Old Sarawak Tie

My mum managed to dig out this old tie from somewhere a few years back. I chucked it into my wardrobe and kinda forgot all about it. I recalled it when I was last back in Kuching last year but I couldn't find it in my wardrobe and so I thought it must have been unfortunately misplaced.

Now that I'm back in Kuching again, I thought I'd give it another go and it was with great relief that I managed to find it hiding inside one of my shirts. Damn you tie for giving me grief over the past year! Now to find my misplaced stamp collection and the (Enid Blyton/Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew/3 Investigators) books from my childhood.

So what's so special about this tie you might ask? Why all the fuss?

Note the emblem on the tie. Sorry for the crappy quality of the photo. You can blame my webcam for that. Here's a closer look at the emblem.

Yes, that emblem is the old flag of Sarawak set in a shield. That flag was used way back during the Brooke era and when Sarawak was known as the Kingdom of Sarawak. It was in use from 1870 until 1946 when Sarawak was ceded to Britain and became a British Crown Colony, after which it was retained as a shield on a British Blue Ensign. It was then restored and used as the state flag after the formation of Malaysia in 1963, up until 1973 when a new flag replaced it. Sorry for the history lesson but with Malaysia Day coming up, I thought it appropriate. Heh.

Flag of the Kingdom of Sarawak (1870 -1946) and the State of Sarawak (1963-1973)

Flag of the Crown Colony of Sarawak (1946-1963)

Considering that the flag seized to be in usage from 1973 onwards, that would mean the tie is at least 40 years old, if not older. It must have belonged to either my dad, grandfather or one of my uncles. 

Ok, so the above two images of the tag are beyond crappy. In order to remedy this problem, please kindly donate to my camera fund. All proceeds will go towards the buying of a new camera to take better quality photos than the two above.

As we can(not) see from the above, the tie is made by Crocodile with its unmistakable Crocodile logo (which bears a striking resemblance to Lacoste's croc logo). Though in the above image it can easily be mistaken for a cicak (Donate. Camera Fund. Now.).

That mass of blur below the logo says "Symbol Of Quality". And to save you from damaging your eyesight in the second photo, it says "High Class Taritate. Washable. Wrinkle Free." I have no idea what taritate is as googling does not turn up any results. Some sort of material long lost to human knowledge? Damn I might have just stumbled onto a gold mine.