Dali Celbrates 100th Vintage Ties Posting

To celebrate 100 Vintage Ties blog entries, and my third year blogging ties, I can't resist showing off my pièce de résistance, the crème de la crème, the ne plus ultra, the apex, the acme, if not the epitome and pinnacle of my vintage tie collection, namely my Salvador Dali specimen.

Every vintage tile collector covets a Salvador Dali tie, and they sell quite frequently on eBay, as there were apparently dozens of designs made with the Dali signature on them. (According to expert collector Ron Sparks, see below, there were 43 different Dali designs, although he doesn't cite a source for that number.)

Nevertheless, they are some of the most expensive ties to buy in that venue, far too pricey for my pocketbook. I think the least I've ever seen one go for is $65, and most of them go for over $100.00, some occasionally are listed as high as $250, although I didn't keep track of whether they actually sold or not. The prices may be coming down slightly these days, as more and more Dali ties seem to keep coming on the eBay market.

But I found mine the old-fashioned way! It was on a rack of used ties in a second-hand clothing store, where the proprietors obviously had no clue about what they had.

When I bought it, I didn't even know that Salvador Dali HAD designed ties, and although I saw the stylized Dali signature on it right away, I didn't know for sure if it was real or not. That is, I didn't know if it referred to the REAL Dali, namely Salvador Dali. It wasn't until several years later, when I bought (or someone gave me) a copy of the book Fit to Be Tied: Vintage Ties of the Forties and Early Fifities by Rod Dyer, Ron Spark, and Steve Sakai, and I found several images of Dali ties in the book, that I was able to confirm that I had a genuine Dali, too.

The book is a must have for any vintage tie fan. Full of beautiful full-color pictures of vintage ties from the collection of Dr. Ronald P. Spark, listed as one of the authors, it provides the best documentation for the era's ties of which I'm aware. One of the ties I own appears on the cover--well, it's not MY tie, per se, but a picture of the same tie design which Dr. Spark obviously owns as well.

But none of the Dali designs depicted in the book is mine, and in fact, I've only ever seen my design elsewhere one time, when a different colored version of it appeared on eBay. I thought I saved a copy of that image, and/or obtained one from the K.N.O.T. website, but I can't currently locate it on my hard drive, or on the K.N.O.T site. If it turns up, I'll add it to this post later.

So what to say about the tie itself? It has the title "Extravaganza," printed on the inside of the wide end of the tie. See the closeup image provided. You'll have to look closely. The word is written in pale blue letters on the dark blue background, vertically up the left side of the tie, to the immediate right of the pale blue spear-shaped section that points up along the lower left side of the image with the label on it. Look carefully, and you'll spot it.

Looking at the Extravaganza design itself, one sees (on the second image nearest the bottom of the tie) a stylized image of a woman in red, with her arms reaching up above her head. She is ensconced in the middle of a red ring that is filled with floral excrescences eked out in shades of white. Further up the tie (you'll have to look at the first image) you see a similar shaped object decked out in the same colors, only this one is a rose, not a woman.

So is Dali making a not-so-subtle equation of a woman with a beautiful flower, specifically a rose? Is he equating womanhood with the beauty of a flower? Ephemeral, etc.? We are all mortal, men and women alike, of course, and whatever beauty or other virtues we may have are indeed transitory.

I'll leave the rest of the symbolism up to the individual interpretation of whoever is reading this, or looking at the images. Your comments are naturally welcome.

Finally, the last image shows the stylized Dali signature in a more closeup view. Every vintage Dali tie I've seen pictures of has the signature in exactly this same position on the tie. The tie has one sewed in label which reads:

made and styled in
california
for
Penney's

Demoiselle, Horse and Carriage

Well, I've been majorly deleterious about posting any ties in this new year, 2008. Which is a fancy way of saying I've been absent for a few weeks. Sorry about that. It's no way to kick off a new year, but my Sunday's have been pretty hectic, and there just hasn't been any chance to post until now.

I started to work on a very special post a couple of weeks ago, but didn't have time to finish it, and now I'm going to save it for next week. First, let me congratulate my friend and fellow tie blogger, Michael, over at Knot a Blog, on having recently blogged his 500th tie!

Since he blogs the ties he wears, day in and day out, he's achieved this milestone years before I will. I only blog once a week, and beginning my third year of blogging am about to reach the venerable century mark, namely, this is my 99th entry, and for the 100th entry next week, I'm saving that something special that I already mentioned in the previous paragraph.

So what about this fine tie? It's the first of what will be a series of representational art on ties. I don't know how many I'll present, but I'm going to show off some ties with recognizable objects on them for at least a few entries. This one shows a (presumably) lovely (presumably) young demoiselle, standing on the cobblestones, having just alighted from her fashionable carriage. She looks like a character right out of an Alexandre Dumas novel, or perhaps she's a Spanish grandee, perhaps even a grande dame.

Note also the weeping willow foliage over her head, which adds to the ambiance of the scene.

This tie has no sewed in labels, but has another of those "Haband" labels printed directly onto the fabric, inside a map of the United States, quite similar to the one on the op art tie I showed back in November.

This tie was half of a two-tie lot I purchased a few months ago on eBay. The other half of the lot was the one I called Red and Blue Icicle Swirls when I posted it back in August.

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!

Royal Blue with Leaves of Red and Yellow

I don't suppose this tie would have to be assigned to the autumn season, since its colors are not all that autumnal. But in my book, any tie featuring leaves gets worn during the autumn season, so I'm posting it here, as well. I guess autumn is just about over for this year, and as it so happens, I still have at least two more ties to feature next year at this time.

This tie has a rich royal blue background, featuring a looping ribbon of paler blue and yellow, to which are attached leaves, each colored half in brilliant red, and half crosshatched sometimes with blue and yellow, sometimes with paler blue and darker blue lines. As one might expect, the brilliant red colored half alternates positions as you move up the tie, first on the right, then the left, and so forth.

Because my flatbed scanner only accommodates the standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch materials, I could not display the entire effect of this tie with a single scan. So I've provided a second image, taken from further up the tie, which shows several more leaves, these ones smaller, but unfettered by the ribbon connecting those further down.

In many of these vintage ties, the pattern ends well before the expected location of the knot, but these leaves proceed right up to the traditional knot position and beyond. Keep in mind that in the forties, men wore their slacks higher up on the waist, and ties were tied shorter than they are today. This tie has enough leaves to make it effective even when tied long in today's style.

The tie has a brocade woven into the fabric, as so many do, and this one is almost, but not quite, a repetition of the ribbon. The main difference being that the brocade pattern branches into triple strands, whereas the ribbon that descends the tie remains single. I've adjusted the contrast slightly on the second image to the left, to make the brocade more visible.

The tie has one label, which characteristically reads as follows:

Resilient construction
Towncraft DeLuxe
Fabric loomed in U.S.A.

Brick Red with Leaves

This is one of the newer autumn ties in my collection. If I remember correctly, my wife found it somewhere sometime within the past year or so. It's a nice tie, but showing signs of its age. Primarily, because it's lost most of its resiliency, and is kind of limp.

But also, because it seems a bit off center. If you look closely at the pointed end of the tie, you will notice that one side of the point is longer than the other side. This is even more noticeable on the short end, where it looks quite lopsided, indeed.

I'm not sure what caused this lopsidedness. It could be that the tie was refolded and narrowed at some point, but it's still a generous 3 1/2 inches wide, if you measure straight across. If you measure from the spot where the tie ends its straight descent, and angles toward the point, to the equivalent spot on the opposite side--which on this tie, is not straight across at all--you get 3 3/4 inches.

The tie does have a fold over of the frontal fabric on the inside, on the left side, but I've seen this on so many ties now, that I'm beginning to wonder if that isn't standard practice, and has nothing to do with the tie having been refolded for a narrower width. Someone who knows about tie manufacturing in the 40's, please help!

The tie has two labels, and I need to transcribe them before discussing another important feature of the tie, one which you may have already noticed. The first label reads

Wilcrest Batiks
Individually hand painted

while the second label says simply

Larry's men's shop
San Carlos, Calif.

It's the "indivdually hand painted" part that I wanted to mention. The only indication of hand painting that I can see on this tie is that four of the leaves are painted with a reddish stained appearance, and this does look like hand painting. My guess is that the leaves were all originally the same tan color, and that four of them were hand painted.

I don't personally see the attraction, as the painting job looks a bit sloppy to me, with bits of the tan still showing here and there, and the color having a fairly uneven quality to it. I think I would probably prefer the leaves to all still be the tan color, rather than painted as they are. To me, this hand painting makes the tie look amateurish, and contributes to the tie's appearing old and worn out, rather than enhancing the appearance, as you'd expect hand painting to do. My wife doesn't agree. She thinks the tie is gorgeous. I like it too, but it's not one of my top favorites.

Finally, there's that word "batik" in the label. Batik, in case you're not familiar with it, is defined as

"A method of dyeing fabric where some areas are covered with wax or pastes made of glues or starches to make designs by keeping dyes from penetrating in pattern areas."

I am personally quite doubtful as to whether any REAL batik techniques were used in the production of this tie's fabric, but I will admit that when you look at the leaves, picked out as they are in a reverse color, that is, the leaves are light spots in a dark background fabric, this does suggest a batik kind of coloring. But my guess is that this fabric design was produced in a more straightforward manner, not using a true batik technique. Just my guess.

The tie also has a lovely brocade pattern, somewhat visible in the scan. The overall brocade design consists of closely crosshatched lines running approximately parallel to the left pointed end of the tie. Over the top of this pattern is an extensive archipelago of smoothly surfaced oddly shaped patches, which appear as darker spots in the scan. You can't really see the cross hatching in the whole tie scan, so I've scanned just a small portion of it at a higher resolution, and loaded it here.

Orange with Leaves of Gold and Brass

This is one of the more strikingly colored autumnal ties in my collection. The basic color is a richly vibrant shade of brilliant orange. The leaves are golden and brassy, almost coppery colored in some places.

One could argue that these are feathers, not leaves, I suppose, but I prefer to think of them as leaves, and given that orange is a color strongly associated with autumn, leaves seem the more likely intent, at least to me.

The tie's rich fabric also has a brocade woven into it, as do so many of my favorites from this era. In this case, the brocade, which is at least slightly visible in the scan, consists of looping swirls or whorls, some vertically placed, some horizontal in their motion across the surface of the tie.

If I have any complaint about the tie, it is that it is not as wide as some, measuring a mere 3 1/4 inches across. It may possibly have been a bit wider originally, although I'm not really sure about that. Unlike some of the other ties I suspect of having been refolded or cut down, this one doesn't have a pattern that is obviously off center. The design on the tie seems aesthetically pleasing enough the way it is.

It could have been almost an inch wider I suppose, which would be right in keeping with the 4 1/4 inch width that so many of my forties era ties exhibit. The two edges of the tie overlap by about a half inch, and one side is folded over another half inch, so it could have been refolded and resewn to make it narrower, but it is difficult to know for sure.

The tie has one label sewn into the small end, which reads simply,

Penney's
Towncraft

The label is obviously old and fraying. part of the word "Penney's" is unraveling and disappearing. The fabric of the tie itself is showing some signs of aging, and the tie is a little limp, and lacks "resilience," that characteristic so often touted on tie labels that read "resilient construction." Still, all in all, a brilliant exemplar of the classic forties era tie, and a pleasure to both own and wear!

Silver Op Art with Autumn Leaves

So, I was missing in action again last week. I actually scanned this tie a week ago Saturday, but on Sunday I was too busy, and there was no time to actually get it posted or to write about it.

I played an organ recital at Olympia First Baptist church where I am the organist and pianist. This was a formal recital with music by Bach, Brahms, Bruckner (love those "B's") and also Johann Walther, Helumt Walcha, Heinrich Schiedemann, Jean Langlais, Paul Manz and Michael Burkhardt. If you're not an organist or organ buff, those names probably won't mean a lot to you.

Suffice it to say that this was a BIG DEAL in my life, and took a lot of preparation time, and has been pretty much consuming my time and attention for the past several weeks. And last Sunday, it meant no time for blogging.

So enough about my other pursuits already, and what about this amazing tie! This tie has so much going on that it almost boggles the mind, and fries the eyeballs! The basic background pattern is a wild op art sort of design, with concentric squares. Or you could think of it as diamond shapes filled with alternating horizontal and vertical lines, if you prefer.

On top of this pattern is another concentric design, this one of leaves, two with gold centers, outlined in a deep chocolate brown, surrounded by green. The center leaf has the colors in the reverse order, with gold on the outside, green in the middle, brown again in between.

Underneath the background design is an elaborate, barely visible (at least in the scan) leaf and vine brocade woven into the fabric itself. All of these features combined make for a somewhat gaudy, iridescent effect quite opulent in its execution.

Somewhere in my files I have a picture from quite a few years back, from a soap opera magazine, showing one of the young bucks wearing this very tie. Which suggests that some Hollywood or New York studio costume clothing warehouse had this tie in stock at some point. If I could lay my hands on the picture, I'd scan and post it too, but I don't know where it is at the moment. Buried in some box, no doubt.

The tie has no sewn in labels, but one label printed directly into the fabric reads "HABAND" inside a blank US map. I've scanned and uploaded a picture of this label for your delectation.

Green leaves, Yellow diamonds, on Brown

Here's yet another from my collection of autumn-themed ties. I consider any tie depicting leaves to be autumn-themed. Which isn't to say that I NEVER wear one of these ties at other times of the year, but I make a point of wearing as many of them as I can during this time of year.

In this case we have only slightly stylized leaves drawn in white in little green circles also outlined in white scattered about the tie. Complementing them are yellow concentric diamond shapes, with paler yellow inside. All of the above on a deep, rich brown background, replete with a circular swirling background brocade pattern woven into the fabric of the tie.

Note the abrupt line and color demarcation on the small end of the tie. The same thing occurs further up the large end, but there wasn't space to show this transition in the scan, and still show the tie all the way to the end. This color change is typical of several of the vintage ties I've posted, having the obvious intended effect of making the knot appear all in green to match the circled leaves, rather than appearing in the tie's primary brown color.

Interestingly, the tie has two extant labels (I love that word, "extant," which means surviving or remaining, still in existence, and I can't resist using it to describe vintage tie labels, which often do NOT survive), but both of the labels are manufacturer labels, rather than one being the seller's label, as is more customary. The labels read as follows:

SUPERBA CRAVATS
Since 1873

and

SUPERBA
Matterhorn

Floral Patterned Leaf

So I missed another week. Yes, we were out of town again. Between Wednesday afternoon, when we left, and Monday evening when we returned, we put well over 1000 miles on our trusty auto! So there was no opportunity for blogging a tie until now. So on to this week's tie:

Now here's a bit of an unusual design for a tie with an autumn theme! A large leaf (I suppose it COULD be a feather, but we're going to assume it's a leaf), whose individual segments are alternating blue and peach, with floral patterns, i.e., flowers, filling in the spaces.

The deep brown background color is certainly autumnal. Not so sure about the blue and orangey, peachy colors, though. But the overall effect seems seasonal enough.

I had to cut off the bottom of the tie--that's not the true pointed end you're seeing there--in order to fit the complete design into the scan, with the row of dots both at the top and bottom, included. Some of the dot patterns appear to match those found on dominoes, but not all of them. Or they look like domino patterns with an extra dot or two added.

The tie has a diamond shaped grid for its brocade pattern, which should be possible to make out if you look closely enough. The tie has two labels, both the manufacturer label and the seller's label extant. They read as follows:

Hyatt's Brawn
Men's wear specialists
Pendleton, Ore.

and

Styled by
Creveling of
California

Acorn Pixies

Continuing a bit of a theme from last week, albeit a somewhat tenuous connection, I present what I'm calling "acorn pixies." Each little green cap surmounts an vaguely acorn shaped head, replete with grinning smiley face! You may not think these look like acorn faces, but that's what they remind me of, so that's what I'm calling them.

So what's the connection to last week? Last week we had oak leaves, with burr covered fruits that seemed like they should have been acorns, but weren't. This week we have what look like little acorn pixes to my sometimes over-vivid imagination.

The rest of the space is filled with black line-drawn vines and leaves. The color scheme uses a bright orange color, certainly suitable for autumn, set off by the black lines, and bright green acorn caps. Certainly a dramatic effect, and a very bright tie, indeed.

In fact, I've yet to figure out a shirt to wear it with. None of my green shirts are quite the right shade. I suppose I'll have to wear it with either a solid black or perhaps a solid white shirt. I try to avoid white shirts, and only own one, for those rare occasions when I'm required to wear one for whatever reason.

Anyway, here's wishing a happy autumn, a pleasant fall season to all of you!

P.S. It's January 1, 2008, and I'm adding a closeup of one of the acorn pixies, cropped and rotated to be more or less right side up, since most of them are upside down or sideways on the tie itself. As soon as I posted the tie, it occurred to me that I should have done this, but somehow I never got around to it until now.

Blue with Silver Oak Leaves

In honor of the first day of autumn, I am posting this tie featuring oak leaves. Leaves always suggest the season of autumn, even if they aren't fall colors, per se, but a lovely combination of deep blue, paler blue and silver, as in this case.

The swirling lines sweeping down the tie suggest that the leaves are falling from the trees, or being blown by the winds of autumn, furthering the impression of fall.

I may be able to post another autumnal tie or two in coming weeks, but nothing like last year, when I featured extensively from my collection of ties featuring autumn leaves. I'm afraid I've mostly exhausted this aspect of my collection. Just look at my 2006 September (the last tie that month), October, and November postings to refresh your memory.

I always thought this tie was oak leaves and acorns, but now that I look a bit more closely, those don't look like acorns at all. I asked my wife what they were and she said dahlias, or chrysanthemums. I don't find that answer satisfactory, because if that's what they are, they aren't to scale with the oak leaves. The leaves are too large, or the flowers too small, one or the other.

I suppose they could be some other kind of nut that has a prickly covering. I'm not aware of any acorns that have a covering like this although I suppose it's not impossible. I read (and blogged) William Bryant Logan's fascinating little volume on the Oak tree, but don't recall enough detail to remember if he discussed anything like this.

The tie also has a nice brocade, but I'm not sure what it represents. There are sort of scroll-like framing elements, enclosing vaguely rectangular spaces, inside which are groupings of three dots, in a vaguely floral arrangement. I don't think you can see it very clearly in the scanned image, just hints of something behind the primary design.

The tie has one extant label to transcribe:

Arrow
Made in U.S.A.
All Silk

Green and Red Horror

Now this is my idea of an ugly tie! Kind of a sickly olive green color combined with bright red. Ugh! Not my idea of an attractive color combination. If anyone out there disagrees, offer me 20 bucks plus $5 shipping, and this beauty (I mean horror) is yours!

Now the design isn't so bad. I like the big stylized floral shape, similar to the "rosettes," as I termed them, from a few weeks ago. And the wavery red lines crosshatching the larger portion of the tie, seemingly hand drawn, with occasional breaks and gaps--now that's a nice design touch.

The red and green checkerboard, now that I could do without, especially as the color printing doesn't stay very well within the lines. Was this a deliberate design element, or a flaw due to cheap design execution? Who knows. The shadow knows! (But not me).

I think you would have a good chance of winning an ugly tie contest with this monstrosity. It looks to me like the kind of tie a used car salesman might have worn, or perhaps a Willie Loman type. Somebody a bit down on his luck.

The tie also demonstrates that it was probably not a top of the line model by the fact that there is no brocade woven into the fabric, as the fancier, nicer ties generally have. Of course, I don't really know that only the more expensive ties had brocaded fabrics; I wasn't born yet when the ties on this blog were manufactured and sold. It's all supposition on my part. Intelligent (I hope) guesswork.

This tie IS all silk, however, so it couldn't have been TOO cheap, I suppose. The tie has both its original labels, which read as follows:

Northern Commercial Co.
Anchorage, Alaska

and

Fashion Craft
Cravat
All Silk

Pale Yellow, Pale Peach on a Deep Brown Background

The title I assigned to this post just about says it all. Colorwise, anyhow. So what do I call the shapes on this tie? Three-cornered stars? Three-petaled flowers?

There is probably a proper name for this shape, but I don't know what it is. My wife thinks they look like stylized rocket ships sitting on the launch pad about to take off.

But I have no idea how to describe the black and white figures that fill the center of each pattern. They look like little bits of barbed wire, or maybe like brain cell dendrites, or little black bugs sharing their legs with one another.

Be sure to notice the fabric brocade which permeates the background of the tie. Some sort of stylized floral pattern, perhaps rosebuds, or tulips, or something, with tiny little five-petaled rosettes floating around them.

The tie has two labels. Both are sewed into the narrow end of the tie. The first is printed on black fabric, on which the script has faded so as to be almost unreadable, unless you hold it at just the right angle under a bright light. It reads

Leonard's
Men's Wear
Hayward, Calif.

The other label reads

SUPERBA
All Silk

Brown and Silvery Blue Eggs

Here's a nice 4 1/4 inch specimen. I'm calling them eggs for lack of any better descriptive term. The groups of nine tannish brown circular objects, which appear to be embedded into the surface of the tie reminded me of nice brown eggs, nestled into some kind of container.

Of course they are surrounded by many more objects of the same shape which do not resemble eggs at all, what with their concentric rainbow shaped patterns, surrounding a central dot in each.

If you look closely, you will notice that the gray blue egg shaped grouping has less than 100% accurate color printing, with a small strip of each of the top row eggs lacking the blue color. I don't have any idea if this was a deliberate effect planned by the designer, or if it is a printing misalignment, or error.

The tie also has a rich brocade pattern embedded in the fabric. You can see it best on the solid colors--on the groups that I'm calling eggs, and on the solid brown portions of the tie. The brocade pattern resembles bits and pieces of a slashing sunburst design shape.

The tie has the label "Haband" printed directly into the fabric on the reverse of the large end of the tie. I've made a closeup scan of this label for your edification, enlightenment or entertainment, depending on your point of view or inclination.

Red & Blue Icicle Swirls

Don't ask me why I called this tie "Red & Blue Icicle Swirls." That was just the pseudo-poetic expression that popped into my head when I was trying to think what to call it.

I'm not even sure that "swirls" is the right term to use. Curlicues might be more accurate. And why icicles? The color patterns on the tied, all kind of swirled together in shades of silver, white and blue, with the red background streaking through in places, somehow reminded me of icicles. Probably not very accurate, but it worked for me.

This is one of the most recent acquisitions in my collection. It just got back from the dry cleaners this week, having arrived the week before in the mail. I purchased it together with another in a lot of two vintage beauties on eBay. At the time I am writing and posting this blog entry, you can still see the pair online, but I don't suppose the pictures will stay up there indefinitely.

You will have to forgive me for cutting of the pointed end of the tie, but I wanted to show as much of the design as possible, and my flatbed scanner just isn't long enough to do the tie full justice. I have sometimes resorted to my digital camera, but I haven't really mastered it well enough to get very good tie shots with it. I generally get glare off the flash, for instance. So I prefer the scanner.

The large end is close to how the tie actually looks, but the small end is most definitely not. For some reason it came out much darker. The only good thing about it is that you can see the brocade pattern quite distinctly down near the end. A diamond shape made up of four parallelograms. This pattern is embedded into the fabric hither and yon, fairly infrequently, but consistently every few inches up the tie.

Well, that's enough for this week. No labels on this tie, unfortunately. Until next time, au revoir, auf Wiedersehen.

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