Latest rendezvous find

Picked up this beauty off a friend's trade blanket at the kit Carson rendezvous! 

FrontierGander wrote:Picked up this beauty off a friend's trade blanket at the kit Carson rendezvous! 

Jonathan, that's a really nice blanket. How big is it? Does he have a website for them?

No website, he picked some up at antique stores and brought them to Raton last year and still had this one!  I'd say it's about a full size, maybe a bit more.

FrontierGander wrote:No website, he picked some up at antique stores and brought them to Raton last year and still had this one!  I'd say it's about a full size, maybe a bit more.

I looked online for one. I found quite a few of them,but, wow were they expensive!!
You got a good deal on that one. Looks nice and warm.

Nice score!

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Hudson’s Bay Point Blankets




What was the texture of the Witney blanket?

The texture of these blankets tended to be thick and springy but coarser than domestic blankets. In 1957 Early's made the first electric Witney blanket at the old factory at 55-56 West End and in 1967 set up an Electric Blanket Department at Mount Mills.

Texture of the HBC blanket?

Was as thick or thicker than the Witney and didn't seem to have the problem of being springy that other blankets dealt with.

"How can I tell how old a trade blanket is?"

Harold Tichenor wrote: There are a number of clues to dating the manufacture of various point blankets.  If the blanket has a label the task is fairly easy. I have identified and dated some two-dozen styles of labels used by the Hudson's Bay Company since 1890.  I have also done a considerable amount of research on the dates of labels used on blankets made by many mills like Early's of Witney, Pendleton ...

If the blanket does not have a label the task is considerably more difficult and involves developing the skills to determine the style of weave, the differences between hand and machine weaving and analyzing the colours and types of dyes used to make them" wrote author: Harold Tichenor in his book - "The Collector's Guide to Point Blankets."

We get asked this question all the time "Are point blankets valuable?"

Generally older point blankets bring higher prices at an auction over regular wool blankets of the same age. Some unusual patterns, like the old point blankets may bring up to a hundreds of more dollars at auction. However, the collecting of point blankets is a rather new field and it is expected as more information becomes available to collectors that even higher prices.

Don't believe the Antiques Road Show baloney that certain point blankets are worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Harold Tichenor wrote: Part of the fun of collecting point blankets is that most antique and second hand dealers don't know what they have and the astute collector armed with solid information can find particularly old or unusual point blankets at a "steal".  In my book, The Collector's Guide to Point Blankets, I have prepared a pricing guide that will help the new collector determine the current value of most point blankets from the late 19th century to the present.




Two examples of the many labels used by HBC over the past 115 years. The "Trademark A" label (above) was used by Hudson's Bay Company on its blankets around 1890 and the "Stacked" label (below) was used from around 1934-1940.






Sketch of a three point blanket showing the locations of points and headings. The second  chart shows the standard sizes and weights for various point blankets marketed by the Hudson's Bay Company during the mid 1930s.


INTERESTING NOTE

Yellowish gold on white satin reading: Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket -- Couverture à marqes (sic) de la Compagnie la Baie d’Hudson -- Logo -- The Seal of Quality -- Le sceau de qualite (sic) -- 100% WOOL / LAINE -- Made in England. Fait (sic) en Angleterre  -- CA 00234.

This label appears to have been used for only one run of blankets. Apparently, the misspelling of the French word “marques” as used on the Big Bilingual A label was what called for this label’s replacement. Subsequently, “marques” was replaced with the word “points” on the Big Bilingual B label. The other typos were caught in later labels, as well. Note the straight stitching used to affix this label. This method of stitching was replaced by zigzag stitching sometime during the period of use of the Big Bilingual A labels.











HBC Point Blankets

NOTE: When laundering wool anything you need to have the lanolin replaced at the laundry, this is per any of these manufacturers of wool articles.

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#1. This white with a single black stripe on each end is the standard 3-1/2 point size (made in 1925). (81" X 63") 5 lbs. The blanket has been laundered and the lanolin replaced. Late style 3' X 3" (1940 to current label design). EXCELLENT CONDITION. - $235.00 plus S&H.

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#2. This blanket is the most popular (early manufacture to late manufacture), the multiple colors caught the tribe's eye as well as the French trappers. This blanket has the larger label that we see today (made i1919 to 1924). A standard 3-1/2 point size (81" X 63") 5 lbs. The blanket has been laundered and the lanolin replaced. Late style 3' X 3" (1940 to current label design). EXCELLENT CONDITION. - $235.00 plus S&H.

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#3. I really like this one, bought new from Panther Primitives back in the late 1990's (a standard 4 point size (90" X 72") 6 lbs. The blanket has been laundered and the lanolin replaced. Late style 1' X 3" (unusual label design used in the late 1970’s to 1984 by custom order). EXCELLENT CONDITION. - $265.00 plus S&H.


*** This is a great capote blanket with these black and white stripes that breakup your image when in the field. You won't see very many of this design HBC blanket. Witney tried selling this style and found the other colors were more popular. History tells us the French trappers really like the stripe pattern by the numbers sold in the early 40's (the white with a mute brown/black color has always been popular).




Over the years we have seen some really wild colors from HBC (Canada).

Having been a dealer for years of primitive wares with my blanket trade business and my store. I would compare HBC and Witney blankets all the time, looking at weights, tightness of weave and anything different between the two.

HBC were always more expensive than the Witney blanket because of being heavier weave (tighter) and seemed to hold up better when used for camping. These comparisons were the reason for the price difference I have been told many times by serious collectors of these goods.