Piano Shawls

Tamzzyn

Registered Guest
Hi all :)

I picked up two piano shawls from an estate sale today for a couple of dollars each! I'm thrilled with them and even though there are much prettier and unique ones out there, I still think they are lovely .. especially for the price that I paid!

Now, I know absolutely nothing about piano shawls. Could someone help me if dating them? I'm interested in finding out ways to date them in case I come across more in the future.

If you need better pictures please let me know.

Thanks :)

First One is 60x60 inches without fringe and the fringe is 10 inches:
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Second One is 56x56 inches without fringe and the fringe is 8 inches:
21037999_10156653754009768_318897401_o.jpg 21037693_10156654090254768_1771898821_o.jpg 21038074_10156654090179768_110886746_o.jpg 21057567_10156654091659768_520572856_o.jpg21035306_10156654090334768_454343493_o.jpg
 
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Hi! They are lovely and look c. 20s but it's hard to tell without touching them. The old ones are usually a lovely silk. Do you know the fabric? My white on white have been old. I haven't had a black on black. The very colorful can be old but also the most reproduced. Any old repairs?
 
Those are lovely. These, as we know, can be difficult to date from looking at a photo only. The silk looks rather thin and very lightweight, which leads me to think these are both post WWII. Could be anywhere from 1950 to today. The fringes also have the look, length, and weight of a later 20th century shawl or scarf. The 1920s silk shawls are almost always made of a heavier silk, such as silk crepe or silk crepe de chine, etc. Yours is also not as large as the 1920s and earlier antique shawls would be.

These are really shawls intended for wearing, not really what one might consider a piano shawl.

But they are lovely and a nice find.
 
Thanks for the replies :)

I'm not sure that the white/cream one is post 1950s. It definitely feels older to me. It is also much heavier than the black one. Although I'm really inexperienced with fabric, there is a difference in the feel and look of the black and white one. The white one just seems more luxurious.

Maybe I should take them to someone in my local area to see if they can identify the fabric (that would probably help a lot)? I do need to learn more about fabrics so it would be educational for me too :)
 
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