Eisenberg & Sons Silk Dress

I know what you mean by "feels older".

I have a hat from the early 60s that i swore was older. The label looked like it had a little more age to it, etc. But what i have learned over the years is it also depends on how the garment was cared for or stored.

Why i thought it was older is that it had that "tea stained look" to the label and the label. The netting inside the hat/lining had a feeling to it that i can't describe - almost like a residue patina feeling to it.

THe difference is that even though in excellent condition . no rips tears, etc, it just had this "older feeling" maybe from body oils, maybe from storage, whatever. Like a Patina on a piece of wood.

 

Thanks -- at least I know I'm not totally nuts.

I'm just confused, because all of the ads and clothing that I have seen with this label -- and there's not much clothing, is dated from the 40's. I do not want to mislead in the listing, so I'm going to have to word this one really carefully.

I still have no idea what to list this for. My friend who has seen it says to put a reserve on it, and I hate to do that, but then again, ebay is so fickle at the moment.........

I'm going to sit on this one for a couple more days, and try to figure out how to word it.

Thanks to everyone for their help!
Lisa

 

Here are a few more thoughts to consider.

Firstly, the labels in the label resource are not meant to indicate absolute end and start date of when a label is used. They are just pinpoints in time to help us get a better picture. This is why the item that the label was found on is described. We might be able to date a particular item based on other factors and therefore we are able to say a particular label was "for sure used in X year" . When dating an item, the label is definitely a factor but not the only factor. Makers might have used a particular label "until they ran out of them" which might be unscientific because they could have had two different dresses in the same year with a different label depending on what seamstress's work area the dress came from.

There are some makers that always used the same label with little change, and there are some that it changed in font and wording it seems every minute.

So, when considering an item, its label style+fabric+construction features+silhouette+fabric a zillion other things.

Secondly, another factor is construction. A lot of folks (and sometimes I even still get confused ) is that some folks think that surely something with pinked seams has to be older. This is not necessarily true. I have seen pinked seams in 80s garments. While not as prevalant as on a garment 40 years older, if someone who learned the old ways and was now making a formal dress for their granddaughter, they could still have pinked seams on that assymetrical hot pink number for Prom 1984.

Pinking, and some other things that we would consider "older" still show up on very top quality garments later, as well.

Am I saying that this is a complicated web that is too much to learn? By all means no!! After awhile about learning about different silhouettes and other factors, you become very reflexive on your knowledge.

The best way to pick up knowledge aside from reading up is sticking around and reading when other people have questions, and asking questions of your own. I say this because we have a unique opportunity to see SOO many garments at once from all over the world here. There are things that i was able to find after seeing it here because i now knew how to recognize it and could go a little more out on a limb for it with my new knowledge. There are people here ith 20-30+ years of experience and there are people with one day, who don't give themselves credit for what they already know

Chris

 

The other thing is, in my opinion I can see where you think older, but I am inclined to lean towards Hollis' interpretation on this one. sometimes "the devil is in the details" so they say, and a few differences in construction can make all the difference in dating. (and in my opinion, she also really knows her stuff)

Chris

 

Hi! I am still sticking to what I said on the VC&A board last week. It's 50's. I think it's just an occasion were the label was used a bit later than usual like mentioned above. The cut and style are just not 20's or 30's at all. Or even look like the 40's Eisenbergs I have seen. I have had this silk type of fabric in dresses from later, so the fabric is not an indicator of era for this dress. I would list it as a 50's champagne silk dress with jacket. If it were mine I would probably start at 34.00 no more than 49.00. JMHO Angie

 

Hokey dokey! Thanks for all of everyone's help.

I'm learning, for sure. I troll the boards all the time, and try to guess from the pics what the dates are, then scroll down and see if I'm right. I'm usually pretty accurate, except on this one.

Thanks again,
Lisa

 

Everyone always finds a total "stumper" now and again. Wear it as a badge of honor

Chris