Tuesday, November 16, 2010

For the birds

I haven't hunted since my teenage years, but every fall around a certain time I'm reminded of those cold mornings I spent trudging through the edges of fallen corn fields while waiting for a bird or two to fly into the air. It's that season right now, and perhaps it's no coincidence that in the past two weeks I've seen an overabundance of ties with different bird motifs.

I ended up purchasing the following three, but could have easily tripled the number below if not for condition issues.

blue heron 1

blue heron detail
Obviously, this first tie doesn't depict a bird that one would hunt, but I found myself drawn to it anyway. I initially bought it thinking it was a Great Blue Heron (which is a magnificent bird), but a closer look at markings (or lack thereof) make me instead think that it's a Great Egret. Either way, it's a nice design.

Pheasant tie

Pheasant tie detail
Along with turkey and quail, pheasants are a bird that I did hunt back in the day. This particular tie is beautiful, with two different bird poses on an incredibly thick red silk.

Pheasant tie detail

Pheasant tie detail
The bird on this third tie has me stumped, but I couldn't pass it up. Old school woven tie from the UK (for Robert Talbott) that is again super thick and feels great.

I don't think there are any unwritten rules on not wearing ties with sporting birds on them if you're not a hunter, just as there are no real rules for not wearing a tie with lobsters on it if you live in a landlocked locale.

Or am I wrong on that?

3 comments:

  1. Killer Ties, man!

    I´ve been scourring ebay in the past for those...unfortunately without real success :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've got a question for you. How do you store your ties? I've read and heard arguments for hanging, folding and gently rolling. I've tried the gently rolling method for the last coupla months, and I've noticed some of my ties keep their wrinkles even after they are stored for a few weeks. I know you're a tie connoisseur, just wondering how you handle it. Nice haul on the bird ties, by the way.

    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  3. Spoozy, if you're interested in acquiring some ties like these, I'll certainly keep an eye out for you. Like I said, I've been seeing them a lot lately, and perhaps that trend will continue.

    Mark, I have a tie rack that I picked up (new in box) a thrift store a couple years ago. It has pegs for 36 ties, but I currently have somewhere between 2 and 4 ties on each peg. My collection has also completely over-flowed the rack, so I have between 20-30 ties hanging over a couple different wooden hangers as well. If you can keep them from bunching, that latter method works pretty well.

    If you have some problems with wrinkles I've found that transferring the problem ties to a plastic hanger and hanging them in a steamy bathroom one or two nights will usually loosen things up a bit (I transfer from the wood to the plastic because I don't want the wood to soak up any moisture and leave a line on the ties). I'm certainly no expert on the matter, but it's worked for me.

    ReplyDelete