AMAZING and VERY RARE….Edwardian Willow Plume.  Circa 1910 to 1913.  My heart skipped a beat when I found this one!  You won’t see this again…surely custom made to adorn a very special chapeau.  These are just about the hardest to find of all the antique ostrich plumes, and this one is in color, making it even more rare!   Stunning bottle green color with an ombre dip dyed (2 tone) effect.    Really super fluffy, big and thick antique ostrich plume (or 2 sewn together) , with extra extra long flues that mimic the leaves of a weeping willow branch.  These plumes were very expensive even back in the Edwardian era,  costing up to $100 or more for a colored plume in this length.   Believe it or not, each long flue is really made of 2 or 3 lengths that are painstakingly hand tied, one by one, to create these long drippy strands.  Can you imagine the work that went into this one?  When they are extra long and thick like this, they are sometimes called a “Niagara Falls Plume”, and were THE ultimate status symbol and sign of great wealth if you wore this on your hat.  

 

MEASURES…  19″ long when held out from tip to end, and the tied flues hand down approx. 9″ from the stem  Sturdy stem has a strong wired loop on the end  to make it easy to attach and remove this from your hat. 

 

CONDITION is, dare I say… very good to near excellent.  Clean and fresh, not tangled up, (hurrah!) , no odors or dryness and no shedding.  Supple and soft and extra thick and fluffy…Stored away in its original hatbox for almost 100 years, yet amazingly well preserved.  A few tiny chips in the color on the stem, very tiny, but no soiling or breaks in the stem.   A fabulous one of a kind prize for your millinery collection!