TIGHAR
Amelia Earhart Search Forum => Artifact Analysis => Topic started by: Christian Stock on September 14, 2019, 07:32:30 PM
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As a fan of leather flight jackets, I know Talon has been the gold standard for zippers from the 1930's all the way to today. In addition to flight jackets and coveralls, which are the first thing we think of, they were also used on bags and cases. Check out the portfolio bag at 0:13 in this video: https://youtu.be/3r3eJuyxOmE
This portfolio bag on ebay uses a similar zipper, and looks like it dates to the 1940's: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Talon-Leather-Portfolio-Tooled-Leather-Zipper-Folio-Bag-Case-Sleeve-Vintage/202768607254
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As a fan of leather flight jackets, I know Talon has been the gold standard for zippers from the 1930's all the way to today.
My leather flying jacket is a reproduction A-1 (1927), the first design produced for the Army Air Corps. No zipper. Buttons.
The zipper on the Ebay folio does look similar to ours. It has the "auto-lock" feature on the pull. Ours is a size "06" (too small for a jacket or even a fly). There's no way to scale the photo on Ebay so it's hard to know if it's the same size as ours. There's also no way to know whether Amelia's briefcase had a Talon zipper.
I can see her bringing her briefcase full of important papers ashore if she was about to lose the airplane. Would she still have it weeks, or months, later?
Maybe.
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The eBay folio is definitely a later model, as it has a phone number with an area code written inside. That dates it to 1947 or later. I also think her document folio was larger than the eBay example, which I posted just to illustrate that Talons were used on that sort of bag in that era. It wasn’t a typical chart bag as carried by airline pilots, but maybe held the charts she needed for any particular leg. .
Larger luggage such as a suitcase or a B4 bag would require a larger zipper and slide. The artifact was likely from a trouser, flight suit, or small bag.
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In relation to Amelia's briefcase Ric...has anyone found any zippers or remnants of leather in any of the fire pits found at the seventh site? The reason I ask is that at one point in somewhere that I read she informed George should anything happen to her that her possessions in the briefcase were to be burned. Its like whatever she had in this briefcase was for her eyes and her eyes only. Really baffling! My question is...can a leather briefcase stand the test of time and nature over 80 years...Is it possible she buried it or hid it in a safekeeping spot near the ren tree?
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In relation to Amelia's briefcase Ric...has anyone found any zippers or remnants of leather in any of the fire pits found at the seventh site? The reason I ask is that at one point in somewhere that I read she informed George should anything happen to her that her possessions in the briefcase were to be burned.
She asked in (Betty’s notebook transcript) that GP should get a suitcase in her closet back in California. She had also made a request to her mother in a letter to burn some papers that were in a zippered compartment in her briefcase if she “didn’t turn up” a couple of years before.
https://tighar.org/Publications/TTracks/2003Vol_19/suitcase.pdf
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In relation to Amelia's briefcase Ric...has anyone found any zippers or remnants of leather in any of the fire pits found at the seventh site? The reason I ask is that at one point in somewhere that I read she informed George should anything happen to her that her possessions in the briefcase were to be burned. Its like whatever she had in this briefcase was for her eyes and her eyes only. Really baffling! My question is...can a leather briefcase stand the test of time and nature over 80 years...Is it possible she buried it or hid it in a safekeeping spot near the ren tree?
A leather briefcase? Not a chance. A zipper would for sure. The thing is, the zipper was held together by cotton, so all those little teeth would be scattered about with nothing holding them together.
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Found this interesting info on dating of Talon zippers from a site called the FedoraLounge.com:
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/a-guide-to-dating-talon-zippers-updated-and-revised.79464/
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Epiphany (at least for me): Smallish zipper pull + makeup compact + freckle cream jar....the zipper was possibly from a small cosmetics bag.
I see some vintage bags on ebay using Talon zippers.
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Searching Google for possible evidence of the existence of a small cosmetics bag owned by AE is greatly complicated by the fact that there was a line of "Amelia Earhart" luggage in the 1960's.
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I'm sure there is a joke to be made about "getting lost" in there somewhere, but I'll defer to greater comedic talents in the choir! ;D
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Actually the luggage line started while she was still alive and she may have carried some on her world flight. The photo is her with some of her brand beside the Electra.
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Yeah, I saw a photo of vintage AE branded luggage that looked like her stuff from the flight. I didn’t know the brand went that far back.
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Here is a Talon-zippered, 1930's cosmetic bag decorated with little beads, which might be of the type to tie in the zipper and the red bead from https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,1585.0.html.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1930s-Bead-Wedding-Bride-Clutch-Purse-Metal-Talon-Zipper/332446238200
While not the right size beads, it could be this general type of small clutch bag or purse that she used for the various cosmetics found at the site.