This is another parasol that was not in its original cover when I got her. She had been recovered at some point in a blue plaid cotton, a little thicker and not as fine as quilting cotton. I don't have pictures of the parasol how she came to me. But I do have her uncovered!
So basically, she's sitting right at 1850, give or take a year or two. Her ribs are baleen and for some odd reason, every other one is broken right at the tip. She still holds a cover, but I thought it was strange that exactly every other one is broken. The handle and stick are dark black wood, either ebony or painted, and the handle has bamboo like ribs in it. The finial and handle tip are bone and the parasol has two folding mechanisms. One to fold the parasol in half and the other is a marquis. On the not original cover there was a piece of rick rack about 8" long down one rib that held a bone ring in place. These rings were used to hold the parasol closed. They were extremely popular in the 1830's and then became increasingly unpopular. The latest I have seen one is an engraving in Godey's somewhere between 1853-1855. Here are some examples starting in the 1830's and all the way up.
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| La Mode, 1831. |
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| La Mode, 1831. |
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| Unknown collection, 1836-1838. |
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| Un Siecle De Modes Feminines, 1831. |
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| La Mode, 1831. |
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| Unknown collection, 1840's. |
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| Victoria & Albert Museum, 1840's. |
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| Godey's Lady's Book, 1853-1855. |
Looking at originals, it would seem that the rick rack is an incorrect way to attach the bone ring. Originals show silk ribbon or cord. I chose a gold silk ribbon to match the fabric I chose. Speaking of fabrics, it took me quite a white to find one for this fabric. I initially picked out this fabric from puresilks.us.
The first time I ordered, they only had a half yard and I figured that would be enough. Turns out, I was only able to get 7 pieces from it and of course I needed eight. I ordered again a year later but low and behold when I got my order, they sent in an extra yard of another fabric I had ordered instead. When I contacted them about it, I was told that they were out of the blue and just sent an extra yard of another fabric. I wasn't too happy with this arrangement-especially since they hadn't contacted me at all while prepping my order. I had no need for 2 yards of the other fabric and they charged me $21 for the blue fabric. Talking to them did absolutely no good, unfortunately. The most they would do is offer me $5 off my next order. This is not my first issue with puresilks and I'll probably avoid them from now on.
So after that fiasco, I tried looking for the same fabric elsewhere, but couldn't come up with anything. I ended up getting a similar fabric from Etsy. It's not perfect-I'm not the biggest fan of the fact that it is a shot silk, but I think the resulting cover looks nice and works well. In fact, it's probably the best recovery job I've done yet.
Measurements are: 28.75" long unfolded, 16.5" long folded, 2.75" finial length, 12" handle, .75" handle bone tip, 12.75" total handle length, 10.5" rib length, and 1.5" bone ring diameter.
I'm going to have to start doing early 1850's more often just so I can use her! She's a beauty!
Enjoy!
