BLANKET OF THE MONTH
May 2008 brings me yet another opportunity to showcase my non-existent photography skills AND my tiny kitchen by presenting both sides of Oregon City's most famous blanket...the Happy Hunting Ground. Look closely in the design for the kitchen sink since everything else is included.
We're starting 2008 with a classic round corner Pendleton. The company produced round corner blankets from 1896 through 1908 and they are highly prized by collectors. The colors are outstanding in this example.
December 2008 - I say a fond goodbye to 2008 and its fiery pit of economic doom and a cheery hello to the only blanket pattern ever made by three companies - in this case Oregon City, Beacon and Pendleton. Who made it first? I can say with complete certainty that I haven't a clue. There is one original here and two cases of outright design thievery - one of the culprits was likely Beacon who made their copy in cotton for a tenth the price of the two wool versions. I do know all were made in the 1920's and it's one of my all-time favorite patterns. Directly below is the Oregon City version:
And now the Beacon:
And lastly the Pendleton:
November 2008 - It has just dawned on my seriously thick head that I have not had the common decency to name a single Capps blanket as Blanket Of The Month. That madness ends right here right now with this Capps Shoshone c. 1911 and a classic pattern by any standard. This blanket has been in my personal collection for years and that's where it's staying!
October 2008 - Today the Dow plunged to a 4 year low, banks are failing, economists are predicting a gloomy financial future despite the $700 billion dollar government bailout and that's why all the smart money continues to go into vintage Indian blankets! A tip of my fedora to Chris Odgers for allowing me to picture one of the prizes of his fine collection. This blanket appears in both the Racine and Shuler & Benninghofen catalogs - designated only by a style number in the Racine catalog but named the Montana in the S & B catalog.
Ah, September and Hurricane Gustav just blew this 1923 label Pendleton shawl my way - a very rare pattern and truly startling coloration for that era. This is a color palette I would expect to find in a modern Pendleton.
Already August 2008 and I have a treat for Racine fans this month - two variations of the design theme as seen in the fantastic December 2007 shawl (don't be lazy - scroll down and check it out!). The fringe is almost completely missing from the first example but I don't care because I'm crazy about it! Elegant simplicity - two color blankets from any company are extremely rare.
This baby features multi-colored fringe and the design laid out on a banded field - 'tis lovely!
Fantastic news for the fans of my horrendous photography! Instead of incredibly amateurish shots taken in my kitchen I'm celebrating July 2008 by shooting even worse photos in my office. The locale may have changed, but my commitment to provide you the absolute worst in home photography remains unwavering! Here for your viewing...I hesitate to add the word pleasure...is a Racine Woolen Mills blanket the likes of which I've never seen. I believe this to be either a presentation blanket or an "end of day" blanket in which a factory worker had a bit of time on his/her hands and decided to be creative. The result is far too labor intensive to have ever been a stock factory blanket. There are SEVEN different colors of fringe - all hand-tied, of course as this blanket is pre-1900. As if this wasn't wondrous enough, I have never seen another example of the pattern. This is my version of 4th of July fireworks - long live the Republic!
June 2008 is Barry's Blanket Bonus month! Free balloons and hot dogs for the kids and TWO blankets for you! I've been remiss in picturing a great Beacon and here is an unused late 1920's example retaining its original factory cardboard tag. The blues in this blanket are truly blue-tiful.
And here's the most unusual Pendleton round corner I've ever encountered. Someone was asleep at the wheel and an errant spool of black wool found its way into one part of the blanket and wasn't repeated elsewhere! This wonderfully busy design continued into the 1920's in a square cornered version, but this is the only round corner in this pattern I've ever seen and dates to 1904.
Ah, September and Hurricane Gustav just blew this 1923 label Pendleton shawl my way - a very rare pattern and truly startling coloration for that era. This is a color palette I would expect to find in a modern Pendleton.
This baby features multi-colored fringe and the design laid out on a banded field - 'tis lovely!
And here's the most unusual Pendleton round corner I've ever encountered. Someone was asleep at the wheel and an errant spool of black wool found its way into one part of the blanket and wasn't repeated elsewhere! This wonderfully busy design continued into the 1920's in a square cornered version, but this is the only round corner in this pattern I've ever seen and dates to 1904.
May 2008 brings me yet another opportunity to showcase my non-existent photography skills AND my tiny kitchen by presenting both sides of Oregon City's most famous blanket...the Happy Hunting Ground. Look closely in the design for the kitchen sink since everything else is included.
It's high time to feature an exceptional Oregon City Woolen Mills blanket and here's a beautiful banded shawl in as-new condition c. 1915 for April. My wife will be delighted that the top of her lovely noggin makes an appearance in the first photo. She ducked for cover on the second to avoid all the blanket paparazzi that follow us everywhere.
March 2008 already and here's a blanket from one of the lesser known mills that occasionally made Indian blankets - the Portland Woolen Mills which manufactured not in Portland, but rather St. Johns, Oregon and began production in 1904. Like the December 2007 Racine below this blanket incorporates the swastika in the design - a symbol that always guarantees a trade or camp blanket was made before America entered World War II.
Time for a history lesson. The swastika has been used for thousands of years and even predates the ancient Egyptian symbol the Ankh. The swastika was widely used in many cultures including those of ancient Troy, Tibet, China, India, Japan and southern Europe. The "twisted cross" even adorns Mayan temples. The word comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good," "asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a suffix. The swastika represented abundance and prosperity - depending on the cultural group it symbolized life, sun, power, strength, good luck and the four cardinal directions.
To Hindus, it is a symbol of the sun and its rotation. Buddhists consider it a diagram of the footprints of Buddha. Among the Jainas of India, the emblem is a reminder of the four possible places of rebirth: in the animal or plant world, in Hell, on Earth or in the spirit world. The swastika's meaning to the Hopi people has been described as a depiction of the migration routes Hopi clans took through North and South America.
Until the Nazis adopted the symbol the swastika was widely used on all manner of items including cigarette and calling card cases, watch fobs, poker chips, coins, signs, postcards and even in American company names like the Swastika Cement Company. The symbol was popular as a good luck charm with early aviators - a swastika was painted on the inside of the nosecone of the Spirit of St. Louis. Swastikas are carved into the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art and many historic movie theaters and hotels - there was a Swastika Hotel in Raton, New Mexico. During World War I the swastika decorated the shoulder patches of the American 45th Division. The symbol is often referred to as "whirling logs" or "rolling logs" in modern descriptions of pre-World War II American Indian items. Native Americans used the symbol on jewelry, souvenir spoons, basketry, rugs, etc.
In 1940, in response to Hitler's regime, the Navajo, Papago, Apache and Hopi people signed an anti-whirling log proclamation. It read, "Because the above ornament, which has been a symbol of friendship among our forefathers for many centuries, has been desecrated recently by another nation of peoples, therefore it is resolved that henceforth from this date on and forever more our tribes renounce the use of the emblem commonly known today as the swastika . . . on our blankets, baskets, art objects, sand paintings and clothing."
I see my time is up so without further delay here's the Portland Woolen Mills blanket...a wonderland of weft and warp.
February 2008 showcases a magnificent shawl - one of my favorite Racine patterns in a screaming bubble gum pink with forest green fringe. It's a hundred years old and the condition is absolutely flawless. An Indian woman wearing this would have been visible not only to her immediate tribe, but to tribes on other planets. The circle visible in the first picture is on the camera lens, not the blanket. If you're bored why not write an amusing caption in it?March 2008 already and here's a blanket from one of the lesser known mills that occasionally made Indian blankets - the Portland Woolen Mills which manufactured not in Portland, but rather St. Johns, Oregon and began production in 1904. Like the December 2007 Racine below this blanket incorporates the swastika in the design - a symbol that always guarantees a trade or camp blanket was made before America entered World War II.
Time for a history lesson. The swastika has been used for thousands of years and even predates the ancient Egyptian symbol the Ankh. The swastika was widely used in many cultures including those of ancient Troy, Tibet, China, India, Japan and southern Europe. The "twisted cross" even adorns Mayan temples. The word comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good," "asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a suffix. The swastika represented abundance and prosperity - depending on the cultural group it symbolized life, sun, power, strength, good luck and the four cardinal directions.
To Hindus, it is a symbol of the sun and its rotation. Buddhists consider it a diagram of the footprints of Buddha. Among the Jainas of India, the emblem is a reminder of the four possible places of rebirth: in the animal or plant world, in Hell, on Earth or in the spirit world. The swastika's meaning to the Hopi people has been described as a depiction of the migration routes Hopi clans took through North and South America.
Until the Nazis adopted the symbol the swastika was widely used on all manner of items including cigarette and calling card cases, watch fobs, poker chips, coins, signs, postcards and even in American company names like the Swastika Cement Company. The symbol was popular as a good luck charm with early aviators - a swastika was painted on the inside of the nosecone of the Spirit of St. Louis. Swastikas are carved into the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art and many historic movie theaters and hotels - there was a Swastika Hotel in Raton, New Mexico. During World War I the swastika decorated the shoulder patches of the American 45th Division. The symbol is often referred to as "whirling logs" or "rolling logs" in modern descriptions of pre-World War II American Indian items. Native Americans used the symbol on jewelry, souvenir spoons, basketry, rugs, etc.
In 1940, in response to Hitler's regime, the Navajo, Papago, Apache and Hopi people signed an anti-whirling log proclamation. It read, "Because the above ornament, which has been a symbol of friendship among our forefathers for many centuries, has been desecrated recently by another nation of peoples, therefore it is resolved that henceforth from this date on and forever more our tribes renounce the use of the emblem commonly known today as the swastika . . . on our blankets, baskets, art objects, sand paintings and clothing."
I see my time is up so without further delay here's the Portland Woolen Mills blanket...a wonderland of weft and warp.
We're starting 2008 with a classic round corner Pendleton. The company produced round corner blankets from 1896 through 1908 and they are highly prized by collectors. The colors are outstanding in this example.
December 2007's Blanket Of The Month is an extraordinary Racine pictorial shawl. This blanket has a history of being in one Indian family's hands for well over a hundred years and originally belonged to a female cousin of Chief Joseph's. As this blanket dates to the period when Joseph was still alive, I have no doubt whatsoever he saw this blanket being worn.
November 2007 Both sides of a unique Racine Woolen Mills shawl manufactured for the Indian trade about 1900. Polka dots - who'd have thunk it?
