 1940s-1950s printed cotton neckerchief, 20 inches square, from MiLady's Vintage Linens. |
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IT'S TIME FOR: NAUTICAL HANKIES |
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“If you picture people yachting back in the 1940s and 1950s on Cape Cod or Narragansett Bay, they always wore neckerchiefs,” muses Marsha Manchester, of MiLady’s Vintage Linens in Gardiner, Maine. Today, nautical-themed cotton neckerchiefs and hankies are highly collectible. Size is the distinguishing characteristic between a hanky and a neckerchief, explains Manchester: “Women’s hankies are 14 inches square at the largest, whereas a neckerchief is about 20 inches square. Men’s hankies range from 14 to 20 inches square.” The bigger size of a neckerchief makes it possible to fold the cloth point to point, then roll it and tie it around the neck.
Manchester looks for vintage neckerchiefs in printed cotton, with machine-stitched hems, in bright colors—usually a variation of red, white, and/or blue. Motifs include anchors, ropes, even mermaids. “Anything sea-related is hot right now,” she says.
Vintage hankies and neckerchiefs from the 1930s through 1950s are almost always made of cotton, sometimes linen. To tell the difference between cotton and linen, Manchester suggests wrapping an area of the cloth around your finger and examining it in good light with a loop: “If you see fuzz or lint, it’s cotton; if you don’t, it’s linen.” Beginning in the mid 1960s, polyester was also used for hankies and neckerchiefs, but Manchester does not find polyester as collectible.
The price range for 1930s–1950s cotton nautical-themed hankies and neckerchiefs is $20 to $40.
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