Thirties Tulips

Here's another thirties beauty that I missed the first time around. Or I may have acquired it since then, I'm not sure.

These stylized tulips appear in a lush chocolate brown with copper highlights on the petals, against a richly brocaded, almost iridescent background of ice blue stripes overlaid on a background of the brown, which shows through the edges of the stripes.

Brown seems an odd color for flowers, but they are more stylized than real, so I suppose the color doesn't matter all that much.

The tie has one label, which is sewed into the small end of the tie, which I've shown in the scan. It reads

Fashion
Craft
SN Cravats

I'm sorry no tie got posted last week. For a church musician, such as myself, sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the weekend to get things done. I'm writing these words at almost half past ten on Sunday evening, when I should be in, or at least heading for, bed.

Thirties Polka Dots

Back in early 2007, when I featured ties from the thirties (or ties that I have some reason to believe are from the thirties), I thought I had shown them all. All of them in my collection. But I missed at least two. So I'm going to include them now, to go along with the new one I acquired and presented a couple of weeks ago.

To see the earlier thirties, era ties on this blog, visit the early months of 2007. Here are some links:

• January, 2007
• February, 2007
• March, 2007
• April, 2007

There was only one thirties tie posted in April, though, and since the month will be displayed in reverse order (last first), you'll have to scroll to the end of the month to see that final thirties-era tie.

OK, so what about this one? It's kind of plain on the surface. Nothing really fancy. But when you look closer, there is an elaborate and ornate design that close up, provides a sense of richness and opulence not at all visible from a distance.

Small embroidered polka dots in alternating white and red are scattered evenly over a maroon background that is not solid. Instead, there are curvy lines embedded in the fabric, barely visible in the scan, that come off the edge of the tie from the left, make sweeping 90 degree turns heading directly up the tie, then turn again to run horizontally across the tie, and then up again. Each segment between turns is about an inch in length, and the lines run parallel to each other across the surface of the tie.

There is a label printed directly into the fabric of the lining of the tie, inside the large end. It reads as follows:

Haband
Cravat
Constructed of
high grade rayon
with an inner lining
insuring long wear
and
good tying qualities.

I've reproduced the line breaks in the original label, but not the actual look, of course. The letters are all upper case, and the "Haband Cravat" portion is a much larger font size than the rest. And there is an elaborate heraldic style crest separating the "Haband Cravat" text from the rest.

All in all, typical of 1930-era ties. Unprepossessing in its appearance, until you take a closer look, upon which it shows a much more elaborate design than one's initial impression.

Another from the thirties

No tie got blogged last weekend. No time. My apologies to anyone who cared enough to check the blog.

I believe I've exhausted any and all ties in my vintage collection that depict actual things from the real world. So now we're back to abstract designs of one sort or another.

Back in 2007, to kick off my second year of blogging ties, I featured my somewhat limited collection of thirties-era ties. I say somewhat limited because at that time I only found twelve ties to post that I believed to have originated in that decade.

Now I'm presenting another, which I have acquired at some point since those ties were featured here on the blog. In fact, this is a fairly recent acquisition, although I don't remember for sure if it turned up this year, or sometime last year. My wife found it at a thrift shop somewhere, and acquired it for me.

I'm not sure how well the colors will show up in the scan, on a computer screen. It appears somewhat dull at first glance, but a closer look reveals the usual glamor associated with ties from this ear. The pattern on the tie is woven directly into the fabric in a kind of embroidery manner. And the lighter colors gleam and glisten in the light.

I'm highly suspicious of the shape and width of this tie. It does not appear even in width as you descend toward the point, actually narrowing slightly, which is not normal. Looking inside, there is about an inch of fabric tucked in above the point. This tucked portion narrows dramatically as it ascends. If one were to unstitch the tie, and refold and repress it, utilizing this tucked in portion, the tie could be made to have a dramatic flare in width at the end, just prior to the pointing in at the bottom. I suspect it may have been like that originally.

The tie has one extant label sewn into the back of the short end which reads simply "Resilient Construction."

Lyre on Navy Blue Background

When I was presenting the vintage musical ties in my collection, I completely forgot about this one, and it's probably the best of all! Yesterday I was looking for a musical tie to wear to church, and amongst all my modern ones, I came across this vintage beauty, always one of my favorites, and suddenly realized I hadn't put it up here on the blog. A major oversight.

I think that when I get ready to post next week, I may post-date this entry, so that it is moved into the slot created by my not posting a tie week before last. That way, when folks scroll through the entries, it will fall into place with the other musical ties. But I'll leave it here for now, so that anyone looking for a new entry this week will find it.

The lyre is a symbol of music, and as such, often appeared in hymnals and on other musical publications, used in a symbolical manner. This particular example very likely does not really depict a playable instrument, but is also a symbolic representation.

Note also the elaborate brocade pattern woven into the fabric. I will admit that I adjusted the contrast on the image slightly, to bring out the brocade more clearly. In reality, the brocade is almost exactly the same shade as the rest of the tie fabric, although plainly visible, especially in the right light. It has the effect of changing appearance in the light, so that at one angle the brocade appears lighter (as in the scan), but turned at another angle, the brocade pattern appears darker, and the rest of the tie fabric seems lighter. It creates a VERY rich effect.

The tie has only one label extant, which is printed directly onto or into the fabric on the reverse side of the large end, and it reads somewhat enigmatically "Crecian Art."

Stripes with Mozart Music Score

One last music tie before I get back to the more traditional vintage ties. This one belonged to my father-in-law (now deceased), and was a gift to him by friends, as he was a fine amateur musician, played piano, sang, directed choirs, and in his later years, avidly took up the organ.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect it dates from the 1980's, which probably doesn't qualify it as a really truly vintage tie, but then, just how old does something have to be, to be considered vintage? The term is mostly used to apply to grapes and the wine made from them. It is also used to refer to cigars (or rather, the tobacco from which they are made) and coffee.

However, the Compact Oxford English Dictionary also provides this more general definition as a second meaning: "referring to something from the past of high quality."

This tie may well be 25 or more years old, which certainly makes it from the past. Whether or not it is of high quality, could, I suppose, be subject to opinion. The tie's labels could provide some bearing on this topic. The first label, on the back of the wide end, and provided in the form of a loop for securing the small end, reads

Pintail
Made in U.S.A.

The second label, sewn into the bottom of the small end, reads "PINTAIL" on the front, and provides the composition of the fabric on the back: "80% Polyester, 20% Silk." Now there are those who would say that any tie made from polyester, or mostly polyester, as in this case, cannot, by definition, be of high quality. I do admit to being of the school that prefers natural fabrics to artificial. But sometimes, in ties, we have to relax those standards a bit, as some very fine designers have deigned on occasion, to put their stamp on polyester fabric.

Be that as it may, one can argue for the quality of this tie from another direction entirely. What about the music that is printed on the tie? It may be difficult to decipher from the scanned image, but holding the tie in my hand, I can read the score without difficulty. It represents the top part from the first couple of bars from one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most lyrical piano sonatas, the Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K. 331. You can see those same two bars, and listen to the entire movement on Wikipedia.

Now THERE'S quality for you, no questions asked! Not the particular performance captured on Wikipedia, necessarily, but the music itself, intrinsically.

Vintage Gramophones

Continuing the musical theme (pun unintentionally intended) from the past two postings, here is a tie depicting numerous identical vintage style gramophones on a deeply brilliant green background.

I'm not sure what the age of this tie is, or what period it comes from. It is about the right width, and shares some characteristics similar to the fabric of the thirties, but I'm almost certain it's later. If it were thirties era, the seam in the back (not shown in this scan; you'll have to take my word for it) would be significantly off center, but this one isn't. All the thirties ties I posted back in the first few months of 2006, have off center seams in the back.

It's not really quite wide enough, or flashy enough, to be from the forties, and this type of repeated image pattern is not typical of that period either, although I won't say it never occurs.

So is it early fifties? Could be. Or maybe sixties, when the narrow ties were on their way out and wider ones coming back in. Or it could even be from the eighties, when ties were getting narrower and more conservative again.

The tie has an interesting label which reads as follows:

Rhodia
Woven
in FRANCE
100% Acetate
RN 19970

Rhodia, according to a July 12, 2000 press release is

one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals, contributes to improving the quality of life by developing value-added products, services and solutions for the beauty, clothing, foodstuffs and healthcare markets as well as for the environment, transport and manufacturing industries. [text color emphasis added]

I don't know if this is the same Rhodia referred to on the tie label, but it seems not unlikely. If anyone has a light to shed on the possible relationship between this tie's fabric and the Rhodia company, or any information that would lead to a more definitive determination of the age of this tie, please share it!

Music Staff with Clarinet

No tie got posted last week. We were out of town, on a family beach house weekend, down in Lincoln City, Oregon, and didn't get back until quite late Sunday evening. So no time to post.

This is the second promised hand-painted tie depicting musical themes. In this case, a curvaceous music staff flows down the tie with a treble cleff and key signature of two sharps (D Major or B Minor, take your pick) with a clarinet imposed upon the musical staff, surrounded by a flurry of eighth and sixteenth notes, some on the staff, but more flying loosely about.

The tie is hand-painted on a loosely knit, almost linen-like weave fabric. My wife thinks it's wool, but she's not sure, nor am I. The tie has one label, partially depicted in the scan. The label reads as follows (which may give some hint about the fabric):

Wembley
Made of
Imported Priestley's
NOR-EAST* NON-CRUSH
*Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.

So what kind of fabric is "Imported Priestley's Nor-East Non-Crush? Nowadays, we'd assume non-crush meant something made of polyester, but I'm not sure it had been invented when this tie was made. And the tie isn't even remotely like other rayon ties of the period. It's not shiny silk-like, but coarse, linen-like.

But why am I blathering on about the fabric? The hand-painted image is what makes the tie so great, and fun to wear!

Musical Instruments

I think we're nearing the end of my series of ties depicting real things. This is the first of two hand-painted ties featuring musical images. This one has four musical instruments painted on it, along with three small pieces of musical staff and notes.

The instruments appear to be, starting at the top, a saxophone, a soprano sax, or perhaps a clarinet, a trumpet or cornet, and finally, a euphonium or baritone, perhaps a tuba.

The images on the tie are quite clearly hand-painted, although this is much more obvious with the tie in hand, probably, than in the scan. The paint is thick, and rough to the touch, raised above the surface of the tie.

The tie has one label, sewn into the small end, and partially visible in the scan. It reads as follows:

Pilgrim
Reg. U.S Pat. Off.
Rayon Cravats

Next week, another hand-painted musical-themed tie, and then, I'm afraid I'll probably be at the end of the series depicting items from real life, unless I find another that I'm not currently aware of.

Birds of a Feather

No tie got posted last week, sorry. A combination of factors conspired against me. First, it was Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, and one of the busiest times in the life of a church musician such as myself. Second, I was in the process coming down with a nasty cold, which still has me coughing and hacking and blowing, etc.

I did get this tie scanned last Sunday, I just didn't manage to find the time or energy to get it posted, and to write about it. Enough with the excuses, and on with the tie!

This is another truly unusual tie, in that, of the birds of paradise featured on it, the primary one, the largest one, is made with real bird feathers pasted on. Not only does this tie depict things from the real word, i.e., birds, it depicts them with real feathers.

Unfortunately, the bird is currently missing one yet longer tail feather, which fell off years ago. I still have the missing feather stored away in a box somewhere, and if I ever come across it, I plan to glue it back on, but I haven't seen that box or its contents in years. I'm sure it's out in my garage somewhere, along with dozens of other boxes of stuff that we haven't opened in ages, and which my wife would love to dispose of (not the feather, per se, but the boxes of stuff).

This tie is one of a pair that were gifted to me by one of my high school academy roommates. The other one was this Hawaiian Gardens tie posted back in June, 2006. The tie has two labels sewn together into the small end of the tie, and shown in the scan, if you can twist your head to the correct angle to make them out. Wait! Don't try to tie yourself (or at least your neck) into a pretzel. I'll transcribe them for you. They both appear to be manufacturer's labels. Graced with the tiny image of a mountain and trees, the first one reads:

Timberline Cravats

while the second one reads, somewhat enigmatically (or at least ungrammatically):

BELLE
Creation
TIES BEST
"ALWAYS"
acetate & rayon

It's worth mentioning that Timberline Lodge is a famous ski resort located up on the slopes of Mt. Hood, near Portland, Oregon. I don't know if this tie was designed or manufactured in Oregon or not, but it certainly has a local-sounding brand name! I say local, because even though I currently live in neighboring Washington, I am a native Oregonian, and remain loyal to my home state and mountain. For many (if not most) Oregonians, Mt. Hood is "THE mountain." If I had more time, or were feeling more energetic, I'd scan and post a closeup of the mountain image on the label, just so you could see it better. If you're trying to see it, it's right about the big letter "T" in Timberline.

Lilly Dache "le repos"

Here is a truly interesting and unique tie from famous designer Lilly Daché. The famous French/American designer, who lived from 1898 to 1989, was most well known as a milliner, a hat designer, but she also designed other accessories, and eventually dresses, and men's accessories, like ties.

I'm not sure the design of this tie really fits in my current theme of ties depicting "real things" as the images on the tie may not be all that realistic. But they are at least anthropomorphic. Some of them resemble African masks, and the reposing figures near the top and bottom of the design remind me at least a little of one of Henry Moore's reclining figure sculptures.

I've created a composite second image showing the Lilly Daché logo which is located on the face of the tie itself, near the bottom, and the various labels,. One of the labels, printed directly into the fabric of the tie, and located on the reverse of the large end, lists the name of the design, "le repos" meaning "the rest" or "the repose."

The other two labels are sewn in. The Lily Daché label is sewn onto the reverse side of the large end, just up from the printed label described above. It has the word "soie" (French for silk) printed vertically along the left side. Then the word "Original" in a fancy script, followed by "Lilly Dache" with "Paris - New York" along the bottom.

The other, the seller's label, is sewn into the small end of the tie. It reads "Meier & Frank Co. Portland, Oregon."

This is one of my favorite vintage ties, due to its unique design. However, it is definitely showing its age, and is fraying quite a bit along the bottom edge. Thus, I allow myself the pleasure of wearing it only rarely.

Tropical Getaway

Continuing the theme of ties depicting real things, here is a tie showing some tropical getaway, replete with potted palms. The detail isn't really that great, so I can't say for sure if the tie is depicting a scene in the Bahamas, or Mexico, or some other Central American nation, or just southern California or Florida. Take your pick, I guess.

In addition to the tiled villa in front of which those potted palms are flourishing, the tie separately depicts a group of three palm trees that are apparently growing in the earth as they should.

Some might think I should have saved this tie for the summer, but no, a glimpse of tropical paradise should be a morale booster for those of us still stuck in winter. Not that I personally, am that interested in traveling to tropical climes. I'd never be a "snowbird," as we refer to those folks who, like the birds, head south for the winter. (Believe it or not, there's even a Wikipedia article on the topic of "Snowbirds!"

I did use some of my other vintage tropical ties to celebrate the summer, but this one is fitting into my current theme of ties depicting real things. Or at least things that could theoretically be real. Here's a list of past tropical images. I'm not sure why I didn't include this one at the time, but it's possible I didn't own it yet then. Either that, or I had forgotten about it.

• Tropical Bird Plumage
• Hawaiian Gardens
• Tropical Island
• Coral and Starfish (The "Hawaiian Shirt" Ties)
• Tropical Egrets

Well, that's probably about enough rambling on for this week. This tie has one label, sewn onto the large end of the tie (more commonly, labels are sewn into the small end). The label reads:

Wembley
Sama-Fane*
*Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.

The word "Wembley," interestingly, is reverse stitched in white inside a bright red butterfly-shaped bit of embroidery. If I had more time, I'd scan a copy, but my list of other things that need to yet be accomplished this Sunday evening is still long. Until next time . . .

Castle and Fleur-de-Lis

This tie depicts the fairy tale style castle where Romeo and Juliet (from two weeks ago) or any other star-crossed lovers could appropriately live their life of happily ever after, should they be so fortunate. Likewise, the demoiselle from a month ago could well be on her way to a castle like this, once she steps back into her fine equipage.

It's a definitely a Walt Disney style castle, or perhaps one from the more romanticized versions of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

So one could argue over whether this tie is truly depicting things from the real world, since the Bavarian Castle, Schloss Neuschwanstein, is probably the only real world castle that resembles this romantic image with any degree of accuracy, and even this castle is more the result of a dream world, than reality. You can read the sad history of King Ludwig II of Bavaria on the castle's web site.

But we all WANT castles like this to exist, and they do in our imagination, and in the imaginations of many a writer of fairy tales and fantasy worlds, alternate realities galore.

Another interesting feature on this tie is the appearance of the symbolic Fleur-de-lis. This is a real version of the Fleur-de-lis symbol, not a vaguely heraldic pseudo-version, such as those on the ties I featured back in April, May and June of last year.

This tie also has an unusual brocade effect woven into the fabric. The brocade alternates broad stripes that run at a 45 degree angle across the tie, sloping from right to left. Every other stripe is plain and smooth, alternating with stripes that have a finely woven circular pattern, with a dot in the center of each.

On the scan you may only be able to see those central dots. Try clicking on the image to get a larger view, to see if the brocade becomes more visible that way.

This tie has two interesting labels. One is printed directly onto the fabric of the tie, and reads "Silhouette" inside a "3-D" box. The other is a sewn-in label which reads

Sun Valley
Tie of Ties

I've scanned an image of the two labels, and posted it here for your edification or entertainment, as the case may be.

Hearts for Valentine's Day

Hopefully varying only slightly from the current theme of ties that depict real things, I present in honor of Valentine's Day just past, this vintage tie depicting red and white hearts on a field of navy blue. I suggest that this varies slightly from the theme because real hearts are not, or course, heart shaped.

But this is the only vintage tie in my collection that seems directly related to Valentine's Day, although last week's star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, come close.

These hearts, in red and white, and with their decorative interior scrollwork designs, remind me, somehow of Alice in Wonderland, and the Queen of Hearts, the Knave of Hearts, and all. "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"

Well, that's not a very appropriate sentiment for Valentine's Day. Sorry.

I wore this tie to work on the day BEFORE Valentine's Day, because I have several modern ties featuring hearts, and one of them is considerably more dramatic than this one, and thus made the cut for wearing on Valentine's Day proper. The others, including this one, had to settle for the other days during the week in which Valentine's Day fell.

I think I'm rambling, so I'll sign off. This tie unfortunately has no labels to record, so that's it until next week, when we'll resume more directly the theme of ties depicting real things (as opposed to ties merely decorated with patterns or abstract designs).

Romeo and Juliet

Continuing the theme of ties that depict people and things; images from the real world, real or imagined, I call this week's tie Romeo and Juliet, since he is reaching up to her on the balcony at night, and then, below, they are depicted together, embracing.

Sometimes I refer to it as my "Mozart" tie, since the man appears bewigged and costumed as was the style in the Mozart era. But I think Romeo and Juliet is probably a more accurate description. In this tie, at least, we have them before the tragic finale to their story. Here, at least, they appear to be living happily ever after, or enjoying each other's company, for the time being, at least.

I tried an experiment with this tie, and it probably wasn't all that successful. I had to scan the tie in two pieces, like last week, but this week, I pulled the two pieces into my image editing software, and attempted to stitch the two together. That part of the process was relatively successful. I wasn't able to get them to match up exactly, but close enough for government work, as the expression goes.

But when I uploaded the image, it appears much narrower than usual, and I'm not really sure why. I always scan my ties at 300 DPI, then pull them into the image editing software, and resize them to 400 pixels wide before saving them in JPEG format for uploading to the blog. This image is saved to 400 pixels in width, just like all the others, so why is it appearing so much narrower? I'm guessing it is because it is so much longer (taller) than the others. Blogger probably has a limit on the amount of space it will allow an image to fill, and when it compresses this one vertically, that makes it narrower as well.

To see the tie better, just click on it, and it should come up in your browser window all by itself, but considerably enlarged. So large that you'll have to scroll up and down to see the various parts of it. But at least, you'll be able to see the details much more clearly there. You'll also probably notice a faint line of color change right about at Romeo's waist, which is where the two halves were stitched together.

Also please take a look at the very bottom of the tie, where there appears a small carriage with the letters "SM" in script between the wheels. I suspect that this is the designer's logo, but I'm not savvy enough to recognize it. I did some casual Google searching, both in the regular index, and in images, but couldn't come up with anything. So if anyone recognizes this logo, if indeed, that's what it is, please let me know. There are no labels in the tie.

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.