Figure 1.-- Boys once commonly wore three-piece suits when dressing up. These three-piece suits, now not very common for boys. The three-piece suit meant a suit with a vest or as the British say, a westcoat. We note one wool vest here, but am not sure about the date. The dealer selling the garment reports that it a turn-of-the-20th century garment. Click on the image to see the back.

Boys once commonly wore three-piece suits when dressing up. These three-piece suits, now not very common for boys. The three-piece suit meant a suit with a vest or as the British say, a waistcoat. We have also archived some vests separately. We note one wool vest here, but am not sure about the date. The dealer selling the garment reports that it a turn-of-the-20th century garment. We know that it came from a Pennsylvania estate sale. The seller describes the vest as, "A wonderful turn of the century small man's or maybe a boy's wool vest! It's black with an ivory secondary fabric, has four working pockets. The back fabric is a satin not a wool but this is still a heavy, very well made vest! Measurements: Chest: 13 1/2 inches and Length: 18 inches." Note that as the dealer explains that only the front is wool. Because the silk back is also black, this is not readily apparent. Vests today have become a kind of informal dress-up item, worn without a suit jacket. This was not very common at the turn-of-the-20th century. Note the three buttons. We have seen vests with more buttons. Also note the lining. Quality suits at the time were lined. This might even include the trousers.

Figure 2.-- Here isthe ivory-colored silk lining.