Menšs collars are not the first thing most think of when one thinks of menšs historical fashion. Never the less they were quite important in there day. They were used to help preserve shirts. Since men usually wore under shirts the places of most contact between skin and shirt was at the collar and the cuffs. By making a removable collar and cuff that could be washed separately you didnšt have to wash the shirt as often.

They came into being around the 1860šs when clothing was expensive and hand made for the most part. Once the factories started making clothing in mass production, making clothing less expensive and more available the separate collar and cuff didnšt save any time or resources any more. They ended in the 30šs.

It was difficult for me to date each of the collars, but a few are unique enough to get some since of the time period. I have tried to put them in chronological order the oldest first.
This is a page from the 1897 Sears Catalogue.

I don't have any examples of collars the I feel came from this early.

Page 2 --->