Tartan on sale by the Meter

[James C]

PS: Sounds like you're an "easy" customer. I gave Brandon and B&S so much trouble that they told me if I emailed or called them one more time, they would charge me a nuisance fee. ;-)

Your pretty easy too John. Never too many emails or calls for our customers. No nuisance fees either. But now that you mention it ha ha JK.

[mookien]

Brooke: MOM - WOW! She's an elusive tartan, and in IMHO reveals some "cracks" in the STA/SRT taxonomy (or, at least, their categorization/representation schemes). Please take the following with a grain of salt. Consider their source, eg I may be misunderstanding threadcounts. :-)

1. If you search for "Macmillan Modern Old" or "Macmillan Old Modern" on the SRT, it returns 40 tartans, some of which are not Macmillan. The same searches on the STA return no tartans! Of course, that speaks more to the algorithms of the respective search engines than to the content of the registries themselves.

2. A search of "Macmillan" on the SRT returns 9 tartans. The same search on the STA returns 12, whether you use the Tartan Name or Surname search field.

It gets more "interesting" ...

3. If you use #2025 on the SRT you are shown a tartan called the "Macmillan Ancient". The same #2025 on the STA yields a tartan called the "Macmillan (Clan)". The number 2025 is an STWR number, by the way, not an STA number. The STA shows 2025 as an ITI number, which presumably means International Tartan Index (or something like that, I suppose).

4. The representations of MOM appear to be different on the SRT and the STA. The STA uses a spectral representation and shows a broad yellow band containing 3 black overstripes. The SRT shows a 2-D "picture" that shows a yellow band with only 1 black overstripe. (?!)

4b. If you request the threadcount of the "Macmillan Ancient" from the SRT, the rightmost sequence is "Y12K2Y12K2". Assuming it pivots on the last K2, when woven that would seem to yield a "broad yellow band containing 3 black overstripes", which is consistent with the STA's spectrum, not their own picture. (?!)

5. Finally, the SRT representation of MOM is at a relatively long distance and shows multiple setts, while the Linda Clifford Tartan Navigator zooms in for a close up (to show detail?). That would be very confusing to most unknowledgeable buyers, like it was to me. :-)

These apparent inconsistencies probably have their origin in historical and organizational interaction (or lack of it) between the various registries, but that's only a guess on my part. Now, I can see why this tartan (and others?) creates some confusion.

By they way, the closing comment in your #20 post explains why during my last conversation with B&S their rep. made the (at the time) enigmatic comment "... and quit trying to pretend your somebody else!". ;-)

[James C]

yes, the people at Burnetts and Struth made me fax them proof that I was not you using a disguised voice before they would sell me the tartan!.

It's on our Wall of Fame.