New York OA Trader

A year ago we were discussing Neckerchief slides, in particular one from Adirondack Lodge Lodge #357 with a scan from Ray Gould.

I have just come across a couple of slides from Ranachqua Lodge, which I’ll be posting on over the next few days.

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Mike Conkey had asked the for some information on Patch-L about a neckerchief slide he had acquired.

Good Morning! I need some info on a neckerchief slide I picked up and hope the wisdom of the list can help. It is pewter and arrowhead-shaped. Has an arrow (pointing up to the left as you look at it). On top of the arrow is a turtle, below the arrow is “WWW”. Probably from the 1970’s - 1980’s timeframe. Was this a National issue, or does it belong to some “turtle-ish” lodge like Unami?

I replied that it seemed to be one of the slides I had previously discussed in my series on neckerchief slides.

I think it may be related to the ones I referred to in one of blog postings http://www.nyoatrader.com/blog/2007/09/08/grey-owl-neckerchief-slides/
Other totems:
http://www.nyoatrader.com/blog/2007/09/03/thay-en-da-ne-gea-418-metal-neckerchief-slide/
and
http://www.nyoatrader.com/blog/2007/05/14/adirondack-lodge-357-neckerchief-slide/

Roy Weatherbee confirmed my vague recollections:

Sounds like you have a pewter “Totem slide” made/sold for years (going back well into the 1960’s) by Grey Owl (Grey Owl Indian Craft Co.,Jamaica, NY 11434). Their old mail-order catalogs listed a generic arrowhead-shaped pewter slide with arrow and “WWW” to which could be affixed one of serveral dozen different totems. As there were so many lodges that used a turtle for a totem, this is one of the more common ones. These were very popular in the 1960’s and into the 1970’s, though I’m not sure when they were discontinued.

Newer ones have a rectangular slide ring made of the same pewter material

as the slide itself, and are slightly smaller (40×55mm) than older ones

(42×58mm) that have a rectangular chrome-plated steel slide ring (which

appear to have broken off easiy). The oldest one I’ve seen is made of brass or bronze with a circular slide ring of steel painted black. Only the later variety carried any markings: “TOTEM SLIDE” in raised lettering on the back.
These could be ordered by anyone and were popular among OA members of the time. The only one I’ve seen that might be considered a lodge “issue” would be one I have with a deer/buck/stag totem and the pewter numbers 377 in place of WWW - likely a special request ordered by lodge 377 in some quantity as to make it worthwhile for Grey Owl to perform the customization. Would be

interested in hearing if anyone has seen any others bearing a lodge name or number?

Frank Kern advised that:

305 sold this style with a beaver design attached.
336 also sold this design with a ram’s head in profile.

What other ones are out there?

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Mitch Reis is a regular at the Shu Shu Gah Lodge TOR and he has his own website at micthreis.com has put a neckerchief slide from Nischa Nimat Lodge #181 up for auction on eBay.

It still has a few days to run as this is posted.

Gavin Murdoch sends along another 2 neckerchief slides from Thay-En-Da-Ne-Gea Lodge #418 when they were the host for the 1963 Area 2-D Conclave.

The red slide was for all participants while the black was given to the host lodge members. Therefore the host members got 2 slides and the visitors got one,

however most of those in attendance went home with 2 or more! They are plastic and were made by Artcraft Mgt.Co. of Grand Rapids Michigan.No idea why they owl and Thunderbird are part of the design.

If you check out the images in two recent posts, the first on a Thay-En-Da-Ne-Gea #418 neckerchief slide provided by Gavin Murdoch and in an earlier post on a Adirondack Lodge #357 Neckerchief slide provided by Ray Gould you can see the similarities. In the Thay-En-Da-Ne-Gea post, I recounted the following memory.

The slide reminds me of slides sold by Grey Owl which back in the day (late 1960’s and early 1970’s) sold several of these types of slides both plain and with various totems. It was a long subway ride out to nearly the end of the line in Queens, NY to get supplies for Ritual and Dance outfits.

In the comments Ray reminded me of his submission and that woke a memory.

After some digging I came across the neckerchief slide pictured below which I am 99% certain came from Grey Owl. (It was 35+ years ago) Since Shu Shu Gah Lodge’s totem was a Heron, which was not available, I picked up the generic slide below which in place of the totems on the two previous samples, pictures a Native American.

I’ll try to get a better image in the next few days.

Grey Owl may have only been a retailer of these slide and they could have been available from multiple sources.

Gavin Murdoch sends along this scan of a neckerchief slide used by Thay-En-Da-Ne-Gea #418 in the 1970’s.

The slide reminds me of slides sold by Grey Owl which back in the day (late 1960’s and early 1970’s) sold several of these types of slides both plain and with various totems. It was a long subway ride out to nearly the end of the line in Queens, NY to get supplies for Ritual and Dance outfits.

These days Grey Owl is an Internet Store and located in New Jersey. I have no interest or affiliation with them but not they carry beaded sashes on their site; but I don’t see neckerchief slides or OA belt buckles any where on the site.

I had previously begun a series on neckerchief slides/bolos from NY OA lodges. To view prior entries in this series, click on the neckerchief slide category in the left side bar.

This bolo tie is from Eluwak Chapter from Shu Shu Gah Lodge #24.

In the comments of previous entries I had written about Roland Flora. This is not some of his work, the bolo was made Anthony Pinnavaia, Sr. Tony has carved many of the recent lodge, chapter, council and district slides and bolos from Brooklyn.

After a brief hiatus, we have another neckerchief slide from a New York Lodge. This one is from Mister OAimages himself, John Pannell. Some of you may not know, but Shinnecock Lodge, was where John was inducted years ago in the dim ages.

Earlier entries in this series, can be found by clicking on the Neckerchief category in the left sidebar.

John has a similar filing system to mine, but he did add the following:

As you can see, it’s handpainted on handcarved wood so I’d expect some significant variations. I have two of them but this was the first one I found in the mess here…

As you can see, it depicts the Tern, the Shinnecock Lodge totem.

If anyone has other slides or bolos from a New York State OA Lodge, please send images of them along to share with us.

The 14th and for the time being last entry in the series on neckerchief slides comes from Thayendanegea Lodge #418. To view other entries in this series, you can click on the link or chose the neckerchief slide category from the left sidebar.

This slide is a plastic slide from Artcraft Mfg. Co. from Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is approximately 57mm in diameter and contains the wolfhead totem of the lodge.

This is the last slide or bolo from my small side-collection. If anyone else has a bolo or slide from a New York OA Lodge that they would like to share please send me a picture and any details about it. I have been promised a few so hopefully you will see more before too long.

The lucky thirteenth slide in the series on NY OA Neckerchief slides and bolos is also from Buckskin Lodge #412. You can find previous entries by clicking on the neckerchief slide category in the left sidebar.

This slide may be homemade. Has anyone else seen one? It is made of plaster with a wire embedded in the back for the slide. The coloring appears to be paint.

The design is from the L1 of the Lodge, the Buckskin Tab. Image courtesy of The Internet Guide for OA Images .