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Hankerchiefs - 10/12/2004 1:23:29 PM   
sub4hire


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I have a question which I have absolutely no idea about.

Doug and I were cleaning out some old boxes of my mother's yesterday. In the course of this in several small boxes we found some beautiful hankerchiefs folded up so nicely.
When I saw dad I asked him what they meant. He said he had no idea but perhaps they gave them to mom at the wedding.

Did people used to give them out to the bride? What do they symbolize? Many of them are handpainted. All folded about the same way. 5 folded into a square and attached.

Any idea's?
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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/12/2004 3:29:57 PM   
LadyBeckett


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Status: offline 		Were they folded in a pattern and attached by a single stitch one to another? When my Great GrandMother passed she left me two such boxes containing linen hankies that were embroidered, folded, and stitched together in a pattern by a single stitch as if to hold them in place. There were six in each box. I often wondered what the meaning was, but I've never found out either. I actually forgot about it until you just brought it up. I'm anxious to see if anyone else knows what it may mean.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/12/2004 3:53:46 PM   
sub4hire


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Status: offline 		Yes they were. All in a square. Can't think of the right verbage to describe the design.
One on each corner then one in the middle.
All with a single stich holding them in place. In boxes too. Skinny boxes just the right size. Like a lot of people did this. Why else would they have their own little perfect boxes?

Hopefully we will find out.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/12/2004 5:47:38 PM   
LadyBeckett


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Status: offline 		The designs on the hankies themselves were celtic and embroidered. In this case there were six in each box, laid in two rows of three each joined by a single stitch to one another (clearly indicating that they weren't intended to be seperated). Both boxes were also perfectly sized. One was rather like a jewelry box, satin covered with a small hasp closing. The other was a plain wooden box with a snug closing (no hasp or closure). I also noticed that under the hankies in both boxes there were leaves of some kind. For scent, or some type of preservative perhaps?

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/12/2004 6:27:41 PM   
proudsub


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Status: offline 		You might search ebay for similar items and see if they have any value.

Oh wow i just got another paddle, boy do i feel powerful.

< Message edited by proudsub -- 10/12/2004 6:28:54 PM >

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/13/2004 8:46:52 AM   
sub4hire


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Status: offline 		I didn't have any leaves. Then again maybe it did in the beginning. Who is to say the 50 or so years they have been in the boxes they didn't disintegrate?
The state of Missouri was on one of the hankies. So, not sure about any type of specific designs. We need someone who is as old as a grandma here to tell us her insight. Not grandmas like you Beckett. We need someone truly old.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/13/2004 9:15:51 AM   
LadyBeckett


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Status: offline 		LMAOOOOOOOO Not only did I get one of those right out loud laughs from that, Gloria, but I appreciate the thought as well.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/13/2004 7:21:50 PM   
dixiedumpling


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Status: offline 		Don't you think that's just the way they were packaged and sold? Decoratively? They probably were a gift and that's the way they came. I've seen similar, but they were pinned to paper. Too pretty to use.

My grandmother received a night gown as a present and she said she would save it for when she went to the hospital. Not me! I wear new stuff as soon as I can! This is typical, I think. You give an elderly person a gift and when they die, you get it back.. still in the box.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/13/2004 7:39:34 PM   
sub4hire


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quote:

You give an elderly person a gift and when they die, you get it back.. still in the box.


Mom was 17 when she got married. Dad remembers her having them since then. She was'nt elderly by anyones standards.
He believes they were wedding gifts. Although if you knew my father he is in the early stages of alzheimers. Which is what prompted me to ask here.
Never know when you may run into someone in the know.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/13/2004 8:22:20 PM   
LadyBeckett


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Status: offline 		dixie, I'm not certain, but I believe these were made not bought. Like Gloria, I believe there was some tradition attached to them. My Great Grandmother lived in a small village in Scotland all of her life. The pattern of Gloria's Mother's hankies are a bit different but similar enough that I think there may be some connection there. I've been doing a bit of looking about but haven't found anything yet. I know absolutely NOTHING about ebay. I get lost on the main page over there.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/13/2004 8:41:18 PM   
sub4hire


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quote:

I know absolutely NOTHING about ebay. I get lost on the main page over there.


I checked out ebay today. Nothing there. Lot's of vintage hankies. Pretty cheap too. You can get a dozen or so for under 10 dollars. I guess a hankie is definately not a collectors item. No matter how much work went into it. None looked anything like these we are referring to though.
One one of the boxes someone had written all over it...gift to shirley.
In the old days, were there not certain wedding gifts? Brought good luck or whatever?
Prosperous sperm?

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/13/2004 10:42:23 PM   
proudsub


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quote:

know absolutely NOTHING about ebay. I get lost on the main page over there.


I searched ebay for you and didn't find anything that sounded similar, sorry.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/14/2004 9:00:59 PM   
sub4hire


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Status: offline 		Here is a pic of one of them.




Attachment (1)

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/16/2004 6:47:33 AM   
GentleMistress


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Status: offline 		I do believe that they were at one time given out as a wedding gift for luck. My mother who is of german descent had many "boxes" of handkercheifs that were sown together...her whole family must have thought she needed lots of luck in her marriage lol. Anyway she gave me one when i got married and i will keep them for when/if mine gets married.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/17/2004 8:12:28 AM   
sub4hire


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Status: offline 		Thank you for the info. I was thinking that may be the case, but then again what do I know?
Perhaps I'll start the tradition al over again and give some people some. Why not keep another hundred years of people guessing?

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/17/2004 12:13:33 PM   
MistressDREAD


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Status: offline 		Actually You are close in the mindframe that they were for luck.
When given at a wedding actually they are passed down in family
from those whom have had successfull marraiges with in the blood
line to those whom marry after to pass that marraiges success to
the next generation and for every generation it is passed down another
addition is added to the marraige luck quilt with the bride and grooms
own hankie stitched to the others to show how precious and vulnerable
such relationships sit and secure and bind and hold within from one
family member to the next with just one thread which represents the
blood line. This practice is still very popular and practiced thru out the
world in many cultures and not only is the hankie given but the
bride and groom choose certain marraige partners to take part in their
wedding in certain positions with in the cerimony that gives luck in their
representations of a love that endures all things in time and that luck
is passed on to the new bride and groom in their presance...... JMO.

There is a collection of such things at the London Museum of natural History
that use to be open to the public in the past I dont know if it is still there
but I am sure that they would in the least have pictorials of such and definitions
with in their archives............Many hand sewn a item on the hankie that
represented the family that it came from or what was important to them.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/17/2004 12:23:26 PM   
MistressDREAD


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Status: offline 		by the way sub4hire Your pic seems to be of the hankies I have
seen that were popular in the 40s n 50s hand painted and given in the
place of the sewn ones..... It is very beautiful from what I can see.
The value on such items monitarily are added when the work on them
are of a area and art thats of the past and no longer practiced or
paintings of things or by artists now dead whom were popular, I remember
that there was a simalar artist of Florida that hand painted hankies
that He gave out as He sold His painting across the State from the trunk
of the car in the 40s and 50s and the Man would buy the paintings of this
artist and a matching hankie would be given to the wife. His works now
go in the millions and there are only about 400 canvases of His work that
are saved and their matching hankies to date. I cant call His name off
the top of My head and dont have time to search it at the moment but I
will when I have time but I can think of several things that were along the
same line with the hankies. I to have 11 generations of hankies in My
cedar chest passed down thru My family that tell of Its heritage and trials
and tribulations of the past 400 years of My Bloodlines Lifes,Quilts as well.

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RE: Hankerchiefs - 10/19/2004 12:54:50 PM   
sub4hire


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Status: offline 		Dread, a few more questions for you if you don't mind answering.

Ok. On some of them I have 2, 3, and up to 6 hankies sewn together. So, does the 2 sewn together represent only 2 people have been sucessful?
So the one I took the photo of had 5 generations of good marriages?

Also, does this mean they came from a relative or did friends also give them?

Yep, you're also correct she received them in the 40's and 50's. Mom passed away in 2002 and they would have marked their fiftieth wedding anniversary a month later.

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