Thank you for all the great tips! I know that this wool is worthy of a sophisticated collar. I WAS thinking about velvet, perhaps red but black would look totally rich and feel good at the same time. I'm just hesitant to work with it. Well, more like a big chicken!! With my skills, it would look like crushed velvet in the end... ;-)
The sides are completely open but there is plenty of draping fabric to keep me warm. There are no tags anywhere on it and the tassels on the ends are professionally done. Someone, sometime, spent a chunk of change on this! Now, I'm heading off to my button stash to change those generic black domes out. When it is altered, I will feel beautiful and warm!