50s/60s red paisley cotton bandana - colorfast

a classic red paisley bandana in soft, well-washed cotton, printed in white, black, and pale pink. the layout follows the standard american format, with a squared border of small open blocks, a ring of large curling boteh alternating with crosshatch florettes, and a center field scattered with tiny four-dot squares and small lashed teardrops. the only printed mark is 100% cotton colorfast in one corner, with no brand name, no registration number, and no country of origin, and that absence is itself the best dating evidence on the piece. american bandanas began carrying federal rn registration numbers in 1959 and printed country-of-origin marks from the 1970s onward, so a bandana carrying neither generally predates both conventions. the narrow turned hems point the same direction, since mills moved to machine overcast edges through the middle of the century. the colorfast wording descends from the fast color language american mills printed on bandana corners from the 1920s on, advertising dye that would survive washing. the small lashed teardrops scattered through the field are a simplified boteh, the same persian and kashmiri motif that scottish mills replicated in the nineteenth century and that americans sometimes call persian pickles.

please note: this one carries no brand or registration mark, so its exact age and maker cannot be confirmed. all four edges are finished with narrow turned hems, with no selvage.

all bandanas are gently cleaned and pressed. beyond that we let them be, so any fading, softening, or small marks of use stay exactly as they came to us.