It’s so nice to have enabling friends. If it’s not one tipping me off to a sale on fabric at Williamsburg (over now, keep calm) it’s another tipping me off to costume auctions.
My most recent tip-off came from Mr Cooke, about the Whitaker auction coming up April 25 and 26 in New Hope, PA. There are some very nice things from the collections of the Met and LACMA coming up in that sale. It’s hard to understand deaccessions from the outside, so I won’t comment on that part of the sales.
Unmade waistcoat ca. 1790. RIHS 1990.36.15
I was particularly taken with this waistcoat.
The lapel embroidery and button details remind me very much of an uncut dimity waistcoat in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Whitaker’s got copyright notices on their images, so I won’t post them here, but I can assure you, the visit will be worth your while. But my tip to you is this: forget those estimates– from what I’ve seen lately, they’re all too low by a factor of 10.
Thank you for the notice! I’ll be sure to drool enthusiastically at the website images. The Whitaker waistcoat you linked is so charming! I don’t think “whimsy” when I look at many waistcoats, but that one has it.
Not for nothin’ (as the locals say), check out the disassembled 18th century silk gown. I’d really like to see that!
I think waistcoats are where whimsy creeps into men’s clothes; and if not whimsy, flash. Even the Rev. Enos Hitchcock had a pink satin w’coat, which would have been quite the flashy thing to see with a black stuff suit.