Red Sections on White

Easter is past, from the standpoint of a church musician. All of those extra services (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday) and Holy Week recitals (two of those), choir rehearsals, extra anthems (3 for Easter Sunday), and all the extra practicing that went along with it. All done and over with for another year. Phew!

So I managed to find time to scan and blog a tie this afternoon. Last week? Not a chance!

Continuing the color theme from the past two ties posted, we go with another stunning red exemplar. This is another of the ties purchased on eBay. I actually got this tie, and the last red one posted along with two other ties, all for $2.00 plus $4.00 for shipping. Which goes to show that bargains can be had, if one shops carefully and consistently.

Admittedly, all four ties are in less than perfect condition. Mainly, they've lost most of their resiliency, and are somewhat limp. But look at the design of this beauty! Look at the color! Look at the pattern! It all comes together to make a truly stunning design.

The fabric is lovely, with a great brocade pattern woven into it, which is probably most visible in the short end, and perhaps on the narrow piece to the right, as well. Click the image to bring up a larger version in your browser, to see it better. The brocade pattern consists of small roughly rectangular shapes, spaced in even rows and columns across the tie.

The tie has no extant labels to transcribe. Enjoy!

Irididescent Red

Where does the time go? Last Sunday again found me without enough time in the day to scan and post a tie. And I'm almost there today. Just barely squeezing this in between chores and tonight's Masterpiece showing of the first episode of Little Dorrit.

Here is an unusual--but spectacular in its own way--tie! Just plain red, right? Wrong! There is no printed or painted design or image on the tie. Just brilliant iridescent red, with a maze-like brocade pattern imbedded in the fabric enhancing the shimmer.

This tie, like last week's, is one of a group of recent acquisitions, purchased ubiquitously on eBay. I bought two batches of ties there not too long ago, for quite reasonable prices. You just have to watch, and bid carefully, and you can get some real bargains there. I don't have time to look up exactly what I paid just now, but in each case I got 2-4 ties in a batch, and paid less than $20 for each lot. A trip to the dry cleaners adds a little more expense, but cleans up the ties, and voila!

The tie has two labels sewn into the small end, and shown in the scan. The manufacturer's label reads "Hand tailored Smilock." The seller's label reads "J.C. Penney Co. Sioux City, Iowa."

Red & Brown Geometrics

This tie's color scheme reminds me of the one I posted for Valentine's Day a couple of postings ago. That one was red and burgundy, while this one is red and brown, but they create a similar effect, especially since both have contrasting lighter sections. This one has squares filled with smaller squares, which sort of resemble windows on a building, such as on the side of a skyscraper. The one from two postings ago has sort of overlapping tile or shingle shapes.

And while all of the shapes on the previous one were straight edged, this one contrasts large red circles with the large squares, in a geometrically pleasing design.

I can't believe what BS I've just been writing! You'd think I was trying to craft one of those essay test questions back in high school or something. Oh well, that's what this blog is about, I guess.

Both of this tie's original labels survive. The seller's label reads "Erbes Clothing Mendota, ILL" while the manufacturer's label reads "Phantom Prints by Carholm."

So why was no tie posted last week, or the week before? Well, last week is a conundrum. There isn't any really excruciatingly execrable or extracorporeal extraneous excuse extraordinaire exactly, except that of trying to string together a string of words all beginning with the letters "ex." The weekend before, we were attending our annual family beach weekend, down in Oceanside, Oregon, and didn't get back until too late on Sunday for blogging. Too many other chores to run. As to last week, well, I don't know, events just seemed to overtake me.

Well, this has to be one of the most ridiculous blog entries ever. Hope you enjoy the tie, at least!

Pink and White Buttons--Gray Stripes

This tie looks nicer in the scan than it does in real life, I think. It's my opinion that this was probably a pretty inexpensive tie in its day, and it's probably lucky that it survived this long.

Why do I think it was a cheap tie? Mainly because the fabric is not high quality, no brocade, not even a rich sheen or shine like many of the silk or rayon ties typically have. The fabric has also lost any resiliency it may have once had, and is fairly limp. And the imagery on the tie seems a little crude in its execution, cheaply printed on cheap fabric, is the impression I get.

I also suspect that someone refolded the end of the tie at some point to make it narrower. Most ties of the period have more of a flaring out as the tie nears the end, while this one seems to be of an equal width for much of its length. And believe me, there's plenty of fabric folded over in back to make the end wider. It would definitely be a more dramatic tie, if it were wider as it approached the end.

So now that I'm through dissing the tie, let's talk about what is nice about it. The color scheme is pleasing to the eye. And there is nothing wrong with the design itself, vertical black stripes on a gray background, with pink and white buttons in a row up the center, and grouped in a circle further up the tie.

So, while it may not be one of my favorite vintage ties, it is in my collection, and I present it to you today, for better or for worse. The tie has one label, interestingly sewed onto the fabric on the back of the wide end, rather than the narrow end, as is more frequently the case. The label has only one word: Wembley, together with the "registered" R in a circle emblem. Which makes me wonder just how old this tie is. When did the R in a circle first come into use?

A Little Red for Valentine's Day

This is the best I could do for Valentine's Day this year. I only own one vintage tie that relates to this occasion, and I posted it already last year, so you'll have to go back and revisit it, if you want to see a vintage tie with hearts.

So this year, I just hunted over my rack of red ties until I found one that I hadn't already posted, which was difficult, as there are only a few left unscanned and unheralded here on the blog.

I can't say as this tie fits the theme of Valentine's Day very well, but at least the big red block in the center of the tie has a pointed end, like an arrow. Of course, one COULD say that it is a pointed end, like the end of the tie itself. And one could point out that there is another block, gray in color, pointing right back at the red one.

The geometric aspects of this design are actually more reminiscent, in my view, of a tie I posted back in July of 2007, aptly titled "Orange Geometrics." Had I not been stretching things to make a barely justified connection to Valentine's Day, I might have called this tie "Red, Burgundy, and Gray Geometrics."

The tie has no surviving labels, and shows its age with some staining. No brocaded fabric, either, which makes me think it might have been less expensive than some. But the design is very nice, quite striking in its own right. A very nice tie, whether or not it fits the season.

Bright as a New Penny

The name of this design, printed on the small end of the tie, tells you what it's all about. "Bright as a New Penny," it reads. So the bright yellow coin-shaped circles are obviously intended to represent the bright and shiny new penny, with the other circular objects looking like less shiny pennies, or just spin-offs from the original bright and shiny one.

Meanwhile, similarly gold-colored lines criss-cross the tie, dividing it into diamond-shaped quadrants. A rich shade of blue provides an appropriate background against which the rich gold colors stand out strikingly.

There you have it. There's not much more that needs to be said about this tie. It has no labels, other than the printed on name of the design. A previous owner seems to have inked his name onto the lining of the small end. "Loewe," it reads. The "L" has a long tail that extends horizontally under the other letters.

I suppose it could be a manufacturer or store label, but it appears hand-written. There is a frayed hole in the label just above that area, which could be where a label was ripped out from having been sewn onto the tie, as they generally are.

This tie shows its age a bit, in that the blue background appears darker in some areas, and may be stained in places. The fabric is less expensive than that of many of my ties from this era, in that there is no brocade, and it has a more matte surface, rather than the shinier, glossy look of what I assume were the more expensive ties. It just looks like a cheaper tie to me. Still, it's nice enough, and the design title, telling us what the designer had in mind, is a nice touch.

Maroon Thingamajigs

This tie reminds me of all my maroon 30's era tie blog entries I linked to back in July of last year. It has a similar color scheme, although I suppose it's a bit wider than most of those, at precisely 4 inches at its widest point.

Further, it lacks other characteristics of those 30's era ties: it does not have lopsided construction on the back side, it is lined (most 30's ties I own aren't) and the design on the tie is not woven directly into the fabric (as most 30's designs are). So, I would have to say that this is more typical of 40's era ties, but that the color scheme is very reminiscent of 30's.

The rich maroon background color is enhanced with a delightful brocade pattern, somewhat unusual, consisting of many dots, formed into larger circular patterns. You can see them fairly well in the scan.

The surface pattern, in pale gray or silver, lined with bluish-gray curving lines, is hard to describe. What are these devices? Unable to come up with an accurate description, I've chosen to cop out and just call them "thingamajigs."

The Wiktionary defines "thingamajig" as "something that one does not know the name of" while Wikipedia cites the term as an example of a "placeholder name," defined as "words that can refer to objects or people whose names are either irrelevant or unknown in the context in which it is being discussed. 'Whatchamacallit' (for objects) and 'Whatshisname' or 'Whatshername' (for men and women, respectively) are defining examples." There, I bet you didn't even know that there was a designated term (placeholder names) for words like that.

OK, enough about that. This tie has two labels sewn into the small end, and visible in the scan. The seller's label reads:

Blumenthal's
El Paso, Texas

while the second, presumably manufacturer's label reads:

Superba
Cravats

Sailing, Sailing . . .

Here's another nice tie in shades of brown and orange, which seems to be a favorite color combination for tie designers in the 40's and 50's. I have an entire tie rack devoted to this general color combination and hue. For a few more ties in this general color scheme, see some of the following links:

• Posted 9/14/08
• Posted 3/30/08
• Posted 8/12/07
• Posted 9/17/06
• Posted 3/5/06

Well, that's plenty to make my point. Some are more orange than this one, which is a bit more on the brown side.

The designs on the tie remind me of the sails on sailboats, although there are no boats, no hulls, under the sails. So maybe they weren't intended to resemble sails, maybe they're just abstract triangular shapes.

The tie also has one of those nice brocade patterns that I'm so fond of, woven into the fabric. You can see them fairly clearly in the scan, although as is often the case, they are probably clearer in the small end scan than in the large end. The brocade patterns consists of diamond shaped blocks in patterns of four, and more rectangular shapes in pairs, which form or fill a similar sized square.

Unfortunately, the tie has no labels surviving.

Brown with Yellow Ribbons

I don't think these are supposed to be the yellow ribbons tied "round the old oak tree," as it says in the song. These look more like ticker-tape ribbons, or maybe old film unwinding. Who knows? They don't look exactly like any of the above, but are suggestive or reminiscent of all of them.

This is an attractive forties tie, good quality fabric that has a nice brocade pattern woven into it. It will probably be difficult to make out the brocade pattern in the scan, as it often is, but the pattern consists of many parallel lines running diagonally across the tie at ninety degree angles to one another, creating, as they cross one another, an intricate almost braided appearance.

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

Arrow
Made in U.S.A.

The "Made in U.S.A." part has an arrow entering at the left end of the words, with the point exiting at the right. Arrow, is, of course, one of the classic American brands in men's wear, and with a history that goes back over 150 years, apparently. Not that I know all that much about it. The Arrow brand currently appears to be owned by the Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation.

Orange Florals Kick off a New Year

FINALLY! I'm back, with another vintage tie. I do apologize for the two months' worth of absence, but things have been very busy. I'm not sure I really have time today, either, but I'm making time, since I really want to get back to posting ties, and writing at least a little bit about them.

This is a nice one. Pastel orange background, with splashes of lavender (pale purple, if you prefer) and brick red with off white garnishing. (By which I mean that each splash of color has an off-white shadow, or parallel splash next to it.)

The entire tie is covered with what look like hand-drawn leaf and floral patterns, drawn in a rich brown color.

The fabric has a rich brocade woven into it, which will probably be difficult to see in the scan, but which consists of plump leaf shapes. They are much more visible on the reverse side of the tie, where there are no drawn lines. If I had more time (none to spare this evening, unfortunately), I would have considered making a scan of the back of the tie and loading it as well.

The tie has one label, which is visible on the small end of the tie in the scan. It reads:

ESQUIRE
Cravat
Resilient Construction

and depicts a "coach and four," which is to say, a an old fashioned stage coach, pulled by four horses, with a driver on top, and several other figures, one of which, at the rear, appears to be blowing a horn, announcing their arrival.

I hope to see you again next week, with another tie. In the meantime, enjoy!

Taking a break

Hi folks, loyal readers, casual browsers, whoever you are!

I wish to apologize for the lack of any new postings since the beginning of November. I didn't intend to take this break, but I've just been ferociously busy, and haven't been able to find any time for scanning and posting new ties. Because of the busy holiday season, this unintended break may well stretch through the end of the year, and it may be January before any more ties get posted here, but rest assured, I WILL be back, eventually, sure as my name is WILL!

Thank you for your patience,

Will

Brown, Blue, and Yellow

OK, we're back to standard forties era ties, after several weeks of various diversions. It's getting hard to remember which ties in my collection have already been featured on the blog, and which have not. However, I looked through all my scanned images (which is faster than reviewing the entire blog), and didn't find this one anywhere.

It's a classic forties look, just a sixteenth of an inch under 4 inches in width at its widest point. The fabric has an elaborate brocade woven into the fabric, which is only hinted at in the uploaded image. The brocade pattern appears to be an ornamental floral or vine pattern, with small dots floating between the vines or leaves. You can see it a little better if you click on the image to load a larger version into your browser.

The tie itself is in a rich chocolate brown, with intersecting arcs of yellow and blue. At the intersections, the overlapping segments revert to the background brown, with small stylized tulip shapes, surrounded by concentric circular patterns, kind of like what an artistic person might doodle on a piece of paper during a meeting.

Further up the tie, visible here in the third folded piece, off to the right side in the scan, appear little truncated versions of the tulip shapes floating independently with semi-circular arcs alternating to the right or left of them.

The tie unfortunately lacks any extant labels to transcribe. So that's it until the next time.

Brand New Thirties Era

No tie got posted last Sunday. Sorry. We were out of town. My sister lives on a big fruit orchard up in the Hood River Valley, in the little town of Odell, Oregon. Last Sunday we were at her place, canning applesauce all day. It was work, but it was fun! And we went home with almost 30 jars of applesauce. Plus another couple of jars of apple juice. My sister and our cousin canned another 85 jars or so between them (we helped) plus some more tiny jars for a friend.

So here we have an unusual tie. Unusual primarily in that it is still brand new! Never been worn. At least one presumes this to be the case, because it still has an original paper wrapper attached, as you can clearly see in the scan. On the front, the wrapper reads:

Murrytown Ties
Styled by Wembley
Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.

On the back, the wrapper reads as follows:

60% Rayon
40% Wool
Mfg. 4075

And then along the side, running the opposite direction, and kind of blurry, as though it were applied with a rubber stamp or something, it reads:

Section 13, MPR 580
G.P.A. Retail Ceiling Price $1.00

The tie also has a label sewn into the small end, which repeats some of the same information, as follows:

Murrytown
Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.

I may have obtained this tie in Santa Cruz also, like the ones I posted a few weeks ago, but if so, it was 11 years ago, the last time I was there. I had forgotten about it, and had it hanging on a special rack of ties, not in a place I would have ordinarily thought to have looked. My wife insists I got it more recently, but I know it's been at least a year or two. I found another brand new tie at the same time, although the other one is quite different, narrow, and with a straight cut end, no point (I have a whole sub-collection of those which I will post here some day, when I run out of other ties to post.)

So is it really 1930's? I suppose I should research publications and advertisements from that era, to see if $1.00 was a typical price for a tie in those days. And did they already have rayon then? When did it first come into production? I honestly don't know. Maybe some of my loyal readers can tell me. Right now, today, I'm too harried and hurried to even go Google searching to see what I can find out. I've got several other things I need to get done, and the day (and the weekend) is fast slipping away.

The tie has two typical 30's era characteristics, but lacks the third. First, it's about the right width, size, and shape, with the characteristic flaring especially on the small end. Second, although it's not visible in the scan, it has the typical off-centered and folded over finishing in the back that all of my other 30's era ties have.

But it lacks the one final characteristic, which is having the pattern woven directly into the fabric. Instead, the loosely stylized paisley-shaped designs appear almost stamped onto the fabric. Certainly they are ONLY present on the front side of the fabric, and do not penetrate through to the back side. As you approach the bottom of the wide end, the dark green paisley shapes begin to fade out, and become blotchy, as though the stamp were losing its ink. I suppose this fading effect could be due to exposure to sunlight, but that seems unlikely, as you'd expect the entire pattern to fade, not just splotches of it.

Well, that's more than enough verbiage to go with this tie. Enjoy!

Thirties--Red Stripes

Here is the second thirties-era tie from the bag of ties I received last Sunday. This one is a more ordinary design, traditional stripes in red, black and silver.

The construction is very typical thirties, with no lining, just the tie fabric itself, with the design woven directly into the fabric, and a thin seam sewn all around the end, and edges. Off-center construction in the back, as you can see from the short end, where I scanned the back side, to show the label.

But as is also typical of thirties ties, the fabric itself is rich looking, with a brilliant sheen to it. The brightest red area of the stripes, and the silver line, highlighted as it is between two contrasting black lines, both glow and shine in a suitably opulent manner. That effect probably doesn't come through too well in the scan.

It's a J.C. Penney tie, as the label reads, simply:

Hand tailored
Towncraft
Cravat

Maroon Nobility

Just two weeks ago I was apologizing for presenting another thirties tie when I had previously thought I was all through with that era. In the meantime, I discovered another thirties tie hidden in my own collection, special in a fairly unique way, at least for my collection, but that's not the one I'm presenting today. That one will have to wait a couple of weeks.

Instead, this new thirties classic was added to my collection just today! After church today, one of the parishioners, a friend, told me he had a bag full of ties for me, out in his car. They come from his father-in-law, who, at 82 years of age, is in declining health, and is not going to be needing them any more. So, totally out of the blue, I had a bunch of new old ties to look through.

And lo, and behold, when I sorted them out, there were at least two genuine thirties era beauties in the bag. Lots of ugly big wide polyester seventies ties, to be sure, but in with those, a few real treasures, including this lovely example.

It has all of the typical thirties characteristics that I've enumerated so many times in the past. Off center folding and stitching in the back, and the design woven directly into the fabric. I'm not quite sure how to describe the design. They could be vaguely floral shapes, irregular concentric circular patterns, somewhat reminiscent to me of the lines indicating steep terrain on a topographical map. However you describe them, they are very nice.

You may recall that back in July, when I thought I was finishing off my thirties collection, I described the prevalence of maroon among my ties from this era, and provided a set of links to all of the thirties maroon examples previously blogged. Now here is another to add to that collection!

The tie has one label, shown in the scan, which provides the impetus for the title I've given this entry, "Maroon Nobility." The label reads as follows:

Nobility
Custom
Tailored
Resilient
Construction

Handpainted Autumn Leaves

In recognition of the first day of Autumn, which occurs at the autumnal equinox tomorrow, I present my newest tie depicting autumn leaves. I'm afraid this is probably the only autumn tie I'll be able to blog this year, as I've already shown off all the others in past years. I'm fresh out of vintage autumn leaf ties, except for this one.

To see all of my earlier vintage autumn ties, visit September, October, November, and even December (1 tie) of 2007, plus September (1 tie), October, and November of 2006.

This tie also shares characteristics with another group of ties which I posted early on, starting with the last tie posted in March, 2006, and continuing with three of those posted in April of that year. I described these ties as having a "brushed, matte style surface," and they are all handpainted, I believe, though I'm not 100% positive. There is one additional tie of this sort on the blog, a very special tie that I posted for Father's Day in 2006. If you look at any of those ties, you'll see why I put this one in the same grouping, style-wise, anyhow.

This tie shows its age by the fact that it has some stains on it, stains which didn't come out when I had it cleaned. I got the tie this past summer in Santa Cruz, California, while on vacation there. It was in a vintage clothing store, I believe, that we found it, for not very much money. It has one good size label, sewn into the large end of the tie, which reads as follows:

Made and
Hand Painted
in California of
Acetate and Nylon
by Richley

Orange with Interlocking Squares

Everytime I glance at this tie, before my eye/brain combination has time to parse just what it is that I'm seeing, I think for a split second that I'm looking at a bunch of those giant E's that optometrists make you look at. "Which way is the E pointing now?"

But when I look more closely, I realize, of course, that these are NOT giant letter E's. They are pairs of interlocking squares. One of each pair is always white; the other alternates between black or a paler orange than the background of the tie.

The tie also has an interesting brocade, which includes large circular patterns, and also sweeping groups of curved lines, suggesting motion. It's certainly a dramatic and colorful tie, with a lively, fluid design.

Definitely forties era. The tie measures 4 1/4 inches at its widest point, just before it begins narrowing to the point. The tie has one label, sewn sideways into the small end which reads as follows:

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

Stripes in Silver, Black and Grey

Oops. Back at the end of July when I posted the latest addition to my collection of thirties era ties, I indicated that I thought (which I did at the time) it was the last one I had. No more thirties ties until I find and buy another one, I thought (and wrote). Then this week, going through one of my other vintage tie racks, what do I find? What appears to be yet another thirties tie that I had forgotten I had, and which has not yet been posted here!

You see, until recently, I didn't have my thirties collection separated out from the rest of my vintage ties. I had my vintage collection sorted by color. One rack for red, one for blue, one for orange, and one for green. Except, I didn't have enough green ties to fill that rack (each rack holds at least 24 ties, and more, if you put two to a slot) so I filled it out with brown, silver, grey, in other words, other neutral colors.

And the thirties ties were just scattered among all of the above, based on whatever color they were. And this tie was hidden in the middle of that rack, where I had obviously forgotten about its existence. It's a lovely tie, superficially simple in appearance and design, but actually more sophisticated than it first appears.

Recently, though, I moved all the thirties vintage ties to their own rack, or so I thought, except that I had missed this one. Who knows, maybe there's still another one lurking somewhere in my closet! I doubt it, though.

First, establishing the vintage. Look at the small end, which I scanned back side up, not only to show the label, but also to show the construction. Note the off center fold, especially as you near the wide end. This is typical of all the thirties era ties. And if you look at the very bottom, where you can see the back side of the fabric, you may be able to see that the design is woven directly into the fabric itself, another typical characteristic of that era.

I described the design as "superficially simple," because it's just stripes, after all. What could be more ordinary than that? In my book, ties with ordinary stripes are tedious beyond belief. You'll never catch me wearing typical boring stripes on a tie. But these stripes are more glamorous than many, what with their bright silver lines ensconced between black for better contrast.

Furthermore, although it is almost impossible to see in the scan, the wider gray spaces between the sets of double and triple silver stripes are blessed with a shiny almost iridescent surface, with numerous small round bubble shapes floating about. You may be able to see a few of them if you examine the image closely, but not nearly as many are as actually present.

OK, on to the label. It reads as follows:

READ & WHITE
Dress Clothes Renting
Boston, Mass.-Prov., R.I.

There is a smaller label sewed onto the larger one. It reads:

Hand
Tailored
Resilient
Construction

So the first label, especially the "Dress Clothes Renting" part makes me wonder if this wasn't originally a tie designed to go with formal wear, like a "morning suit" or something. It kind of has that look about it. Just for the record, the tie is 3 1/4 inches wide at its widest point.

Silver Squares

Sorry about last week. We headed out immediately after church to attend a family get-together, down in the Portland area, several hours drive from home, and there was no opportunity to scan or post a tie. Then we spent a couple of days visiting my Mom in Oregon, with no Internet access at all.

So here's this specimen. I chose it because of a connection of sorts with the last tie I posted. What's the connection? The fabric. Like that last tie, this one too is made from a heavy almost stiff kind of fabric, perhaps nylon, or something with nylon or a similar material woven into it. This one doesn't have a label specifying the fabric like the previous one, however.

There IS a label, however, sewn sideways into the large end of the tie, but 10 inches up from the tip. The label reads:

Sander Model Ties

The tie itself is an interesting design, presenting an almost metallic look to it. The vertically oriented squares, which form a pattern over the tilted background checkerboard pattern, almost appear three dimensional, visually standing out as they do from the surface of the tie. But they aren't, not really. With the tie in hand, they almost appear embroidered, but there is no true embroidery, no threads coming through the backside of the tie. It's just a pattern in the fabric, apparently.

It's hard to know for sure the era this tie is from, but I'm guessing forties, like most of those I've posted. I suppose it could possibly be from a later era, such as the seventies, when wide ties again came into vogue, but it doesn't really have the look or feel of that later era.

The point of the small end is worth pointing out. It's not symmetrically cut at all. Quite haphazardly cut, albeit this appears to be the way it was made and sold, since there is a narrow seam sewn around both ends, small and large, symmetrical and asymmetrical though they respectively be.

It's definitely an interesting tie, just not your normal run-of-the-mill forties example.

Green and Orange Nylon

The pattern on this tie is strange enough, but the fabric is what's really strange! Luckily there is a label which illuminates the fabric, somewhat. The label, interestingly, is sewn into large end of the tie, about nine inches up from the end of the tie. It reads as follows:

Guaranteed for LIFE
NYLON Ties
by Sherman

And yes, indeedy, this tie is most definitely made from nylon fabric. It is heavy duty, course, slippery, ribbed nylon, almost like something you'd expect to find tent fabric, or a wind breaker jacket, or something like that made out of, not a tie.

If you want a fabric to compare it with, the closest of any tie I've posted recently is the one depicting vintage gramophones, which I posted back in April of this year, and which was a special acetate fabric woven by the Rhodia company. But even that tie's fabric had a silky smooth feeling, compared with this.

Nevertheless, the tie ties neatly enough, and it certainly hangs flat. It would be difficult to change the crease, I think. But enough about the fabric.

What is this pattern trying to depict? A clue may come from the orange small-end piece depicted on the right side of the scan. The entire tie switches to this color and pattern about another four inches above the portion contained in the scan of the main piece. This would have caused the tie's not to be entirely in this complementary orange color, originally.

The pattern of green lines on the orange here looks to me like it might be depicting small wavelets of water. And those bizarrely shaped patterns on the face of the tie itself, getting ever larger as they approach the bottom, could perhaps be large droplets of water, splashing down the tie. If more of them were orange, rather than turquoise in color, one might almost thing they were tongues of flame, similar to the ones artists sometimes depict falling on the apostles on the first Day of Pentecost.

Well, perhaps I have too active an imagination. You can decide what they are for yourself, I guess, and write a comment, if you have another view.

Dotted stripes of brown on gold

This is an example of not really paying attention and thinking less of a tie because of its current condition. This tie is old, has a stain on it, and has totally lost whatever resiliency it once might have had. The fabric is limp and almost bedraggled looking nowadays. And the colors are not particularly bright or spectacular.

Consequently, I never paid it much mind, or thought very much of it. I wear it once a year or so, when I have an appropriately colored shirt available.

Then today, while scanning the tie, I read the label, sewed inside the small end:

Created Expressly For
Freem's Ltd.
Waldorf Astoria, New York
Roney Plaza Miami Beach
Hand Painted - All Silk

Wow! Who knew? And now that I look more closely, I can see that this was, indeed, one mighty fine tie in its day. Just look at the magnificent brocaded fabric which provides the background, featuring large swirling patterns, reminiscent of a stylized sun or sunflower. Then, the supposedly hand-painted pattern overlaid onto it: brown stripes of varying widths running in a traditional angle down the tie, neither horizontal nor vertical, but 45 degrees between the two.

The wide stripes have lozenge-shaped openings left in them, like a series of oval dots. Painted on top of these are more dots, off-white in color, but deliberately narrower than the original openings, to allow some of the background color to show through next to the off-white. And the narrow brown stripes have additional dots painted next to them, rather than on top of the stripe.

There is a pair of initials, presumably those of the painter, painted near the bottom of the small end of the tie. "HF" is how I would read them. I have no idea who HF might have been.

Another point worth noting is that on the small end, the background color is a slightly different shade of gold, almost a greenish-gold color. I don't think it's really very perceptible in the scan, but it definitely is when you have the tie in hand. Since this end of the tie has likely had less exposure to light and sun than the large end, one presumes this might be closer to the original color.

A lovely tie indeed, even if today it presents only a shadow of its original presumed glory.

Purple and Yellow

OK, I have so many things to say about this tie that I hardly know where to begin. First, although you can't see it in the scan, it has an off-center construction on the reverse side as do all of the thirties ties I've posted.

However, this tie is lined, unlike the vast majority of the thirties specimens, and it doesn't have its pattern woven directly into the fabric the way those ties do. So I don't think this tie is thirties, but more likely forties. Its style, the design of the pattern, all of that, say forties to me.

Let's talk about that design. The deep purple shapes are like largish stylized leaves. On some of them, you can even see the stems. Because they are so large, no entire leaf shape appears anywhere on the tie. They are always continuing off the edges.

Each leaf has a few large yellow bubbles or spots on it. Generally three or four visible on the portion of the leaf that manages to fit onto the front of the tie. These yellow spots are themselves two-toned, with a darker egg yolk shade of yellow in the center, surrounded by a paler almost taupe color.

However, these spots or bubbles don't confine themselves to the leaves, but appear in the interstices separating the leaves as well. Except that some of the spots located in these interstitial areas have purple centers instead of the egg yolk colored ones.

Then, the rest of the leaf space is filled with additional bubble shapes in various sizes, consisting of nothing but the paler yellow background color outlines. That is, the space inside these bubbles is the same purple color of the leaves that flows around and between them.

All in all, it makes for a complicated and sophisticated design. The fabric itself also sports a brocaded effect which probably won't be very visible at all in the scan. The brocade pattern is difficult to make out, even with the tie in hand, due to the contrasting dark and light colors on the surface of the tie, but it appears to consist of circular sprays of small paisley shaped leafy figures.

OK, now let's talk about the shape of the tie. If you look at the small end, you'll notice how dramatically it flares out towards the end. The large end lacks this flaring effect, but one can't help wonder if it had a similar flare at one time, and suffered its removal for the purpose of narrowing the width of the tie as styles changed. The tie is about 3 1/16 inches in width at its widest point, and 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 inches are more typical widths for classic forties ties.

Not to mention that the tie, when unfolded in back, has fully an inch and 3/4 of fabric that is folded under, and which narrows rapidly, such that merely 4 inches up the tie, there is barely half an inch of folded under fabric. If this tie were unsewn in back, and refolded, the wide end could be made to flare out in a fashion equally as dramatic as is seen on the narrow end, and I can't help but wonder if this was the tie's original shape.

There is enough fabric to make it almost 5 1/2 inches in width, and although I have never found a tie that wide in my personal collecting, I have seen one or two zoot suit ties that are even wider. So it is presumably not impossible to imagine, although I really don't know for sure. I wish someone from that time period could confirm to me whether or not it was customary to "cut down" wide ties through refolding, resewing, etc. to make them conform to a later less flamboyant cut.

OK, that's just about enough discussion of this tie, I think. Just one last detail, the label. One label is sewn into the small end, and it reads as follows:

Jacquard Crepe
Exclusive fabric
Resilient construction

Tiny Diamond Pairs -- Thirties

Here's the other thirties era tie that I picked up while on vacation. It's amazing to me how many of the ties from that era I have that are basically some variation on maroon. The one this resembles the most closely is my entry from just a few weeks ago, titled Thirties Polka Dots.

This one isn't quite the same, of course, just similar. This one has pairs of dot-like objects, except that when viewed closely, they aren't really dots. They're more diamond shaped. The pairs alternate two colors, shiny silver, and shiny maroon, of a lighter hue than the background. And the background fabric itself is covered in little tiny dots of the same silver color as half the diamonds.

Here are the other thirties ties with maroon as their primary color focus:

• Purple and Rose
• Brushstroke Swirls
• Maroon and Silver
• Maroon and Blue
• Tiny Paisley Print
• Maroon Coils and Silver Bubbles
• The Last from the Thirties

Although that last one in the list was previously labeled as the last from the thirties, I think this entry really is, at least for now, or until I find another for my collection. So what to scan and blog next week? Luckily I don't have to decide now. So until then . . .

Black and Silver

My vacation in Santa Cruz, California, did have a positive side to it from the standpoint of this blog, to kind of match the negative side of causing a hiatus in posting. That positive side was our expedition one afternoon into several vintage clothing and antique shops, plus a visit to the local Goodwill.

The result? This tie, and another, both of thirties vintage, plus one forties specimen, and one skinny fifties/sixties tie that I decided to buy. None of those skinny ties have been featured on the blog as yet, but one of these days I'll get around to them, perhaps when I've exhausted my collection of the wider ones I prefer.

This is quite a nice thirties example, fairly striking in its monochromatic color and design. That is, the color scheme is monochromatic, not necessarily the design. What would that mean, monochromatic design, anyway?

What's nice about the design is that while it features sort of a traditional striped pattern, the stripes themselves are not all that typical. Instead, they are kind of wavy, looking like ripples in water or ice, or something. The fabric is so typical of thirties ties, with the pattern and design brocaded directly into it, creating a richly ornamental effect.

The tie has two labels sewn into the small end of the tie, and shown in the scan, although I suspect they are almost impossible to read. Frankly, the store label is almost impossible to read with the tie held in the hand. The letters have are faded and worn with age. the font is a little ornate, making it more difficult to make out. It appears to say "Ziecrach's." Under that, the city is plain: "Watsonville, Ca."

The second label, the manufacturer's label, reads "Hollyvogue" and "Registered." Which presumably means that "Hollyvogue" is a registered trademark. I have posted three previous Hollyvogue ties. You can use the search box at the top of the blog to locate them, but I can provide links here, as well. They are dated November 12, 2006; August 6, 2006; and May 28, 2006. It's obviously a California brand.

Dark Green and Black

First off, I should probably apologize for my three weeks of absence here on the vintage tie blog. But everyone has to have a vacation once in a while. Even though only one of the weeks I was gone was really vacation.

So, for anyone interested enough to read this entry, the weekend of June 22 I was back in Tillamook, Oregon, where I lived for several years in the first part of the current decade. I played an organ dedication recital at St. Alban's Episcopal Church, where I served as organist from 2002-2004. That was fun, but also a lot of hard work.

The following weekend, June 29, found us in Anaheim, California, attending the American Library Association's annual conference for a week. The week following that, which included last Sunday, July 6, was the only "real" vacation in there. We spent that week in the Santa Cruz area, in California, visiting Arline's sister Kathy and husband Ken.

Relaxing, sleeping in, walking along the beach, and among the redwoods, making music with Kathy, who is an accomplished pianist and harpist--these were some of the vacation activities we indulged in. But now I'm back.

So what about this tie. I suspect it won't show up very well on computer monitor screens. It is a very rich fabric, dark dark green and black. It appears to be of 1930's vintage, as the construction is very like all of my other ties from that era. Off-centered seaming in the back, and with the patterning woven into the fabric itself.

There is one label sewn into the small end of the tie, and visible in the scan. The label reads:

Wembley
Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.