Pincheck Traveler's Vest

In the Land of Saints and Scholars.

Dublin, a vintage shop stocked to the actual rafters with deadstock denim, antique tooled-silver lighters, a hodgepodge of military ephemera. 

Everything steeped through with pipe smoke and melancholy. To the good, in the ledger of such things.

A labrador named Waylon offers one tail thump when I scratch an ear.

Two leather chairs—cracked, softened, sagging, perfect—in the back corner. 

Draped over one, a beautifully-proportioned French hunting vest in an interesting pincheck cotton. 

The shop (and pipe) owner offers to show me a backroom stash of whiskey, but customs would be too tiresome.

I take the vest at full price. 

The lighters were tempting. The dog, I’ll think about once or twice on the flight home, when I write this. 

Pincheck Traveler’s Vest (No. J8165). Lightweight pincheck cotton vest with a gently-curved hem, reproduced impeccably from that 1930s French hunting vest. Six corozo buttons at front and four external pockets with button flap closure. Back adjuster belt. Side seam vents. Fully lined in lightweight cotton. Memorable. Imported