Vintage T-Shirt Forum & Community Authentication Appraisals

More random clothing.

I've been into trade blankets/point blankets for a while now but have yet to find anything truly special.

These have a long an storied past and are very much part of North America's colonial history.

For those of you unfamiliar with Hudson's Bay Company, they were making wool trade blankets years before Pendelton, however their designs were much plainer and generally are not as valuable.

A friend of mine in the biz told me that stripes on the blankets came to be in the days of barter. More stripes meant the piece was more valuable and fetched better trades. The stripes would go on to be a mainstay in their branding and clothing - who can forget those 80s wool jackets.

That's right.

In the original blankets 4 full stripes was the best that you could get. This particular blanket is only 3.5 stripes or "points".

Nowdays the bay sells 6 point and 8 point blankets as well.

I personally have a strong preference for the more busy Pendelton blankets, particularly the Beaver Creek line. I really like their designs.

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Did somebody sew an old blanket into a jacket or what?

Actually the Hudson Bay company started making point blanket jackets from (I believe) 1920-30 onwards. They sell really well, I just saw one in Manhattan yesterday listed for $700.

Of course, there may have also been individuals who made jackets from torn/moth hole ridden blankets.