Acorn Pixies

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blue with Silver Oak Leaves

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

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

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

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

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

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

The tie has one extant label to transcribe:

Arrow
Made in U.S.A.
All Silk

Green and Red Horror

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

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

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

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

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

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

Northern Commercial Co.
Anchorage, Alaska

and

Fashion Craft
Cravat
All Silk

Pale Yellow, Pale Peach on a Deep Brown Background

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

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

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

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

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

Leonard's
Men's Wear
Hayward, Calif.

The other label reads

SUPERBA
All Silk

Brown and Silvery Blue Eggs

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

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

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

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

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

Red & Blue Icicle Swirls

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tan and Brown Circles on Red

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

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

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

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

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

Orange Rosettes

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

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

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

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

Pebble Beach
Made in California

Green and Silver

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

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

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

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

Unfortunately, no labels survive.

Vertical Stripes

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

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

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

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

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

Blue and Silver Abstract

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

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

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

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

The tie has one label which reads:

PENNEY'S
Towncraft
Made and styled
in California

Orange Geometrics

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

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

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

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

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

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

Frederick & Nelson
Men's Shops

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

Fashion Craft
SN
Cravats
Resilient Construction

Red Hazard (Almost)

OK, this may be the very last of the vaguely heraldic,
pseudo fleur de lis design ties, and to even call this one that is probably stretching things a bit.

Actually, the patterns on this tie bear a slight resemblance to a skull and cross bones, or even worse, a bio or nuclear hazard warning symbol. Somehow, I don't think today's tie designers would use a symbol quite like this one.

Alternatively, you might say they just look like anchors. Or maybe the don't resemble any of the above. I suppose the designer was just aiming for a sort of nondescript masculine looking patterns. Something you can't really say looks exactly like anything, but has a vaguely mannish quality to it.

Unlike some other recently posted ties, this one does NOT appear to have been cut down or refolded to make it narrower. The red fabric comes clear out to both edges of the tie behind, and there is nothing to hint that it might have been wider once.

The tie has one label, the containing the venerable "Arrow" brand, and the words "Made in U.S.A."

One Giant Ornament

This tie has just one giant ornament on it, but with those characteristic curlicue type figures that I've been calling pseudo-fleur de lis, vaguely heraldic. I'm in a hurry tonight, so I'm not going to say much about it, since most of it would be a repeat of what I've already said about the others.

I will point out, in case you haven't already figured it out, that the point you see at the bottom of the tie, is not the real end of the tie. I had to cut off the bottom, in order to get the entire ornamental figure included in the scan.

I should also mention that this tie, like the one from two weeks ago, has almost certainly been cut down from its original width, to make it more fashionable as tie widths were narrowing early in the fifties. The obvious clue is that the ornament is significantly off center on the tie.

Less obvious, and not obvious at all in the scan, is the fact that just like the tie from two weeks ago, inside the back of the tie, the fabric of the tie is folded over the lining on one side, but not on the other.

Finally, this tie has one of the more interesting brocade patterns of any tie I've posted. You can see it most clearly on the small end of the tie. An abstract pattern that somewhat resembles flames of fire, or maybe, patterns in water, with bubbles floating through the middle. The pattern embedded in the fabric is to my eye, far more interesting than the ornamental design printed on tie, which is a bit too pretentiously formal for my taste.

There are no extant labels to transcribe. So there you have it.

Orange, Gold and Brown

This tie is like a combination of the semi-formal vaguely heraldic type patters, and the more flamboyant, free-flowing, out there, abstract designs. It's got that sweeping free-form look, with the curved patterns of golden pebbles slashing its way down the tie, offset by the brown and orange sections, but superimposed on top of that is a sort of formal looking symmetrical type design, containing elements somewhat reminiscent of typographic ornaments, or something sim'lar (to Heinrich Himmler, as Ogden Nash once rhymed).

If you can make any sense out of the preceding paragraph of prose, well, then to quote another poet, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

What I like best about this tie is first, it's width: it's a four-inch plusser (4 1/4 inches at its widest point, to be precise about it), and its vibrant colors. Frankly, I'd like it better if it DIDN'T have that semi-symmetrical ornamental thingy-ma-jingy surrounded by the three smaller postage stamp looking boxes, each with a vaguely floral, perhaps amoeba-like shape enshrined within. A similar shape sits at the heart of the ornament.

Again, I'm feeling flaky today, as reflected in my purple prose. So I'd better stop before I get any further behind (I daren't suggest that I stop while I'm ahead, because I seriously doubt if I am.)

The tie has a label, which reads as follows:

Esquire
Cravat
TheTieofDistinction
Resilient Construction

In between the word "Cravat" and the tie of distinction part, is embroidered a tiny "coach and four," an old-fashioned Three-Musketeers style coach, pulled by four horses. There may even be a cockaded coachman or guard riding at the back, facing backward, but it's hard to tell, the entire image being so small, and limited in detail by the embroidery stitching.

Silver, with Black and Gold Ornament

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Woodward & Lothrop
Washington

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

Silver, Yellow and Blue

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

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

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

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

Gray-blue with Flourishes and Squiggles

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rhodes
Department Store
Seattle

and

Devonshire
Foulard
All Silk

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

Silvery Gray & Red

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blue and Silver with Crimson Highlights

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

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

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

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

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

The Bon Marché.

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

Not quite Fleur de lis

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

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

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

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

Red, White and Gray--Spots!

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

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

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

The tie does have one label extant, which states:

Made in California

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

The Last from the Thirties

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maroon and Blue with Silver Trimings

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

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

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

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

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

The Bon Marché
Seattle

and

Fashion
Craft
Cravats.

Tiny Paisley Print

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

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

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

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

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

And the second a single word:

Eton