Figure 1.--This cabinet card Here we see three unidentified English children. They look to be about 3-9 yearsvold. We are not sure if the younger chikd is a boy or girl. He or she looks to be about 3 years old. ine boy wears a traditionla sailor suit. The older biy wears a Fauntleroy suit with a lace collar. Notice the low cut shoes. Aknistball Anerican bit and girks wirebhigh-top shoes at thevtime. The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1890s. The studio was Smith of Peterhead.

We see huge numbers of American boys wearing fancy collars as part of the Fauntleroy craze, far more than English boys. The American collars were different than the Engkish collars. The Ameriva collars were largely the sa,r shape, a rectangle with a back flap. nd they were mostly ruffled, not lace collars. Sone had klace edaging, but lace collars were a rekatively small proprtion of the collars. Many of the fancy English collars were actual lace collars. And they were done in countless different shapes and designs. True lace is prouced by habd and can not be mass produced. This is why it is so expensive. V Not obly are there counless different designs. Therevare many varied geomertric shapes. Some were rcoh=gbizanle shapes like flowers. this was less common for boys, but we see some. We see cicles, ovals, scrolls, quarter moons, surf like wavess, rays, triangles, and much more. We see many were repeatable geometric salpes. Some werevdine as chockers, but most wwere actual collars. Unlike the rtlled collars they did mot have bacl flaps. Most had largely dound contours aroind the neck. And theuy werevfinisged as starrs, circkes, ovals, fans, sharp points, icycles, and much more. They were ofren sold as Belgian or Venitain lace becuse both areas had a reputation for high quality.

Created: 9:53 AM 4/8/2020
Last updated: 9:53 AM 4/8/2020