Images(2)

Vest

DateOctober 28, 1837

OriginEngland, Devonshire, Exeter

MediumSilk, bone, cotton

DimensionsChest: 34 inches Waist: 32 inches Center Back: 17 inches

Credit LineGift of The Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA

Object number2022-117

DescriptionFine silk brocaded vest with two pockets set low on the front. The vest is made from a fine white or ivory grounded silk with brocaded floral springs and bunches of roses. Back, interior lining, and pockets are made of plain off-white cotton. The entire perimeter and around the welted pockets is piped in a fine silk cord or folded tape. The backs have two silk tapes to adjust the size smaller. The front of the vest is worked with five buttons and buttonholes.
Label TextMen fashionable continued to wear vests through the 19th century. The shawl collar or rounded collar vest first appears as early as the 1780s and continues to change shape and style through the entire 19th century, remaining one of the most common styles worn by men.
ProvenanceThis vest was donated to the Valentine Museum in 1952 by Vera Parker (1885-1969) before being transferred to Colonial Williamsburg. The vest belonged to her grandfather, William Western Snell (1798 - ?) who wore it on October 28, 1837 when he married Fanny Amelia Skinner (1820-1904) in Exeter, England. Vera and her parents Frederick Tancock Palmer (1849-1894) and Alice Sophia Skinner Snell (1849-1939) immigrated from England in 1924 and purchased Laural Grove Plantation in Hanover, Virginia.