VintageGent’s Menswear Daily

Late Breaking News: Own Captain Kangaroo’s Jacket

This just in…

Bob “Captain Kangaroo” Keeshan’s memorabilia is up on the online auction block. Unfortunately, the bidding frenzy ends tonight, with some items ending momentarily. We are late on the take, but didn’t want to miss this opportunity to tip our hats for any last minute history collectors. With a screen-worn conductor hat AND examples of Keeshan’s screen worn red jacket, as well as his earlier blue jacket from the early seasons, pop culture intersects with fashion.

For the record, the Captain wore a size 40, and the coat was tailored by Chipp of New York & New Haven, a favorite of President Kennedy.

From the auction catalog:

Iconic Bob Keeshan screen-worn Captain Kangaroo red jacket from 1971, the first year the Captain wore red. Keeshan’s lovable character was dressed in a navy blue suit from the show’s creation in 1955 until 1971. Fire-engine red single-breasted jacket was custom made for Keeshan by John F. Kennedy’s tailor, Chipp of New York & New Haven. Chipp label is sewn into an interior pocket and is typed ”Robert Keeshan / 4/2/71”. Features brass buttons, charcoal grey lining and white braided cord trim along the edges of lapels and pockets. Approximately size 40. Dulling to white trim and buttons, else near fine.

The current bid, last we checked is at $2,363.

View the complete catalog HERE.

Mad Dash: Penny Auction Action on DealDash

I know a few buyers and sellers who lament the “golden good old days” of eBay, when through the foggy memory lens they remember themselves as the winningest bidder or that every item they listed sold instantly. Everyone is always on the look out for the next best way to save tons of money on fashion or Christmas presents. When Groupon was introduced, it was the next big thing for five minutes.

Penny auctions are not new, but there is a new shine on them with the introduction of new sites, or more so with companies refunding bids or offering free shipping to the high bidder. DealDash is one of them.

What is DealDash?. Quite simply, it is a penny auction site.

Here is how it works:

Each auction starts off at .01 and bids rise in .01 increments.
Bidders purchase bids, which cost .60 each. For example, an auction might finish at $3.56. If you placed 4 of those bids in the auction, you would pay $2.40 for your bids and $3.56.

From what I understand, the caveat of penny auction sites in the past is the loss of bids. Once you bid, and you do not win the auction, you are out the .60 per bid, or whatever the bid costs on that particular site. With DealDash, you do not forfeit your bids. Rather, you can apply the cost of your bids to the price of purchasing the item for a full price “Buy It Now” on the site.

Penny auctions are not for everyone, particularly if you are addicted to the rush of winning something. For the very careful bidder, there is reasonable benefit.

1) Consider the item before bidding. Would you buy it at the “Buy it Now” price because you want the item or are you bidding because the item is cheap. If you really want the item and are willing to pony up the Buy It Now price, bidding gives you the chance of purchasing the item for much less if you wanted it anyway. I have seen laptops go between $10-123.00 while I was watching.

2) Lower denomination gift cards and such do not attract the high amount of bids bigger ticket items do, so a win may be more obtainable for a new bidder.

3) According to DealDash Customer Reviews, it seems that the site is amicable to working with bidders getting the hang of things. They are offering to buy back a new bidder’s first pack of bids if you don’t win anything.

The mix of items on the site currently include gift cards of all sorts and name brand electronics. Fashion items include name brand luggage and smaller label cosmetics and accessories. In time, the selection may change or expand.

Have you ever tried your hand at penny auctions or other alternatives? If so, what was your experience?

Miss Missoni for Target? A Vintage Redux

As anyone who checks their RSS feed or news sites knows, the Missoni for Target line sold out within hours in stores in many major markets. Early adopters are recycling their duplicates on eBay for a quick buck or two. Were you hankering for a dress, a tie or the coveted Missoni throw blanket? Reports are that some items, such as childrens items and accessories can still be had at certain stores.

Did anyone at the ‘Daily push through the crowds?

No matter what the style is that everyone has to have, on someone that it doesn’t quite suit, it looks as if a hat, tie or dress is coming at you from down the hall, rather than someone cutting out a fashionable figure. When someone stops saying, “You look great,” and replaces it “Here comes that dress again.,” or “Drive by again. You can’t miss that suit,” then you have to do a bit of a review. Though I have some friends that can rock it, but one bit of feeling you are wearing someone else’s skin and it just doesn’t work. The VintageGent=ette’s petite frame and seemingly opposite skin undertone than the current colors that are flattered was overwhelmed. Still, I do have a hankering for some scarves, ties and stationary if the afterglow, after crowd scavenger hunt is a success. The only disappointment is that there are many, many items Made in China, but that seems par for the course.

Are you, too, dreaming of zig zags but are not quite got the gumption to shell out lots of cash on eBay? Look no further than items inspired by Missoni the first time around. One of the most coveted items was and is the Missoni throw blanket. Well, feast a gander here. At left, is the true Target throw. Next to it are several vintage afghans from the 1970s with the undoubted trend for zigzags created the first time around when Missoni was something very new:

The three blankets to the right were made by hand in the 1970s and are available from Etsy sellers right now, unless they sell out of course. I was not able to see and touch the Missoni blanket, but can say some of these undiscovered hand made wonders were usually made to stand the test of time, long after trends change.

From left to right (Target – as much as $177.50 on eBay, Afghan from HammerAndZipper – $85.00, Afghan by BytheWaySide -  $40.00, Crocheted Zig Zag from KPDreams – $34.99).

Sure, you can go out and buy vintage Missoni clothing, but if you find that untouchable, here is a way to get the look in your home without feeling you are buying designer knockoffs. Handmade pieces from yesteryear may be inspired by the trends of the day but they are truly one of  kinds. Just instead of it being draped over a settee at Grandma’s house, they’ll be on the beds of trendsters and fashionistas, if that term isn’t passe.

Tips for Attending a Live Auction

Live auctions for antiques, collectibles. tractors or other what not can be both an adrenaline rush and a tedious affair.  It can be a long day if the item you really want is dead last in the auction catalog.  It can be exciting when you get caught up in bidding.  There are tons of articles out there on auction tips.  Many start out pretty mundanely, educating people about registering and getting a number and premiums.  That all can be learned about two minutes by reading the catalog or being prepped when you register.

If I were to break things down into one single most important auction tip, I would actually pick five that ad to the standard advice.

1) If there is a preview several days before, take advantage of it to thoroughly inspect the items you are interested in.  Unless the auction is very high profile, there won’t be a crowd there.  If you are especially interested in something, this is your best bet to give it a thorough once over without drawing attention from other potential bidders.

2) If you preview the items on the day of the auction, quickly inspect an item, then walk away and inspect another. Come back and inspect the item you are interested in later, rather than spending an inordinate time at it.  Don’t call your spouse, business partner or friends over to it. It may be no big deal to some, but buzzing around an item constantly does attract attention of others.  They think what you are looking at must be something undervalued, or something they should pay attention to.

3) Choose your guests wisely.  If you are attending with someone else, it is best to attend with someone who is interested in different kinds of items than you are.  If not, perhaps you will have an agreement not to bid against each other on certain items.  Or just play may the best person win.  If you attend with someone who is not there to bid, but is just there for the fun, have a conversation with them about discretion.   If you resell items, the worst thing is for someone to say, “hey, you can sell this!”  There are advantages to revealing your status at auctions if you are a dealer, as some times there is a break on sales tax if you have proper identification or the auctioneers or helpers may alert you to other items you are interested in.  Though this may be done with discretion.  There is a belief that some auction attendees automatically try to outbid dealers so the precious collectible doesn’t “go to someone who is just going to sell it.”  But then, how did THEY get half the stuff they have collected? From dealers.

Also, never bring someone who is going to guilt you.  You know how much you are willing to pay for the item and know what it is.  While you may not listen to the individual, it makes for a long day when someone tells anyone who will listen about how you just wasted your money on junk.

4) Never bid first.  If the auctioneer starts the bidding off at $50, do not immediately jump to bid.  If there are no takers, the auctioneer commonly drops the starting bid, often in half.  Sometimes a lower bid creates a bidding war and the item goes higher than expected, but often you can get the item for under the initial bid offering or at least with a lower ceiling.  If you are really interested in the item and the auctioneer has already cut the bid and there are no takers, go ahead and bid. You just might win it with a single bid, or at least not have as much initial competition.

5)  Don’t be afraid to go to auctions outside of your subject matter.  If you are not interested when the brochure for a farm equipment auction comes along, read the list of miscellaneous offerings.  Instead of individually listed items there may be general categories.  Often, antique trunks, kitchen items, or furniture can be found at these auctions without the competition of the usual crowd of the antique auctions.  I remember finding a trove of vintage suits at a tool auction. I also recall finding some great tools at a collectibles auction.

What are your favorite oft-forgotten tips?

There’s Something Smelly In Here

Awhile back (click HERE), I wrote about Ebay barring the sale of perfume and cologne due to a suit with the French Perfumers.  It appeared that you could list something, but when you would click on a listing, you would get a form message that would pop up on the screen.  You would not be allowed to proceed to look at the listings.  Now, i noticed that cosmetics were the same way.  Maybe it was that way before, but cosmetics is something I really don’t pay attention to on Ebay.

Now it is all coming to me.  This is all a plot.  Ebay now has “sponsored links” on the bottom that takes you to Sephora!  When you purchase something off of Sephora, either Ebay is a part of their affiliate program or Sephora pays by impression.   Would this be as a way to zig when you have been thrown a zag?  Or is this a conscious attempt to thwart any business from regular folks.  Of course there are health concerns if someone is selling used and tainted merchandise, but sure there are enough people who get a cologne that they are allergic to as a gift, same with makeup.  It is still sealed, and because it was quite pricey and they don’t want to take it back, they sell it.  More so, there are small businesses that sell cosmetics as their livelihood as well.

So, is this a temporary or permanent move by Ebay?  Well, we will wait and see.

The shame will be if people are not allowed to sell vintage makeup, perfumes and colognes which people collect mainly for the classy perfume bottle or compact that it came in.   Some folks use them as props too if they are not totally collectible.  Often, people will buy a 50 year old perfume bottle with a little still at the bottom because the original owner was reluctant to clean and damage it.

What do you think.  Am I the last one on the boat to know, or do you think that this smells a bit fishy?

A Recent East West Musical Jacket on Ebay

An East West Musical Leather Jacket was featured on Ebay recently. The item was bid up to $1,625.00, but the reserve was not quite met. Unreasonable? Maybe not.  East West Musical jackets are very sought after, and are considered one of the “ultimate” leather jackets to own and I have seen particular examples go for upwards of  several thousand dollars.

All the jackets have an artistic bent to them. Sometimes it is very obvious, such as hand painting of the leather, or the leather pieced together to create a specific pictorial design. Often, other times, even if a jacket is monochromatic, the tailoring and cut is very inventive. The jacket pictured, offered by designervintagelabels4u, falls into the latter category.  Pay special attention to the pocket design and how the front stitching/yokes play a visual part.  I would put the value at of course less than the louder and more intricate jackets just because people are willing to pay higher for a theme, but this one is also a very handsome example as well.

If you see an East West Musical label, it is definitely worth taking a second look at the item.  You will more likely find them on the west coast, but of course, as anything, people migrate with their possessions.  If you are a vintage fashion collector and you spot one at a steal, check the condition of course, but try not to hyperventilate.

Auction Pick: Vintage Tails

Merry Christmas! By now perhaps the kids are all collapsed from their sugar high, you are sitting by the fire unwinding after an eventful day and your thoughts have not quite turned to New Year’s Eve, although it is approaching fast. I, for one, always think of formal wear, even if New Years celebrations have become less and less formal. For those of you who will be spiffing it up to ring in the New Year, or if not, you are going to mix in vintage items with casual, a vintage tux jacket dressed down with a banded shirt for the men, or a vintage beaded top or satin brocade jacket with jeans might just be the answer at casual mixers.

I spied some tails on Ebay. The labels reads Stein Bloch, Inc., exclusively for Henry C. Lyttons & Sons. Around 1870, Nathan Stein founded the wholesale tailoring business that would become Stein-Bloch, a staple of the Rochester, New York clothing trade. Up until this point, retailers typically would self label garments that had been made for them. The teputation of Stein Bloch became so prestigious that stores found a great boon in double labelling garments with the maker’s name. Arounf 1929, Stein-Bloch merged with one of its retaikers, Weber & Heilbroner, and Fashion Park, Inc., another similar quality tailor. The conglomerate than was known as Fashion Park Associates.

The store that sold this suit, Henry C. Lyttons $ Sons, opened up shops starting in 1887 with “The Hub” in Chicago, which eventually was eight stories. It expanded by leaps and bounds. A second store opened in Gary, Indiana, and over the years several other locations including Joliet, Illinois. In honor of Mr. Lytton’s 100th birthday in 1946, the name of the store was changed from “The Hub, Henry C. Lyttons & Sons” to Lytton’s. This, by using the label alone, dates the suit to before 1946 without a doubt. It is true that sometimes you cannot pinpoint an item to an exact year sometimes by a label because a maker might have decided to use some extras up, but since the name change was such a big milestone, the labels listing the longer name was probably better orchestrated. Mr. Lytton died at the ripe old age od 103 in 1949. In 1961, Lytton’s was purchased by a conglomerate.

The auction will end on Ebay December 26th in the morning (EST), so please hop to it if you are interested. There are no chest measurements given by the seller, but there are shoulder and other measurements. May be good to buy even as a display piece.  Check it out HERE.

Clicker Coat Clicking up the Ebay Chart

One of the hottest auctions for vintage menswear currently on ebay is one for a 40s Clicker Car Coat. While vintage Levi’s and Hawaiian shirts usually soar, this is an item that I have not seen make the rounds every week.

The blue coat is being offered by seller 9tara9 and with several bidders, the price is hitting the $300.00 mark.  The nice thing about the auction is that the seller includes a photo of the label.  Quite often, sellers neglect that.

Why is it so important?  This way, a buyer can form their own opinion on the age and authenticity of the item.  Items that don’t have high profile designer names probably will be the genuine article, but a label’s look and font can tell someone a lot about the garment.  If the buyer is knowledgeable about the maker, they sometimes know when different labels were used.   Other clues include care instructions that will often place an item in a decade, and sizing scales.  If a label is present and fastened in the original way, and clean, it can also tell the buyer a little bit about condition as well.

Showing a label does not give a seller an excuse to not bother to find out exactly what they have, but it is definitely an extra selling point, prevents additional work while the item is already at auction, and will often help the buyer make the decision.

This auction ends in less than 24 hours, so hurry if you mean it!

Auction Watch – 1930s Levis

The  item that closed at the highest price on ebay recently was a Levi’s Buckleback sold by seller  gsalebuyer.   The jacket is listed in the Depression through WWII era category, which is accurate.   The jeans of the time had buckle backs and so did many jackets.  The jackets of the 1930s had only one single breast pocket, which is a big tip off if you are not sure just how old a jacket is.   The items that were made before WWII are getting harder and harder to find as most other utilitarian clothing.  At the time you just didn’t wear denim unless you were working. It was just not an apropriate fashion statement, and so old jeans were hardly treated with kid gloves.  They just were worn until they wore out, and even in storage, denim that has already been compromise from excessive wear, soiling, damage, and the elements, can further deteriorate.

Levis from the 1950s and earlier are highly, highly collectible.  Jeans from before 1971, indicated by all capitals in the Levi’s red tab, are also sought.  Some newer styles are sought after by certain people for the nostalgia factor or because they miss the fit of a particular discontinued style or cut.

The buyer picked this up for a mere $3,600 (US).

Get Out Your Checkbook!

Here is the ultimate gift for that special gal!

The iconic black dress Audrey Hepburn wore is going on sale.
Sale will benefit City of Joy Aid.
According to stylist Phillip Bloch, the most memorable black dresses of all time are:

Princess Diana’s strapless dress that she wore for her first public appearance with Prince Charles in 1981.

Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly’s dress in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

Marilyn Monroe’s sequined, spaghetti-strap dress that she wore onstage to entertain U.S. troops in Korea in 1954.

Now that you are considering the dress….
You need a tux with tails now on sale from Couture Allure.