A guide to dating Talon Zippers
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Tag Archives: talon zipper
1940s half-belt leather jacket
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281472895438
This vintage leather jacket was made in the mid to late 1940s. It is made of goatskin, with a pointy collar, buttoned yokes which form the pockets on the front and a scalloped yoke on the back. It has a half-belt back and an action back. The jacket has patch pockets with scalloped pocket flaps, and belted adjuster cuffs. It is fully lined. The jacket has a Talon zipper with a rectangular hole pull and a Talon marked stopbox. The jacket has distinctive leather buttons and is made of goatskin leather. It bears an Amalgamated Garment Workers union label. The jacket is marked on the leather E5 and the size 36.
Chest (pit to pit): 20-1/2″ (doubled = 41″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 23″
Length (base of collar to hem): 28-1/2″
1930s Canvas Messenger Bag with Talon Grommet zippers
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271640985218
This vintage canvas messenger bag was made in the late 1920s-early 1930s. It is made of lightweight green canvas, now faded. It has a single button closure flap, a divided interior and a strap with a D ring adjustment At some point, the original owner, a Mr. R.G. Pease, decided that he wanted a zipper top to make the contents of the bag more secure and added a zipper top. Instead of adding a closed end zipper that you would normally use on bags, he added two separable bottomed jacket zippers, with the early grommet bottomed stopbox and double hinge, pinlock, round holed slider, folding the separable end of the zippers to the inside of the bag.
1940s Hercules Aviator leather jacket
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281464398498
This vintage leather jacket was made c.1947 and was sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co under their Hercules label, used for leather jackets and workwear. The jacket is an “aviator” style, a style originated in the 1930s, and defined by its offset zipper front, coat style lapels, interesting pocket setup and usually by its fancy back. This example has handwarmer pockets, a chest mounted map pocket and an angled cuff detail with decorative buttons. The back is belted and has bi-swing shoulders. It has a scalloped back yoke. The main zipper is a Talon, identifiable as being made immediately post-war by its marked U shaped stop box design and square hole on the pull. The chest zipper is also a Talon, with a chain style pull and a transitional style slider. With a 42″ chest, this will best fit someone who wears a size 38.
Chest (pit to pit): 21″ (doubled = 42″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 17-1/2″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 23-1/2″
Length (base of collar to hem): 23-1/2″
1920s Wright and Ditson canvas tennis bag
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271593818029
This vintage canvas bag was mad by Wright & Ditson. It fastens at the end with a Talon Hookless fastener. At this point, the product was still known as Hookless, while the product was known as Talon. This has the transitional pull design which bears both the Hookless and the Talon names, with patent dates 3-20-17, 10-16-17, 11-25-19, 10-13-25, and 12-22-25 on the back . Consistent with this early date, the slider is unmarked and the end has D shaped stoppers. The ball pouch on the front of the bag has a Greek key trim patterned snap, made by the United States Fastener company, which merged in 1929 with Carr to form United Carr. This hardware pre-dates that merger, which puts the dating of this bag somewhere in the 1926-1930 range. The bag was originally owned by Elmer Giesick of Billings, Montana.
1930s canvas saddlebags
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281424920712
This vintage canvas bag was made in the 1930s. It has early talon zippers, with the D shaped stoppers at the top (before they switched to the solid metal stops in the ’40s) and a rare variant of the bell-shaped pull. The slider is of the plain-back style (no stampings) which was used in the early-mid 1930s. The end of the opening on the bag is leather reinforced. Unlike regular saddlebags, which are essentially two bags with a separate connection piece, these are a single, continuous bag, shaped roughly like a barbell. The ends are bucket-bottomed, and have drainage grommets both in the bottom and on both sides. The zippers open the entire bag and run vertically, as opposed to the horizontal openings usually seen on this type of bag. The heavy canvas started out life as a deep forest green, as can be seen in the last photograph, but has faded heavily over time. This is perfect for motorcycles or just as a rugged over-the shoulder carryall.
1941 Scotch Woolen Mills peak lapel suit
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271577530184
This vintage suit was made in 1941 by the Scotch Woolen Mills, a Chicago, Illinois based tailoring company. The suit has a typically 1930s cut, with a high degree of waist supression. It is single breasted, with a two button closure and wide, pointy peak lapels. The suit is half-lined (as opposed to the more typical skeleton/petal lining of the era) in a floral jacquard fabric. The pants are zipper fly, with an early Talon zipper. They are straight cut and cuffed. The fabric is a wonderful deep burgundy with red and orange stripes. It’s a nice change from usual brown suits, and is surprisingly easy to coordinate colors with.
Jacket
Chest (pit to pit): 21″ (doubled = 42″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 18″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 26″
Length (base of collar to hem): 28″
Pants:
Waist: 17″ (doubled = 34″)
Inseam: 31″
Outseam: 42-1/2″
Rise: 11-1/2″
Thigh:12″
Cuff: 10-1/2″
1930s Montgomery Ward Pony Horsehide aviator cossack jacket
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281409286745
This vintage leather jacket was made in the late 1930s-early 1940s. It was made in California and was sold by Montgomery Ward under their Sportswear label. The “Aviator” style, a precursor to the modern motorcycle jacket, was popular in this late ’30s-1940s time period, and this is an excellent example. It has an asymmetrical / double breasted zipper design, with handwarmer pockets and double zipped breast pockets. The zippers are all Talons. The chest zippers are the originals, with ring style pulls and Talon branded sliders, a style which stopped production in the 1940s. The main zipper is a replacement, probably done in the late 1950s. Interestingly, the slider has had the pull replaced with a 1930s fan-tail pull, possibly off the original zip. The jacket has a half-belt back with teardrop shaped buckles. The jacket is fully lined, with a wonderful label with a California mission and palm tree. The jacket is made of pony horsehide.
Chest (pit to pit): 20″ (doubled = 40″)
Waist (side to side): 18″ (doubled = 36″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 17″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 23-3/4″
Length (base of collar to hem): 21″
1930s US Biological Survey bag
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271570365132
This vintage canvas bag was made in the mid 1930s and was used by the US Biological Survey for poisoned grain, which was used to eliminate “undesirable species” from the western states of America to clear the way for agriculture and ranching. The Bureau of Biological Survey was created in 1934 and lasted until 1940, when the Fish and Wildlife Service was created.
The bag is made of selvedge canvas, with the selvedge edge by the zipper. The zipper is a very early Talon, made in the same shape as earlier Hookless zippers. The buckle has anchor and “W” hallmarks.
1940s Pendleton half-belt cossack jacket
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281379399140
This vintage half-belt jacket was made by the Pendleton Woolen Mills of Pendleton, Oregon and was tailored in California. It is a classic half-belt cossack jacket design, with a Talon zipper front, zipped breast pocket and slash handwarmer pockets. The side belt adjusters are mounted lower than the belt, in the manner of Hercules leather halfbelts of the mid to late 1930s. The style of Talon zipper, with the square hole in the puller and the Talon name on the stopbox place the date of manufacture of the jacket to just after WWII. The (R) symbol on the Pendleton label, combined with the zipper designs narrow it down to about 1947.
Chest (pit to pit): 22″ (doubled = 44″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24-1/2″
Length (base of collar to hem): 26″
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