What were Beau-catchers?

So, I found this piece in a bunch of stuff that was my Mother-in-Laws. What was this used for?? Was it a hairpiece? Something that clipped to your clothes or collar?? Anyone know the story behind these? I tried Googling, and all I could find were perfume bottles and crocheted shirts. I only found ONE other resource that had them, and it was a listing on Ebay. (the ONLY listing I could find) But they didn't say anything about what they were. It measures 7 in wide and 4 1/2 in tall.

Any info?? Thanks!!

 

At a guess, I'd think it was a jabot to accessorize a 1940s evening dress.

Debora

 

This Worthpoint item calls it Victorian, but I don't know how accurate that is:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-victorian-ladies-lace-jabot-1798904040

I was thinking it was something that could take your every-day plain dress & make it a bit fancier for an evening out, or something like that.

I see that the label has a patent pending notation on it. Here's a different item (tho along the same lines) with a patent number, that seems to have been made by the same company, "Jami":
https://dorotheas-closet-vintage.my...uffled-collar-with-flower-and-bow-circa-1930s
This one says 1930's. Perhaps checking the patent number could confirm that seller's dating(?)

 

That makes sense. I think it's a Jabot, from these pics. Thanks! My guess is 30s/40s.

 

Certainly NOT Victorian! Neckwear company owned by Kadet-Kruger & Co. of Chicago. Original patent (with different logo) applied for in 1924. Operations continued into the 1940s and beyond.

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:y68xed.2.29

Debora

 

Reading this thread, became interested in the use of the term "beau-catcher."

1) According to the Oxford English Dictionary it began by referring to a curl of a woman's hair. The definition migrated slightly to refer to a spit curl... and also started being spelled "bow-catcher" before becoming obsolete. The following is from the OED. There is no link because I looked it up in a subscription database:
† beau-catcher n. Obsolete a kiss-curl.
1818 Publ. Ledger 18 Apr. 3/2 A girl..twisting her hair into rings, which they term ‘beau-catchers’.
1857 M. J. Holmes Meadow-Brook ii Arranging just in front of her ears two spit curls, sometimes called ‘beau catchers’.
1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 23/1 Beau-catcher, a flat hook-shaped curl, after the Spanish manner, gummed on each temple, and made of the short temple hair, spelt sometimes bow-catcher... Now obsolete on this side of the Pyrenees.

2) It was also in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Bartleby.com lists this from the 1898 edition of Brewer's. And there was a term for the curls that a man would wear to attract women as well.
Bow-catcher (A)
A corruption of “Beau Catcher,” a love-curl, termed by the French an accroche cœur. A lovecurl worn by a man is a Bell-rope, i.e. a rope to pull the belles with.
https://www.bartleby.com/81/2354.html

3) There is a Beaucatcher Mountain in North Carolina, USA. There is a story in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography about how James Patton is said to have coined the name of the mountain after teasing his sister-in-law:
https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/patton/bio.html

4) Beau Catcher was used as late as 1950 to refer to a woman's top that could be made from a crochet pattern.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/beau-catcher

-- That's as far as my research went. I thought some might be interested.

 

A rather charming phrase.

Debora