Possible Clues:

• Frill lacking finish by the sound of it
• Collar or sandpiper
• Elizabethan or Jacobean neck adornment
• Old-fashioned frill for the bird
• Ring of fur around neck of bird or animal
• Starched, frilled collar
• Neckwear that was uncomfortable, we are told
• Collar not even reaching the ears
• (At bridge) trump
• Collar could be chafing from what we hear?