Reference: Guide to Hermes Scarves

[marietouchet]

Thinking about your point marietouchet, it may then be this chap. There is no middle initial but note he retired in 1880 after only 7 years' service. He is the only other one that could fit that I can find in naval service records. I guess we will never know who the wonderful embroiderer was but it's been an interesting journey. Let me know if you want me to delete any of my posts. [emoji4] View attachment 4085153
EDIT: As an Able-Bodied Seaman, as per his occupation on a census, this Henry would be perhaps more likely to have agile fingers!

Yes this is our sailor !
I wondered if commissioned officers mended sails , assuming there was no other path to being an admiral , but I could be incorrect
Don’t delete a thing - the journey is half the fun and seeing the thought process is so cool

 

[Pautinka]

Yes this is our sailor !
I wondered if commissioned officers mended sails , assuming there was no other path to being an admiral , but I could be incorrect
Don’t delete a thing - the journey is half the fun and seeing the thought process is so cool

Yippee!!! So as not to bore the others, I will make this my last post. Our man had an interesting life. Turns out he volunteered much earlier - I spent ages looking through old records and bit by bit I built up enough of a picture to do a more thorough search on Google. Turns out he served in the Russian War too - so explains the Russian and Turkish flags. He was in that war at 16 years of age! Yup, this is surely our man.

 

[bunnycat]

Yes this is our sailor !
I wondered if commissioned officers mended sails , assuming there was no other path to being an admiral , but I could be incorrect
Don’t delete a thing - the journey is half the fun and seeing the thought process is so cool

Yippee!!! So as not to bore the others, I will make this my last post. Our man had an interesting life. Turns out he volunteered much earlier - I spent ages looking through old records and bit by bit I built up enough of a picture to do a more thorough search on Google. Turns out he served in the Russian War too - so explains the Russian and Turkish flags. He was in that war at 16 years of age! Yup, this is surely our man.
View attachment 4085236

omigosh! Y'all are AMAZING! Now....only one last question about this scarf comes to mind....and I have NO idea who might know the answer. Of course, after mt gave me clue to the name (a Woolie) I immediately google searched and sure enough, there are a few of these old woolies on the Bay and elsewhere (and discovered it is an entire art genre of its own). And this clearly would have been Dumas' painting of the Woolie in question...so where might the original Woolie (made by Smith) from whence it was inspired reside do you think? Personal collection? H museum? I know that V Jamin's inspiration for Della Cav came from some antique books in H's possession and wonder if the same thing might apply here?

 

[Pautinka]

omigosh! Y'all are AMAZING! Now....only one last question about this scarf comes to mind....and I have NO idea who might know the answer. Of course, after mt gave me clue to the name (a Woolie) I immediately google searched and sure enough, there are a few of these old woolies on the Bay and elsewhere (and discovered it is an entire art genre of its own). And this clearly would have been Dumas' painting of the Woolie in question...so where might the original Woolie (made by Smith) from whence it was inspired reside do you think? Personal collection? H museum? I know that V Jamin's inspiration for Della Cav came from some antique books in H's possession and wonder if the same thing might apply here?

I wondered the same. We need to ask H if we can spend a week in their archives!!!

 

[marietouchet]

Yes this is our sailor !
I wondered if commissioned officers mended sails , assuming there was no other path to being an admiral , but I could be incorrect
Don’t delete a thing - the journey is half the fun and seeing the thought process is so cool

To repeat myself - dont delete anything, the trail of breadcrumbs that led you to the goal is important - libraries never get rid of anything - they just replace the paper copy with digital

 

[xincinsin]

To repeat myself - dont delete anything, the trail of breadcrumbs that led you to the goal is important - libraries never get rid of anything - they just replace the paper copy with digital

to MT, @Pautinka & @bunnycat for the splendid detective work!
Hi, marietouchet, I used to work in a company archival library. I quit & transferred to another department because the CEO put an engineer in charge and the latter decided that there should not be anything old in an archive library (!). Till this day, when the bosses agonize over why our historical records are so spotty, I remind them of the amazing Mr Engineer I am constantly amazed by the really old & vast collections in H, museums and national libraries.

 

[Pautinka]

To repeat myself - dont delete anything, the trail of breadcrumbs that led you to the goal is important - libraries never get rid of anything - they just replace the paper copy with digital

Ok dokey, I promise not to, marietouchet!! [emoji847]

 

[Pautinka]

to MT, @Pautinka & @bunnycat for the splendid detective work!
Hi, marietouchet, I used to work in a company archival library. I quit & transferred to another department because the CEO put an engineer in charge and the latter decided that there should not be anything old in an archive library (!). Till this day, when the bosses agonize over why our historical records are so spotty, I remind them of the amazing Mr Engineer I am constantly amazed by the really old & vast collections in H, museums and national libraries.

That's just nuts. I love archives and am at my happiest when I have a day off and can dig around in the National Archives here. The past is so important.
Perhaps that's why I love H scarves so much. There is a story behind so many of them. This one in particular would appear to be the story of a regular joe who worked hard all his life, made a beautiful picture (maybe telling the story of his career) that still exists but he himself never found fame or fortune and has long passed on. I like that. After all this foraging for info I need to get the scarf!! [emoji23]

 

[Pautinka]

Ok, one more post about our dear friend Henry Smith. He was 5'3", had dark brown hair, hazel eyes and a swarthy complexion. He had banners tattooed on his right arm (the ones in his artwork perhaps? Interesting thought) and an anchor on his left.
Maybe I should transfer all this stuff into a new thread for the scarf?

 

[momasaurus]

to MT, @Pautinka & @bunnycat for the splendid detective work!
Hi, marietouchet, I used to work in a company archival library. I quit & transferred to another department because the CEO put an engineer in charge and the latter decided that there should not be anything old in an archive library (!). Till this day, when the bosses agonize over why our historical records are so spotty, I remind them of the amazing Mr Engineer I am constantly amazed by the really old & vast collections in H, museums and national libraries.

This is not a new idea, though. The Bodleian Library sold their copy of Shakespeare's First Folio (1623) in 1663 when the revised third edition was published, and they only had room for one copy. Of course, the First Folio is now one of the most highly prized books in the universe. They eventually had to buy back their copy of the First Folio in 1900 for LOTS more money. Everyone wants shiny new stuff!!

 

[marietouchet]

This is not a new idea, though. The Bodleian Library sold their copy of Shakespeare's First Folio (1623) in 1663 when the revised third edition was published, and they only had room for one copy. Of course, the First Folio is now one of the most highly prized books in the universe. They eventually had to buy back their copy of the First Folio in 1900 for LOTS more money. Everyone wants shiny new stuff!!

This kinda team work is awesome, thanks for the breadcrumb, it takes a lot of breadcrumbs to document an Hermes scarf
BTW I am with Derek Jacobi and a diehard Oxfordian based in part on the dedication and illustration in the first folio

 

[bunnycat]

Ok, one more post about our dear friend Henry Smith. He was 5'3", had dark brown hair, hazel eyes and a swarthy complexion. He had banners tattooed on his right arm (the ones in his artwork perhaps? Interesting thought) and an anchor on his left.
Maybe I should transfer all this stuff into a new thread for the scarf?

So funny! Now we probably know as much as anybody today could about the original creator of the Woolie for this scarf. Too cool! His info is probably just fine in here where it's at. I wouldn't move or touch anything. It's all good (and been a really fun hunt for info as well).

 

[ABQ2ATL]

I echo my thanks for this great info on Henry F. Smith, Sailor!
As a great fan of the scarf artist, Philippe Dumas, I always thought he probably found the Woolie stitchery technique as interesting as the subject of the scarf (and maybe more!) Dumas also designed another sewing scarf in Chevaux de France, based on cross-stitch. And he produced another naive design with the colorful Beloved India, based on Indian artists painting on the walls of buildings. His weird and wonderful Metamorphoses par Hermes-Paris may be based on a parlor game similar to Exquisite Corpse, where other artists add on to a drawing that is continually passed around within a group, but I don't have enough information about that one to say for sure. And PD's sense of humor shines in Cirque Moliere and Les Amazones -- I find him quite fascinating!

 

[Pautinka]

So funny! Now we probably know as much as anybody today could about the original creator of the Woolie for this scarf. Too cool! His info is probably just fine in here where it's at. I wouldn't move or touch anything. It's all good (and been a really fun hunt for info as well).

Indeed. The personal details were just the icing on the cake. You can now picture him sitting working away on his woolie, tattoos and all. I am so happy that marietouchet shared the information on these incredible works of art. More people should know about them! I have been trying to read up on them as much as possible since her post.

 

[Pautinka]

I echo my thanks for this great info on Henry F. Smith, Sailor!
As a great fan of the scarf artist, Philippe Dumas, I always thought he probably found the Woolie stitchery technique as interesting as the subject of the scarf (and maybe more!) Dumas also designed another sewing scarf in Chevaux de France, based on cross-stitch. And he produced another naive design with the colorful Beloved India, based on Indian artists painting on the walls of buildings. His weird and wonderful Metamorphoses par Hermes-Paris may be based on a parlor game similar to Exquisite Corpse, where other artists add on to a drawing that is continually passed around within a group, but I don't have enough information about that one to say for sure. And PD's sense of humor shines in Cirque Moliere and Les Amazones -- I find him quite fascinating!

Wonderful stuff! This is what makes H scarves stand out from the crowd. I love it! [emoji4]