HankyCode › The chart › Piercing
HC-012 · PURPLE · Historical · documented 1972–1978 · The 175 · 1972 chart
Drop 1 · The RecordEdition of 25 per side · opens Wed 21 Oct 2026 · Family 48 hours early · closes Sun 1 Nov 2026

What does a Purple hanky mean?

Piercing. Left pocket: Piercer. Right pocket: Pierced.

Piercing — PURPLE hanky code print, left pocket: PIERCER
Left pocket · givesPiercer
Piercing — PURPLE hanky code print, right pocket: PIERCED
Right pocket · receivesPierced
ReferenceHC-012
ColourPURPLE · #6F2C91
Era1972-1978
OriginHistorical · documented 1972–1978

Where it sits in the story

Worn in San Francisco leather bars from 1972, purple in the left pocket told the room you were piercer; in the right, pierced. Recorded in the Damron charts of 1980 and Townsend’s Leatherman’s Handbook II in 1983. This colour belongs to the community that made it; the print is our specification of it.

197220261972 · Origins · SF & LA leather bars

Timeline stage: 1972 · Origins · SF & LA leather bars. Read the full history →

Own it

The swatchThe print at phone size with a name in the margin, sent phone to phone. Make it yours or make it for the person who should read you. No account, no email.
Free
Send it
Send a postcardA real postcard, printed and posted for you — HC-012, their name on it, in an envelope on your doormat or theirs. Unsigned, unnumbered. The impulse buy: no account beyond an address.
£15
Left · PiercerRight · Pierced
The Print · A3Giclée A3 on Hahnemühle German Etching 310gsm, posted flat by Prodigi, our print partner. Unsigned. Always on — ordered at will, no window, no clock — numbered in the Register in order of sale, with the Register QR printed in the margin.
£50
Print · leftPrint · right
The Print · the pairBoth pockets, posted flat together.
£90
The Print pair
The Edition · Family onlyGiclée on Hahnemühle German Etching 310gsm, A3, numbered and blind-stamped by the studio, entered in the Register and anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain. Drawn only from The 175 — the historical record — this code is one of them. 25 per side, released to members in dated drops, on a published escalator: nos 1–10 £300 · 11–20 £400 · 21–25 £500 — the price rises as it sells, stated in advance, verifiable in the Register.
from £300
Join the Family · free

Drop 1 · The Record · Family early access Wed 21 Oct 2026 · opens Wed 21 Oct 2026 · closes Sun 1 Nov 2026.

Adults only. We store the address for this drop and delete it when the drop closes unless you are in the Family. How we handle data.

Where it comes from. Documented in Larry Townsend’s The Leatherman’s Handbook II (1983) and the Bob Damron charts (1980). Worn in San Francisco leather bars from 1972.

Send this code WhatsApp Pinterest
The match Send the right pocket — Pierced Send the left pocket — Piercer
Find your own code How buying works

Colours next to this one

The code was read across a room, so what sits next to a colour matters. Nearest by eye, from the Purples family and beyond.

EMPIRE-STATE — IMPERIAL PURPLE hanky code print, left pocketEMPIRE-STATEIMPERIAL PURPLE · EMPIRE BUILDER / CONQUEREDBigender / Multigender — DUSK PURPLE hanky code print, left pocketBigender / MultigenderDUSK PURPLE · BIGENDER / SAME ADMIRERIn Transition — VIOLET hanky code print, left pocketIn TransitionVIOLET · TRANSITIONING / TRANSITION FANOBSESSOR — DEEP PURPLE hanky code print, left pocketOBSESSORDEEP PURPLE · OBSESSOR / OBSESSION TARGET

Same question, other answers

In the same cluster: The record.

Anything Goes — SIGNAL ORANGE hanky code print, left pocketAnything GoesSIGNAL ORANGE · ANYTHING / EVERYTHINGDiscipline — STEEL GREY hanky code print, left pocketDisciplineSTEEL GREY · DISCIPLINARIAN / DISCIPLINEDSmall Toys — LIGHT PINK hanky code print, left pocketSmall ToysLIGHT PINK · SMALL TOY USER / SMALL TOY SUBNovice / Beginner — FIRST FLUSH hanky code print, left pocketNovice / BeginnerFIRST FLUSH · THE GUIDE / THE CURIOUS
← HC-008 Anything GoesRegister entryAll clustersHC-025 Discipline →

Generated from the HankyCode Master v3 row HC-012 · checked by HankyFamily · last built 2026-09-20