What does a Sapphire Blue hanky mean?
Seduction. Left pocket: Seducer. Right pocket: Seduced.


Seduction. Left pocket: Seducer. Right pocket: Seduced.


Drop 1 · The Record · open now · closes Sun 1 Nov 2026.
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.
Documented from 1980 in the extended bar charts, sapphire blue in the left pocket told the room you were seducer; in the right, seduced. 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.
Timeline stage: 1973 · Standardised across US cities. Read the full history →
The code was read across a room, so what sits next to a colour matters. Nearest by eye, from the Purples family and beyond.
ARCHITECTBLUEPRINT BLUE · WORLD BUILDER / WORLD INHABITANT
Versatile / SwitchBLUE STRIPE · VERSATILE TOP / VERSATILE BOTTOM
Marathon PlayPRUSSIAN BLUE · MARATHON TOP / MARATHON BOTTOM
Drag KingDAPPER NAVY · DRAG KING MASC / DRAG ADMIRERIn the same cluster: The record.
Generated from the HankyCode Master v3 row HC-038 · checked by Hanky Family Studio · last built 2026-09-18