Figure 1.--This unidentified boy has big star on his sailor suit dickey. The stripe detailing and star was probably royal blue. (Red usually shows up darker.) Notice the rather unusual collar device which covers up some of the V-collar stripe detailing. The boy wears white long stockings and strap shoes. You can see the long underwear leg band through white stockings. The boy looks to be bout 4 years old. The portrait is undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1910s.

Other popular designs for dickies were military/patriotic imagery like eagles, stars, and laurel wreaths that had nothing to do with the navy or maritime activities. There may have been other devices, but these were the most common. Some of the American images seem bolder than the ones we see in Europe. A good example is an American boy in the early 20th century with a bold star on his dickey. Stars seem very common. Stars were especially popular in America because of their use in the American flag. As the many dickies were white, the stars came in different sizes. They were always five pointed starts like the ones used on the blue field of the flag. There also were different colors. We are not sure about the colors, but think they were usually blue or red. Normally they would match the stripe detailing on the V-collar and cuffs. Stars are used in other flags and the national imagery of other countries. The Soviets used a red star, but as far as we know it was only the Americans that used the star commonly as sailor suit dickey decoration. We are not yet sure about the relative importance of these various designs. We think that the eagle may have been the most important, but that is just an initial assessment. The stars were also very common. The eagle was done if different ways, occassionally with a star. The wreaths were somewhat less common, but we see quite a few.

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Created: 12:38 PM 1/12/2012
Last updated: 12:38 PM 1/12/2012