Lace ‘Em Up, Gents

Laces were used to fasten many parts of the clothing worn in the 17th century, and we are still using modified versions of these today. The plastic tips on shoelaces were called aglets then and were copper tips folded on the ends of the laces. The stockings which men wore were held up by an average of nine pair of laces, each requiring two aglets. These were threaded through holes at the waist of the man’s jacket (or doublet, as it was then called.) In this way, a man’s stockings or trousers were attached to his jacket.

The “eye lid” or eyelet, the term we still use, was the hole through which the aglet was inserted. A special tailor’s tool called a bodkin, something like an awl, was used to make the holes.

Occasionally, aglets were used simply for decoration, and dangled from various parts of a man’s clothing. When used in this way, they would be stamped with some type of a design.

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Cows Caused Problems For Urbanized Tillamook

...a note from history

Tillamook, Oregon, is on the northern coast of Oregon. That part of the coast was somewhat isolated from the rest of the state for most of the 19th century, separated by the treacherous Tillamook bar from easy access by water and by the Coast Range mountains from easy land access. For many years, to go “outside” in Tillamook meant to travel as far as Port land or the Willamette Valley.

By the 20th century, though, it was rapidly becoming urbanized, although there were still some problems, as the following newspaper clipping from around 1905 indicates:
“Four more head of stock were impounded by the Marshall Wednesday night. Those who had their stock taken up are very indignant about the enforcement of the ordinance, but as it costs the town about $20 a month to keep the sidewalks in repair, where they are broken by stock at night, the authorities will continue to enforce the ordinance.”

While the dairy industry is still important in Tillamook, and Tillamook cheese is nationally known, there haven’t been any current reports of the cows strolling along the sidewalks there at night.

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Fountain Pens Usable, Savable

Old fountain pens make an attractive collection. Although invented in 1830, commercially they were first made by Lewis Waterman in the 1880s, after a suitable metal for the nib was developed. Other early makers with names still well known today were Walter Sheaffer and George Parker.

The earliest fountain pens had an interior sack that filled with ink when a lever on the outside was raised and lowered. This acted like a little pump.

Among the most desirable pens today are those with engraved patterns; silver or mother-of-pearl overlay or silver filigree; and gold nibs.

Bright colors, such as yellow, from the 1920s are popular with collectors. So are those of marbleized and pearlized plastic from the 1930s.

Two references are the 2nd edition of Fountain Pens, past & Present, by Paul Erano (Collector Books, 2004, $24.95, hardback) and Instant Expert: Coll ecting Pens, by Edward Kiersh (House of Collectibles, 2006, $14.95, paperback.) Both books contain helpful tips for collecting, as well as information on values.

Donna Miller

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