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The Language of the Fan

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Amenta Sademtk
The Language of the Fan

From across a crowded room, a young gentleman watches as a young lady looks directly at him and slowly closes her fully opened fan.

At the height of the Victorian Era, a special kind of sign language evolved using a fan to communicate asian fan. There are thirty-two different gestures, each one with a unique message. What began as a simple device to keep people cool on hot summer days, grew well beyond functionality over the centuries. "The Woman's World", published in 1889 proclaimed that if a woman "could not handle her fan with the proper air, she remained a nobody", and that "women are armed with fans as men with swords". The same author also notes that "The eyes of the Spanish ladies afforded them unfair assistance in the language of the fan" as they were better skilled at the "ogle and flutter", a decided disadvantage to the proper English ladies.

Despite the social implications, fans were also part of a woman's adornment. The combination of size, shape, decorative techniques and materials gives us endless varieties of fans. And where there is variety, there are collectors.

Fan collecting was extremely popular between 1860 and 1910, which may be one reason why the language of the fan developed such popularity. Christies' Auction House in South Kensington, England auctions over one thousand fans, annually.

For the most part antique fans were made of natural materials. The guard, stick and blades for example, could be made of lacquered wood, mother of pearl, ivory, or tortoise. The mount could be made of cotton, silk, or even lace, although machine-made laces existed in the 19th century.

18th century hand-painted fans are quite rare and can sell for thousands of dollars but there are many elegant 19th century printed fans that can still be purchased for around a hundred dollars hand fan. These later, simpler fans may be made of less inexpensive materials like celluloid or bamboo guards, sticks, and blades. The were decorated with printed pictures rather than hand painted.

Fans can also be cross collectible,too. Fans were popular World's Fair souvenirs. While they were usually printed using a process called chromolithography, they were colorful commemoratives. People who collect memorabilia from exhibitions would want this type of fan, too, and this increases its value. A souvenir fan from the 1889 Paris Exposition sold earlier this year at Kodner Galleries for $750.00.

You may be wondering at this point just what became of our young lady. Did she fan the flames of love or extinguish them? I think that romance is dull without anticipation and a just a little touch of mystery.

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