The Thomas Mann Archive in Zurich owns a swallow-tail I was asked to look at. I was astonished to see the swallow-tail was made from a black jersey. I have not been able to take fibre samples, so I only suppose it is a wool jersey, but cannot confirm this by analysis. Also, it is not yet clear, if the swallow-tail was indeed worn by Thomas Mann (1875-1955); there is anecdotal support for this from his family, suggesting it might even be the one he wore when he was honored with the Nobel prize in 1929.
Does anybody happen to know since when swallow-tails were made from jersey? Is this common at all ? Based on previous experience, I was expecting a woven wool fabric, but I have not seen many swallow-tails yet...

Sincerely,

Karin von Lerber
Dipl. Textilkonservatorin FH
Konservatorin-Restauratorin SKR®


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