Hi Von, ooohh, I love ties, too! Have about a hundred of them, but never get around to listing many of them... Wanna buy some? LOL! Just kidding....
Anyway, I've not seen a reference book on just ties, but I have the Antique Trader Vintage Clothing Price Guide, and it has a short chapter on ties.
Some things I look for, though I'm not an expert by any means... Label, width, fabric, length. I find that tie labels usually "look" their era pretty clearly.
Width can be tricky, because wide and skinny have been in style both at the same time at times. But, e.g., 60's wide ties are different than, say, 40's wide ties. 40's wide ties, at least the ones I've seen, tend to have a sort of flared shape to them--narrow through the neck area and below, and flaring to very wide at the bottom. The beautiful handpainted ties of the late 40s & early 50s are often shaped like that. I think the very narrow skinny ties can span a few decades; I find those difficult to date and usually look at the pattern and fabric on those. I have quite a few I think are from the early 60s.
Acetate ties are, I think, usually pre 1960 or into the early 60s; dacron polyester late 50s into the 60s, and, of course, 100% polyester, late 60s into what, the early 70s? Silk runs across eras. And vintage ties are usually shorter than modern-era ones (sometimes I find it hard to tell a modern from a vintage, especially the traditional striped & foulards.
I'd say that my first clue when I'm out looking at ties are the patterns, then I go from there. I'm sure there are folks here far more expert than I am in this area, but hope this helps a bit!
