Hermès Scarf - Poste et Cavalerie

Hermès Scarf - Poste et Cavalerie - 
Designed by Joachim Metz in 1987.

These panels are examples of cavalry "sabertache".

A sabretache is a flat, leather pouch or satchel with long straps traditionally worn by some cavalry and horse artillery officers from the left-hand side of the waist belt near to the officer's saber.  "Tasche" can be translated as "pocket" or "bag" or "case" in German.  

There is a central image - epaulet?

Since it looks like the blue center is surrounded by fringe, it is not likely to be a bag front.

But maybe those are not supposed to be fringe but rather embroidered gold threads.

Around the center are eight bag fronts.

The center bottom is the only one in the gray color.

Beneath it is the HERMÈS - PARIS.

There are three in green.

 They alternate with a red ones.  The red ones are all identical.

The artist's signature, "J. Metz" (Joachim Metz) is in the fringe on one corner.

The copyright is in the braid on another corner.

Like all Hermès scarves, this drapes beautifully and gives lots of options to wear.

You can choose which color to display by how you arrange the scarf.

To see the other Hermès scarves I have blogged, click here.

Hermes Scarf Guides is a great source of information on the history of each scarf, as well as information on how to spot fakes.  Here is some information from that site.

“Poste et Cavalerie” by Joachim Metz was originally issued in 1987. The early issues missed the accent on Hermès and the font was quite shaky. Subsequent re-issues corrected these problems. There are several vintage FAKE versions that appear from time to time on Ebay. The Italian version with the “Hermès Paris” and caleche logo printed in the corner is easy to spot.

There are eight sabretaches in this design. Four alternate ones are the same. Those at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock show different emblems, the one at 3 o’clock having the number 4 very obviously featured. This is a sabretache from the French 4th Regiment of Hussars.

Many of the fakes are missing the title which should be just inside the inner circle towards the centre. If there is no title then it is a FAKE.

Missing these indicators make the scarf a FAKE. But remember the newer FAKES that seem to be photo accurate and copy all the right indicators including the copyright marks. Having all these right DOES NOT MAKE THEM GENUINE!

Historical note:

The sabretache is derived from a traditional Hungarian horseman’s flat leather bag called a tarsoly. Early examples have been found the tombs of Magyar warriors from the 10th century Conquest of Pannonia. They were often strengthened and decorated with silver plates and would have contained fire-making tools and other essentials.

Hussar Cavalry became popular amongst the European Powers in the early 18th century and a tarsoly was often a part of the accoutrements. The German name sabretache was adopted, tache meaning "pocket". It fulfilled the function of a pocket, which were absent from the tight fitting uniform of the Hussar style. Part of the wartime function of the light cavalry was to deliver orders and dispatches.... and the sabertache was well suited to hold these.

Hermès Scarf - Dies et Hore - Astrologie

This Hermès scarf is a lovely addition to my collection.  People call it "Dies et Hore" because that is what is printed to the left of the center sun.

The real title is Astrologie.

There are at least 26 different color scarves in this pattern made in the last 57 years.  This design was reissued in multiple colorways in 1980, 1986/87, 1988, 1989/90, 1999, 2003, 2003/2004 and 2008. The signs of the zodiac are always in gold (no matter what color the scarf is).  The artist's signature may appear in the gold octagon border or may appear in the black border (in which case it is hard to find.) 

Originally created in 1963, it has been reissued many times.  This one is probably a later issue.

On the bottom, center is "HERMÈS-PARIS".  In this scarf, to the right is the signature of the artist, Françoise Faconnet, in the gold octagon.

Notice the shadows of the gold zodiac symbols.

This attention to detail is characteristic of Hermès products.

This scarf still has the 4 line care-tag.

It is hard to tell the color - it looks black - but the jacket is navy - and the hat is black.

These scarves are so versatile. Note that the scarf was pleated and wrapped around the neck in both the following pictures.  The only "difference" is that the "center" was pulled out in the second picture.

The copyright is in the gold.

© HERMÈS

This is one of the most popular designs.

Here is Jackie O.

and on December , 2020, Dr. Birks wore this scarf.  

The headline of the article is 

Dr. Birx: COVID-19 vaccine won’t ‘save us from this current surge’.

To see the other Hermès scarves I have blogged, click here.

Garden at the End Of May

This is the view from the computer room window.  It makes me smile.

The tulips are lovely and the daffodils are mostly finished.

The late daffodils are often multiples.

We have put up the screen house, but so far, the bugs have not sent us sheltering.  The rhododendron on the right of the picture has not bloomed yet.  On the left are bits of scaffolding waiting for Todd to do the roof.

Isn't this the sweetest violet!  It is tiny - the fabric it is sitting on is a sweatshirt, so perhaps you can get an idea of scale.

This is the tulip that led to fencing the tulip garden.  Some critter (rabbit?) ate much of this clump of tulips - you can see the stem eaten down in the center.  They got some, but not all of these pink tulips when they were just emerging.  D put fences around the tulips and no further damage was seen.

One of the flowers that just appears is speedwell.

These are tiny, tiny flowers, about the size of a pencil eraser (for those of you who are of the age of using pencils!

Just as cute as can be, and lots of fun to find.

We have been seeing more bees this year than in ages.  Some look like honey bees.  If you are interested in knowing more about bees, here is an article about bees by the Honey Bee Conservancy.  It's a quick read.  There are about 400 different bees in New York.

This strawberry plant promises lots of berries!

Because of slug nibbling, it was decided to remove the mulch, to reduce the damp environment slugs love.   Check back to see how that worked.

If you were wondering how we got the plants started, D set up a garden area in the basement.  There are around 30 LED lightbulbs, 60-100 watt.  They are at variable heights, so that he can keep them as close to the plants as possible, and since they are LED, they don't get hot.  The plants in this picture are mostly brugmansia and tomatoes.

The zinnias, marigolds, basil, parsley are hiding somewhere.

The new plant to experiment with this year is Brugmansia.  It's also called Angel Trumpet.  It is not expected to bloom this year.

Here is a Brugmansia ready to plant out.  

Notice the root ball - there is almost nothing but roots.

It's a little hard to see through the gazing ball, but that kneeler has been wonderful. It is the standard foam pad, but it sits a couple of inches off the ground, and there are handles on the sides that make it easier when you need to get up and down and to pick it up to move it.  

Then, the entire thing can be flipped, and it becomes a seat.

This is the beginnings of a new garden.

This is the east side of the house.  You see windows for the master bedroom (with air conditioner), bathroom in the middle, and D's room on the right.  The house is well insulated, and that little air conditioner will keep it comfortable all summer.  My guess is that I was sitting on the new bench when this picture was taken.

Experiments with Extracts

A friend made homemade vanilla extract, and I was suitably impressed.  It was delicious and a huge improvement over store-bought pure vanilla.  It's all gone, so I bought some McCormick's.  Disappointing!  And it's the time of year for strawberries and whipped cream - the mara des bois strawberries are yielding one or two cups a day - can't have lousy vanilla for that!  So I googled.  Turns out it's quite simple to make vanilla extract - add vanilla beans to booze and wait weeks to months to years.  I had some bourbon left over from a mint-julep craze a few years ago. . . Let's try that.

  This is five beans cut in half and split.

After I started steeping the vanilla in bourbon, a youtube video suggested using spiced rum!  Won't that be a great experiment for another day.

Well, now that I'm steeping things, what else can I use?  A friend gave me a clump of chives a year or two ago, and we have divided them and scattered them throughout the garden.

I picked some for dry flowers to lend some color for the winter.

Another friend had put chive blossoms in salad, so I knew they had a great peppery taste, but they don't last all summer, and although I had picked some for dry flowers, there still were many that would go to waste.  Again, off to google to see what to do with chive blossoms.  One suggestion was chive vinegar.

Simply steep the blossoms in vinegar.

Such a lovely pink color.  This will be great in salads - vinaigrette, German potato salad, tuna salad.  You won't see the pink color, but it's fun on the counter!

We have some interesting alliums this year, including this allium atropurpureum.

With the chive vinegar for inspiration, I decided to try using the allium atropurpureum in vinegar.

It's making a lovely purple color!

So what else could I put in vinegar????  It's too soon for cucumber pickles, but D likes pickles as a side to the evening snack.  Ahhhh - red onions!  I added black pepper, mustard seed, and star anise to the vinegar.  Very nice!



What's next?

Maybe compound butters?

Hermès Scarf - Copeaux

This dramatic scarf was designed in 1998 by Caty Latham.  The title, "Copeaux," means "Shavings" - those curls of wood when a plane scrapes wood to smooth it.  (Copeau is singular, copeaux is plural.  Both are pronounced "Cope Oh".)  There are lots of wood curls on this scarf, along with tools.









It was first issued in 1998.  It was reissued in 2000 and 2001.

The signature, Latham, is found in the bottom right corner.

The Hermès logo is found in the bottom center.  

The copyright is in the top left corner, shown below:

The care tag is stitched at the back of the top right corner:

 The title of the scarf, "Copeaux", is centered under the horse medalion in the center.

I have no idea what most of these tools are for.  I did find a plane, and dividers, and some odd hammers.  Is that a coping saw around the title?  

Figuring out these tools will be a fun exercise.

~

Like all Hermès scarves, this drapes beautifully.

To see the other Hermès scarves I have blogged, click here.