Stud Mystery

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palmer
Posts: 39
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Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:08 pm

Gentlemen:

For Christmas, my wife gave me a lovely set of vintage studs and cufflinks for my tuxedo shirts. Included among the set are what appear to be three collar studs. Although I've never worn a detachable collar, those that I've seen have required two studs only, leaving me to wonder about the third stud's purpose. Any information would be most appreciated?

Thank you and best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2009,
dopey
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Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:39 pm

Lots of possibilities, and without seeing the set it is hard to know.
One guess is that the extra is a spare. Most likely, you have different studs for hard and soft collars. I have a set where the studs are so marked, though, off hand, I can't recall the difference, nor which collar studs I use with my collar. Nor do I remember whether it is the back stud that is the same and the front collar stud that varies or the other way around. And in any event, most of the time, I use the cheap plastic and plate ones on my collar and reserve the nicer studs for the shirt front. The cheap ones are what I started with, have worked fine and I see no reason to change my habits.
Last edited by dopey on Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
chelsea

Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:41 pm

Are you sure they are not for use on a white waistcoat ?

Chelsea
marcelo
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Wed Dec 31, 2008 4:15 pm

I do not think it solves the stud mystery, but Dopey may well be right in his suggestion that one of the studs is a spare. In the novel A Passage to India, E. M. Foster presents the following situation concerning the loss of a collar-stud:

‘Blast!’
‘Anything wrong’
‘I have stamped on my last collar-stud.’
‘Take mine, take mine’
‘Have you a spare one’
‘Yes, yes, one minute’
'Not if you're wearing it yourself.'
‘No, no, one in my pocket.’ Stepping aside, so that his outline might vanish, he wrenched off his collar, and pulled out of his shirt the back stud, a gold stud, which was part of a set that his brother-in-law had brought him from Europe. ‘Here it is’, he cried.

Later Dr Aziz, who had given away one of his collar-studs, is criticized for his apparent lack of attention to sartorial details:

‘Aziz was exquisitely dressed, from tie-pin to spats, but he had forgotten his back-collar studs…’

All this suggests, it seems to me, that a true gentleman is not one who will not ever flout sartorial rules, but one who may be willing to flout them so that another gentleman does not have to.

Happy new year for all LL members!
David V
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Wed Dec 31, 2008 5:02 pm

I vote for waistcoat studs, also.
That would be typical of a vintage set.
HappyStroller
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Wed Dec 31, 2008 10:39 pm

A very Happy and Prosperous New Year to all the fellow gentlemen of LL, too.

Yes, unless at least one of them is longer to account for the additional layer of cloth, because there are both a frontal left side plus a frontal right side for both collar and the collar waist (or, sleeve or cuff or neck?) on the shirt tunic itself whereas there are only a total of three layers of cloth at the back (two because the collar itself is folded plus one for the collar waist itself), the three are most likely waist studs for an SB waistcoat.
storeynicholas

Thu Jan 01, 2009 3:29 pm

A photo would help.
NJS
palmer
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:31 pm
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Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:47 pm

Gentlemen:

Thank you very much for your responses. As I'm out of town without my studs, I can't include a photo right now. That said, I think the mystery items are stud buttons for a waistcoat because all three are the same length. (I'm also a little miffed at myself that this didn't occur to me; my own formal waistcoat has stud buttons. Oh, well.)

I also appreciate the reference to "A Passage to India," which I've enjoyed reading several times.

Thank you once more, and I wish you all a happy new year.

Best regards,
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