is embedded into the fabric itself. I wish someone with more knowledge of fabric would explain it to me. How this fabric is made, that is, and what the proper terminology for it is.

I have said several times before that these scans don't really do it justice. But then, the ties themselves, from any distance at all, appear rather plain and ordinary, dull even. It's only when you take a look at them up close that you can perceive the richness, the sheen, the jewel-like colors, the elaborate stitching effect that is created. These ties are much more subtle than those from the next decade, but are not nearly as dramatic and flashy. But seen up close, they are just as stunningly beautiful. That's my view, anyhow, and I'm sticking to it!

Maroon and Silver

Here's another Christmas present tie. This was part of the group of ties my wife purchased from the little antique shop in downtown Olympia, and gave me for my Christmas present from her. See my post from two weeks ago for the first one.

I'm not happy with the color cast from the scanner, and despite all I could do with my graphics editor, I couldn't really get the on screen version to match what I see when I hold the tie in my hand. Of course, I'm looking at the tie under incandescent light, and often colors look different than they do under either sunlight or fluorescent light.

The real color is more of a classic maroon than what I've captured on the scan. The contrasting patterns are fairly accurately captured, shiny silver, with occasional blue streaks in amongst the silver.

Not much else to say about the tie, except that like most of these thirties vintage, it is narrower, and looks fairly prosaic until you get up close and examine it carefully at close range. Then its brilliance and glamor become more apparently visible. No tags to record.

Blue Number Two

Here's another blue beauty from the thirties. This on is more monochromatic even than last week's, but is still exhibits a brilliant sheen and shine replete with jewel like colors embedded into the fabric.

It doesn't really come through in the scan, but each of those patterns which dribble down the face of the tie, which somewhat resemble rivers on a map, is actually bi-colored, one side a lighter, glossier silverier shade of blue, and the other an almost maroon or reddish hue. The two colors cross over each other occasionally as they meander down the tie.

The small independently floating shapes are likewise made from the same two colors, paired together. It's a very subtle yet beautiful effect, especially when seen directly, not through the computer's attempt at recreating the colors. Click on the tie for a slightly larger version, where the two colored embroidery is a little more visible, though still not as clearly as in the actual tie itself, unfortunately.

This tie has a label which has survived! Fastened to the inside of the large end of the tie, it reads:

Li-Ro
Cravat
Hande Made
Wool Lined

Blue Beauty

Take a look at this blue beauty! Narrower than the other thirties era ties I've posted, but just as dramatic in its own way. This tie has an almost patchwork quilt like quality to its design. For once, I think the scan has captured at least some of the brilliance and opulence of the fabric in this tie.

This tie was a Christmas present from my wife, who found it at a little antique shop in downtown Olympia, Washington, with three more, one of which I may post next week. Another is a forties era, which will have to wait until I decide to slide back into that decade, which won't be for a while yet. And the final one looks like a homemade tie, perhaps from the sixties. Attractive in its own way, but not appropriate for the blog at this time. Maybe someday.

We need to go back and check out the antique shop again, as they told my wife they thought they had more vintage ties, but that they just weren't sure exactly where they were. In a box in their storage somewhere, undoubtedly.

It's rare for labels to have survived in these thirties era ties, and this one is no exception. That is to say, there are no labels in it. And I've yet to wear it. I'll have to find the right outfit and occasion! I have a pair of navy corduroy slacks which have a bit of a sheen to them that will probably work nicely, perhaps with my gray-blue shirt. Time will tell.