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Author Topic:   Silver hair combs
Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 01-31-2011 06:29 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
[01-2902]

I have long hair that I like putting up with silver hair combs. I've recently admitted that the accumulation is turning into a collection. I was considering asking Scott to make a slide show of my combs, but I don't have all that many yet, and I don't actually know very much about them. So instead I'll post a photo here and ask if anyone else shares my interest and would like to add their own.

I believe my combs are all American, from the 1870s-1910s. I speculate that the big ones are from the 1870s, when ladies wore huge hanks of fake hair pinned to the backs of their heads. The lowest comb--which is silver plated (the rest are sterling)--is marked Pat. Apr. 20, 1873. (It was re-plated at some point, blurring the date, so that might be Apr 22, 1878 or some such. But definitely the 1870s.)

The smaller ones may be later. The one on the far right certainly is, anyway. See how the shape is not just abstract laciness but the year 1893? I've decided on the basis of sheer imagination that it was a party favor at a New Year's ball.

None of my combs has a manufacturer's mark, though most of them are marked "Sterling," sometimes with what I take to be a model number.

I've decided--once again on the basis of zero evidence--that the leftmost and rightmost combs in the top row are by the same manufacturer. Their construction is very similar, as is the skill with which they were engraved.

Let me know if anyone wants to see closer views of any of them. And please add your own!

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Postnikov

Posts: 133
Registered: Nov 2009

iconnumber posted 02-01-2011 04:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Postnikov     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hi Polly -
is the first comb on the top row left in niello? If yes, be so kind and post a bigger pic.

Regards
Postnikov

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 02-01-2011 08:58 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Not niello, just engraved:

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Postnikov

Posts: 133
Registered: Nov 2009

iconnumber posted 02-01-2011 09:39 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Postnikov     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hi Polly -

thank you very much!

Regards
Postnikov

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seaduck

Posts: 350
Registered: Dec 2006

iconnumber posted 02-01-2011 10:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for seaduck     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
These are lovely! I don't think I've ever seen silver combs before. I would think they would be very heavy -- that they would tend to slide or fall out.

Of course, what we really want to see is how they look when applied to their intended use!

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 02-02-2011 12:55 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
They are heavy. But I have thick hair, so they stay in and hold my hair up.

I'll get my husband to take a photo of the back of my head if the sun ever comes out (ice storms predicted for the foreseeable future). But I'm pretty sure the original wearers were supplementing their locks with extra hairpieces, so my hairdo won't look original.

I would love to know exactly how old the various combs are and how they worked in hairdos. Maybe that's my next research project.

All of my combs have a distinct front side, with a plain back that's clearly not meant to show. I've seen combs engraved on both sides that must be meant to be visible from both sides, like tiaras.

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doc

Posts: 728
Registered: Jul 2003

iconnumber posted 02-02-2011 03:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for doc     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A lovely collection, Polly! I think the engraved one you featured for postnikov dates from the late 1870's to early 1880's; it has an Aesthetic/Eastlake type feel to the design.

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Ulysses Dietz
Moderator

Posts: 1265
Registered: May 99

iconnumber posted 02-04-2011 04:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ulysses Dietz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Lots of silver companies produced these--and I must say I think of them as American...Dominick & Haff, Tiffany & Co., Gorham--I've seen combs marked by all these. But many were retailed through jewelry stores, and hence the maker was not important--as is true with so much silver jewelry...A great group of things!

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 02-05-2011 12:50 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you, Doc & Ulysses.

In this photo, I'm wearing the biggest of the sterling ones and the two that are crossed in the middle of the first photo, all holding up a simple bun.

The big comb sticks up over the top of my head--you can see it from the front. But it's not engraved on that side, so I think that side must not have been meant to be seen. So either the big comb was meant to be worn lower on the back of the head--and I can't figure out how to do that without it falling off--or the ladies had more hair piled up at the top of their heads that hid it. If so, it was probably artificial hair, since my hair is pretty long and thick.

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seaduck

Posts: 350
Registered: Dec 2006

iconnumber posted 02-06-2011 01:17 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for seaduck     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hi Polly--
Thanks for the demonstration!

The big one has a sort of tiara effect. But, like you, I'm not sure that the placement is right. I wonder if in fact it's meant to face forward, jabbed into some humongous false-hair chignon. Or maybe even run perpendicularly into the side of a chignon at the nape of the neck.

Did some quick Google image searching and didn't find much. But someone here will know!

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Kimo

Posts: 1627
Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 02-08-2011 05:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kimo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
If you gather your hair in a bun down lower, by the nape of your neck, you can place a larger comb into it from the top and have it close to the back of your head without the blank side sticking up to be seen.

The smaller ones can be used to hold up your hair above your ear on one side, normally placed in your hair there at a bit of a rakish angle.

I have also seen some larger ones worn with the design side facing forward in a Spanish style hairdo with the comb sticking up high in a pile of hair on the top back part of your head with the design fully visible from the front, and with a Spanish lace cloth coming off of it, covering the plain back of the comb and falling down around the sides and back of your head and the neck. That is the old Spanish style.

[This message has been edited by Kimo (edited 02-08-2011).]

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 02-08-2011 08:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The large combs can't have been meant to face forward, because their tines curve to follow the curve of the comb and also of the skull. If they were meant to face forward, either the tines would bend at a 90-degree angle so that they could sit on the top of my head, or they would curve in the opposite direction from the way they curve now, so as to cup the back of my head. Or the fancy part would be attached to the tines with a hinge--I have a few combs like that (not silver ones).

Does that make sense? It would if I could draw it.

Kimo's low-bun suggestion is not out of the question. When I do that, my hair does stay up, and the comb isn't visible from the front. But the tines have an unpleasant tendency to poke me in the back of my neck, and it's an awfully simple hairstyle for such an elaborate comb. But maybe part of the hair was meant to be made into a low bun, with other parts twirled around here and there and the occasional dangling ringlet, flower, and artificial bird.

I don't think these particular combs were meant to be worn sideways, because their engraving seems to have a vertical orientation. But maybe they could be worn at a rakish angle.

I noticed the oldest daughter on Downton Abbey wearing a pair of combs in her hair holding up knots in the back over her ears. Did anyone else watch that show? It's set in the 1910s, so that would be later than I believe most of my silver combs to be from.

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 02-08-2011 08:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Also, the largest combs are too heavy to be worn at any orientation too far off vertical. They would fall out.

The 1893 comb is clearly meant to be used at an angle. And the smaller, thinner, two-pronged ones don't need to be stuck in vertically to stay in. They'll stay in even upside down. (Though the 1893 one, which is flat and smooth, does its best to slip out no matter how you put it in.)

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Richard Kurtzman
Moderator

Posts: 768
Registered: Aug 2000

iconnumber posted 02-08-2011 09:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Richard Kurtzman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Polly, If you seriously want to pursue this the book Antique Combs and Purses, by Evelyn Haertig is available online for less than the cost of a movie.

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 02-08-2011 10:07 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks, Richard! I just ordered it. Combs AND purse--double the fun. I wish it were here right now.

Just you wait, one of these Sundays I'll show up at the Green Flea in a full 1870s hairdo, with braids and loops and ringlets of someone else's hair piled high on the top of my head and pinned with zillions of sparkly doodads.

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Ulysses Dietz
Moderator

Posts: 1265
Registered: May 99

iconnumber posted 02-09-2011 11:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ulysses Dietz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here are a few images of silver back hair combs and hair pins or ornaments from Newark's collection. This first is silver, set with large paste diamonds, probably 1840s, and is more properly a hair ornament. American or European. No marks. About two inches across. This type of thing tends to be smaller, two inches or less across and considered functional.



The next one is from the 1880s or 90s and is properly considered a hair pin--an ornament that helped keep the large hair-dos of the period in place. Marked only sterling.



The third is a stamped rococo silver hair ornament/pin with a horn prong. Probably 1895-1905. Marked sterling and lacquered to prevent tarnish. You can see how bright and sparkly it would have been originally.

More in the next post.

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Ulysses Dietz
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Posts: 1265
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iconnumber posted 02-09-2011 11:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ulysses Dietz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
And some more goodies, which I would properly call Back Hair Combs--used in a variety of ways to hold and provide a flashy ornament. In chronological order, I think, stylistically.

A neo-grec back hair comb, marked only STERLING with a nice bit of brite-cutting and an acid-matte finish. I'd say 1870s.

Another one, but marked by Albert Coles, a fairly obscure silversmith of some note in NYC--

Here is the reverse with the marks

It too was lacquered to prevent tarnish and the lacquer has somewhat failed.
Nice brite-cutting front and back, acid matte finish. Closer to 1880...

And finally, a marked Dominick & Haff back hair comb with a lovely asymmetrical applied palm frond, and dated as D&H is wont to do to 1887.

These are both in our silver collection and our jewelry collection. There were many of these once upon a time, and one wonders how many survive. The latest we received one of these as a gift was 1965...

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 02-09-2011 12:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you, Ulysses. That was very informative. I'm especially interested in how the Coles comb is engraved on both sides, so it was probably expected to be visible from front and back.

How I love the one with the palm frond!

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 02-19-2011 02:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well, the book arrived. It's very interesting and informative, but it doesn't have very much about silver combs (or silver purses), and it doesn't give very specific dates for most of the 19th century combs--just "19th century," occasionally modified by late, mid, or (rarely) early. And it doesn't have very many pictures of the combs being worn. A few photos from the 1870s-1890s & a few portraits from earlier, but those are all front views, so the combs aren't very visible--most combs would have been worn in the back. There are a few fashion engravings from the 1870s, which confirm my guess that most of my combs would have been worn in the back, stuck vertically into mounds & cascades of fake hair.

The pictures did suggest to me that there were many different ways of wearing these combs--sometimes low, sometimes high, sometimes holding cascading curls, sometimes pinning up knots and buns. That makes sense, since they must have been expensive, so you wouldn't just get a new one the moment a new possible hairdo came into fashion.

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 02-19-2011 03:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Meanwhile, another comb arrived in the mail today. ("Some man in California sent you a package," said my husband, handing it to me. "My new comb! Oh, look! It's vermeil--silver gilt," I exclaimed. "Yeah? I hope YOU'RE feeling silver guilt," said Mr. Husband.)

This one's a little mysterious. It's clearly one of those big 1870s back combs, bright-cut on both sides, with the early Wood & Hughes W&H mark, not the later WwH (also marked STERLING 26), but it's engraved with a date: "Mar. 16, '96." It also has a name that seems to have been revised. And the gilding is flaking in places and seems to have been applied after the main engraving but before the name and the date.

My guess is that it belonged to Marjie P. Dunham in the 1870s and she gave it to her daughter Mary P. Dunham in 1896 after having her jeweler alter the name and add the date. Anyone agree or disagree?

Front:


Back:

Marks and name:

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 02-19-2011 03:05 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The engraving on both sides suggests both sides were expected to show. Here it is holding up my hair in a simple bun:

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agleopar

Posts: 850
Registered: Jun 2004

iconnumber posted 02-19-2011 04:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for agleopar     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Mrs. Wife likes your theory about the engraving and we both like that you wear these lovely objects!

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Scott Martin
Forum Master

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iconnumber posted 06-14-2011 03:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Scott Martin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
See: Hello

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chicagosilver

Posts: 227
Registered: Aug 2005

iconnumber posted 06-15-2011 12:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for chicagosilver     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here's a Merry Renk 1974 sterling and plique-a-jour enamel hair comb entitled "Tulip Tree." It was exhibited at her retrospective exhibition at the California Crafts Museum in 1981.


The green leaves have blue-green enamel on the fronts and light yellow-green on the back. The dark red tulips are plique-a-jour. It's 7-1/4" H and 2-3/8" W and very pretty and delicate in person.

On the CCM poster for the exhibit, the Tulip Tree comb is designated with a (U), meaning it is a unique piece.

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Scott Martin
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iconnumber posted 11-25-2012 03:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Scott Martin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote

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Richard Kurtzman
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iconnumber posted 03-06-2013 12:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Richard Kurtzman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here is one of the wildest hair combs ever made.
It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum.

From the museum website:

After Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Company, died in 1902, his son Louis Tiffany was able to pursue artistic jewelry without reticence. He began working on this pursuit in 1902 to prepare himself for the St. Louis fair of 1904, where he exhibited twenty-seven pieces of jewelry. Tiffany Furnaces initially produced the jewelry, but after 1907 Tiffany & Company acquired Louis's artistic jewelry department. This hair ornament is one of the most extraordinary pieces of Tiffany's surviving jewelry, incorporating a remarkably realistic rendering of two dragonflies resting on two dandelion seedballs. Tiffany designed the hair ornament for Louisine W. Havemeyer, who, with her husband Henry Osborne Havemeyer were among Tiffany's most enlightened and devoted patrons. The hair ornament was known only from archival photographs in the collection of the Tiffany & Company Archives until Louisine's great-granddaughter brought it to the Museum's attention. The piece epitomizes his earliest jewelry designs, which were based directly on modest forms in nature, such as field flowers and wild fruit, as well as his affinity for enameling and semiprecious stones with unusual colors. The dragonflies rest on dandelion seedballs, one of which is shown partially blown away, underscoring the fragility of nature. Highly skilled artisans conveyed the transparency of the insects' wings through delicate metalwork filigree. The temporal quality is revealed in the subject: dragonflies rest in one place for mere seconds before flitting away; dandelions disperse into thousands of airborne seeds with the gentlest of breezes.

Oh, and it comes with a case.

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 03-06-2013 12:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Heart stopping!

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agleopar

Posts: 850
Registered: Jun 2004

iconnumber posted 03-07-2013 05:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for agleopar     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In a funny way this reminds me of the Tiffany Magnolia Vase, only a miniature vertuosity. Both are on the cutting edge of technique and both use enamel on an unseen before scale.
I love the emeralds between the wings and the wings themselves are the thing that most amaze me... I have no idea how they were made, partly because the image is not sharp enough nor close enough.

Thankyou Richard!

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 03-07-2013 05:58 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I bet you 75¢ those are not emeralds but demantoid garnets, which are much sparklier and more dragonflyish than emeralds. They'd recently been discovered and were popular with jewelers like Tiffany.

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 03-07-2013 06:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Yes, there we go! From the Met website:

Hair ornament, ca. 1904
Louis Comfort Tiffany (American, 1848–1933)
Silver, enamel, black and pink opals, demantoid garnets

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agleopar

Posts: 850
Registered: Jun 2004

iconnumber posted 03-08-2013 01:13 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for agleopar     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Ok, ok! You win what do I know about stones? I am a silversmith not a jeweler!

Seriously good catch and yes they are beautiful gems as are so many of the "non" precious stones.

I still want to know how they made the wings - fabricated, pierced?

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Kimo

Posts: 1627
Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 03-08-2013 01:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kimo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I don't know about these, but I believe the dragonfly wings on the well known Tiffany lampshades were made by acid etching sheets of copper to get the very fine details like you see on this hair comb. Perhaps they did it for these then silver plated them? Or maybe they did a direct acid etching on thin sheets of silver?

[This message has been edited by Kimo (edited 03-08-2013).]

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agleopar

Posts: 850
Registered: Jun 2004

iconnumber posted 03-10-2013 11:26 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for agleopar     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My best guess is that the wings are made in white gold or platinum, both much stronger than silver, which on this scale would not hold up.

The precision and lack of rough etched edges makes me think they are pierced.

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