Samplings: XXXIII

VOLUME XXXIII

Sam~lings: A SELECTED OFFERI N G OF AN TIQ UE SAMP L ERS A ND NE EDLEWORK

est. 1947

M. Finkel ~ Daughter.

AM ERICA' S L EADING ANT IQU E SAMPL ER & NEE DL EWORK D EAL E R

936 Pine Street. Philadelphia . Pennsylvania. 19107-6128 215-627-7797. 800-598-7432. fax 215-627-8199 www.samplings.com

Please visit our website: www.samplings.com

detail of sampler by Nancy Abbet, Grafton, Massachusetts, 1803, page 38

detail of sampler by Elizabeth Neavel, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1829, page 20

Copyright Š 2008 by M. Finkel & Daughter, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without the permission in writing from M. Finkel & Daughter, Inc. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Welcome to our Samplings catalogue, Volume XXXIII ...

We hope that you enjoy this catalogue, our 33th issue, and we thank all of you for your continued and growing interest in this field.

Schoolgirl samplers and needlework provide fascinating opportunities to collectors. A sampler acts as a window into the specific history of a young girl, her family, a teacher, a town, a region, and a tradition, and as such provides us with unusual insight. It goes without saying that samplers, from a simple marking piece to an elaborate scene, are also extremely visually appealing.

Each of our samplers has been fully researched and documented; it is well-known that we both conduct ourselves and have others engage in intensive genealogical research and often achieve important results. When we describe a sampler or silk embroidery, we frequently refer to a number of fine books that have been written in this field. A selected bibliography is included at the end of the catalogue and is updated regularly. If any of these books prove difficult to procure, let us know and perhaps we can assist in locating them. We also include a description page about our conservation methods and encourage you to call us with any questions in this area.

This year marks the 61st anniversary of the founding of our firm. We continue to value our positive relationships with clients, many of whom are now second generation, and strive to maintain our commitment to customer service. Buying antiques should be based in large measure on trust and confidence, and we try to treat each customer as we ourselves like to be treated. We operate by appointment and are at the shop Monday through Friday, and are avaialable on weekends, except when we are exhibiting at antiques shows. Please let us know of your plans to visit us.

We suggest that you contact us in a timely fashion if one or more of our samplers is of interest to you. Please let us know if you would like us to email you better photos than appear in this catalogue.

The majority of the pieces in the catalogue have not yet appeared on our website so as to give our catalogue subscribers the advantage of having a first look. Should your choice be unavailable, we would be happy to discuss your collecting objectives with you. Our inventory is extensive, and we have many other samplers that are not included in our catalogue but which are on our website.

Moreover, through our sources, we may be able to locate what you are looking for; you will find us knowledgeable and helpful.

Payment may be made by check, VISA, Mastercard, or American Express. Pennsylvania residents should add 6% sales tax. All items are sold with a five day return privilege. Expert packing is included: shipping and insurance costs are extra. We prefer to ship via UPS ground or Federal Express air, insured.

We look forward to your phone calls and your interest.

www.samplings.com Please check our website for frequent updates

Amy Finkel Morris Finkel Jamie Banks mailbox@samplings.com 800-598-7432

Are you interested in selling? We are constantly purchasing antique samplers and needlework and would like to know what you have for sale. We can purchase outright or act as your agent.

Photographs sent to us will receive our prompt attention. Call us for more information.

ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF CONTENTS Nancy Abbet, Instructress Susan Grout, Grafton, Massachusetts, 1803 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 ASF, Motif sampler, Germany, 1766 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Julia Margaret Bachman, Charleston, South Carolina, 1833 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Henrietta Salara Baker, Plaistow, New Hampshire, 1823 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Emeline Brown, Mary Ralston School, Easton, Pennsylvania, circa 1830 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Bullfinch and Basket of Strawberries, England, circa 1825 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Grace H. Dougal, New Haven, Connecticut, 1830 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Sarah Edmonds, Kidderminster, England, 1816 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Charlotte Frye, Andover, Massachusetts, 1811 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Mary Jane Hales, Soulsbyville, Tuolumne County, California, circa 1868 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Minerva E. Hardy, Lunenburg, Virginia, 1825 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Lydia Ann Ingham, Essex, Connecticut, 1830 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Charlotte John, Regent Town, Sierra Leone, 1843. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 “John and Ellin” Ship sampler, England, circa 1825 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Sophie Letailleur, France, 1848 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Eliza Ann Lovell, Weymouth, Massachusetts, 1819 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 York, Pennsylvania sampler, in memory of William Marshall, circa 1818 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Eliza E. McIntire, Mrs. S.B. Bowen’s School, White River, Randolph Co., IN, 1836 . . . . . . . . 1 Moravian Pin Book, Salem, North Carolina, circa 1850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Elizabeth Neavel, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1829. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Dorcas Newhall, Danvers, Massachusetts, 1819 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Caroline Notherman, Depiction of Masonic Hall, Baltimore, Maryland, 1827 . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Sarah Parker, Depiction of the Massachusetts State House, Pepperell, Mass., 1811 . . . . . . . 27 Ann Parkinson, England, circa 1815. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Pennsylvania German sampler, Warwick, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1820 . . . . . . . . . 29 Les Pensionnaires Pieuse, France, circa 1820 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Meely Putnam & Phebe Upton, Aunt & Niece, Danvers, MA, 1790 & 1825 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Portfolio made by Queen Adelaide of England, 1835. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Mary Rickman, Ackworth School, England, 1786 to 1789 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Rhoda Rogers, Newbury, Massachusetts, 1804. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Hannah Smedley, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1810. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Cynthia Smith, Haverford, Pennsylvania, 1830 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Hannah Smith, England, 1809 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Juliet Eliza Sollers, Baltimore, Maryland, 1814 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Memorial to Capt. Reuben Spencer, Dutchess County, New York, 1806 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Abigail Staples, Prospect, Maine, 1841 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Nantucket Miniature Memorial Quaker Sampler to Lucretia Starbuck, circa 1812 . . . . . . . 15 Terry Family Memorial, by Oliver B. Goldsmith, Southold, Suffolk Co., NY c.1830 . . . . . . . 24 Kitty Waterman, Darning sampler, England, 1804 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Eliza Woods, Pettigo School, Ireland, 1849 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

detail of sampler by Dorcas Newhall, Danvers, Massachusetts, 1819, page 33

Eliza Ellen McIntire, Mrs. S. B. Bowen’s School, White River, Randolph County, Indiana, 1836

Samplers made west of Ohio are rare and those naming the town and teacher are exceedingly so.

Eleven-year-old Eliza Ellen McIntire stitched this highly important sampler while attending Mrs. S. B. Bowen’s School in the town of White River, in Randolph County which is northeast of Indianapolis. This is the only sampler known from this school. Eliza Ellen McIntire was born in White River on Dec 14, 1825, the daughter of Robinson McIntire (1786-1871) and Mary Taylor McIntire (1787-1854). Robinson McIntire was born in Pennsylvania and his wife Mary was born in Butler County, Ohio; they married in 1813 in Ohio and by 1819 the family had joined the westward movement and removed to Indiana. Their first three children were born in Ohio and their five other children were born in White River, Indiana. (continued on the next page)

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Eliza Ellen McIntire, Mrs. S. B. Bowen’s School, White River, Randolph County, Indiana, 1836 (continued)

(detail) The sampler made by Eliza is large and filled with needlework forming a highly developed and detailed pictorial scene, lengthy Biblical verse worked in tiny lettering, a long series of family initials and a boldly worked inscription. It is all surrounded by one of the most interesting borders that we have seen on any sampler, with finely worked little vignettes throughout.

Birds in trees, baskets of fruit, a richly detailed strawberry plant and two little couples are fit into the arcades of the border. This sophisticated and extraordinary sampler is even more remarkable in that it was worked in a state that had only existed as such for 20 years in 1836.

In 1846, she married Simeon V. Brickley a farmer who was born in 1822 in Preble Co., Ohio in 1822. He was also living in White River and they remained there, owning lime quarries and lime kilns. Eliza and Simeon became the parents of four children born between 1848 and 1856. Eliza remained in Indiana her entire life and died in 1901.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in very good condition overall with some weakness and holes to the linen. It has been conservation mounted and is in a maple and cherry frame.

Sampler size: 25” x 20”

Price: $16,500.

(detail)

Juliet Eliza Sollers, Baltimore, Maryland, 1814 The Maryland Historical Society presented a praiseworthy exhibition entitled “Maryland Schoolgirl Samplers and Embroideries 1738 – 1860” in 2007. Noted needlework scholar and author, Dr. Gloria Seaman Allen, curated this show and revealed the great depth and breadth of the samplers and needlework from this colony and then state. Juliet Eliza Sollers’ important sampler, notable for its unusual blocks of patterns, was included in this exhibition. Dr. Allen’s accompanying book, A M a r yland Sampling: Girlhood Embroider y 1 7 3 8 - 1 8 6 0 (The Press at the Maryland Historical Society, 2007) stands as one of the most scholarly books in the field of schoolgirl needlework, covering substantially more than was exhibited. Dr. Allen illustrated our Sollers sampler as the frontispiece of her book and we feel that her words describe this sampler best:

(continued on the next page)

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In 1814, ten-year-old Juliet Sollers (1804-1853) worked a sampler, remarkable for its blocks of delicate pulled thread patterns, stitched in polychrome silk rather than white linen thread. The patterns are part of the tradition of Dresden work, a form of embroidered lace that first developed in Saxony and was commercially traded in Dresden. The technique was taught in colonial girls’ schools beginning in the 1750s.

Juliet was the only child of Sarah Partridge and Elisha Sollers (1770-1809), who resided at “Sollers Point” on the Patapsco River in Baltimore County. On November 3, 1824, Juliet Eliza Sollers married Dr. Augustine Taney in Baltimore, and they eventually settled in Emmitsburg. According to the federal census, in 1850 the couple had three children.

Her father’s 1809 will directed that she should receive an “education as liberal as interest of estate admits and [at] one of the best, most eligible schools.” Years later, when Juliet recounted for her grandchildren the British attack on Baltimore in September 1814 that burned the family homestead, she recalled that she and her governess had hidden in the shrubbery to avoid detection. Juliet had completed her sampler just eight months earlier, quite possibly under the direction of this governess rather than in the formal setting of a classroom

A copy of this book accompanies the sampler along with its research file. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a period gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 141/4” x 171/4”

Price: $14,500.

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“John and Ellin” Ship sampler, England, circa 1825 Samplers that portray specific ships are considered quite rare and it should be assumed that the needleworker was a family member of the ship owner or ship captain. This is a beautifully designed and executed depiction of the “John and Ellin” with sails billowing and banners fluttering in the wind; she has delicate rigging and sits on green waves. The three-sided border of flowers on leafy vines joined by a bowknot is a classic sampler framework and would suggest that this was done by a schoolgirl rather than a married lady.

T h e R egister of Shipping, published yearly in London by the Society for the Registry of Shipping indicates that the “John and Ellin” (or Ellen) was built in Sunderland and sailed from 1822 until 1829. It was a classified as a single deck sloop, first class and built of first quality materials and it plied the Yarmouth coast. It seems that the samplermaker may have taken some artistic license with her portrayal, as she shows more of a frigate than a sloop; a very similar ship is known on another sampler and these may have come from a generic pattern.

Much of the work was accomplished in a long satin stitch, some of it in a surface satin stitch to conserve materials. Worked in silk on fine linen, it is in excellent condition with some very minor loss to the silk in the waves. It has been conservation mounted and is in its fine original carved black and gold frame.

Sampler size: 111/4” x 151/4”

Price: $5800.

Charlotte Frye, Andover, Massachusetts, 1811 Worked in 1811 by Charlotte Frye of Andover, Massachusetts, this splendid sampler boasts strong composition and outstanding color and contrast. A hilly lawn forms the base for little trees and potted plants and flowers with splendid blossoms on vines growing out of a pair of baskets and forming the side borders. Alphabets, a cautionary verse and Charlotte’s inscription are all worked in carefully formed black stitches; a stylish and well-proportioned black and white framework forms a handsome border on three sides. The strongly vertical nature of this sampler was carried over from the design of 18th century samplers.

The vital records of Andover, Massachusetts, an early town on the Merrimack River, 20 miles northwest of Boston, show the birth of this samplermaker, Charlotte Fyre, in 1797. She was the first born of Peter and Hannah (Noyse) Frye who had been married there in 1796; this branch of the Frye family had lived in Pembroke, New Hampshire for much of the 18th century, removing to Andover upon the 1762 marriage of Charlotte’s grandparents. This sampler was made when Charlotte was 14 years old and exhibits the competence of a practiced needleworker.

Miss Frye lived her life in Andover and the adjoining town of North Andover. She did not marry, lived as an adult with two of her sisters, Susan and Miranda, and died in 1874.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into an early 19th century gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 153/4” x 111/2”

Price: $11,000.

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Julia Margaret Bachman, Charleston, South Carolina, 1833 Born on October 15, 1825, Julia Margaret Bachman was one of the 14 children of Rev. Dr. John and Harriet (Martin) Bachman. John Bachman (1790-1874) was a renowned Lutheran pastor, social reformer and long time civic leader of Charleston. He was a great supporter of the African American population; he ministered to, and illegally educated, members of this community. He was best known, however, as a devoted and gifted naturalist who worked closely with John James Audubon, beginning in 1831 and for many decades; they co-authored some of the most monumental works on American birds and mammals. Audubon named two species of birds, Bachman’s Sparrow and Bachman’s Warbler, after his friend. The Bachman home, a classic Charleston four-story house on Rutledge Avenue, served as home base for Audubon and was known for the animals, birds and plants that cohabitated along with the Bachman family.

A book entitled Had I the Wings: The Friendship of Bachman & Audubon by Jay Shuler offers a great deal of information about the Bachman family. Portions of family letters indicate that Julia was “the beauty of the family.” Tragically, Julia fell ill in 1847, at age 22 and, after a trip to the hot springs in Virginia in the hopes that her consumption would be cured, Julia died.

We are privileged to offer this highly rare and very interesting sampler, worked by Julia Margaret Bachman when she was seven years old, in 1833. The sampler, obviously an early project, offers alphabets, numbers, a four-line religious verse with a pair of fruit baskets, and two stylized little trees, distinct characteristics found on South Carolina samplers, in the lower corners. In 2006 The Charleston Museum presented an excellent exhibition entitled A P r o p e r a n d Polite Education: Girlhood Embroider y of the American South and this exhibition documented the style of sampler from South Carolina. (continued on the next page)

7 The Bachman family remained deeply involved with the Audubon family, and two of Julia’s sisters married sons of John James Audubon. After his wife died in 1846, Rev. Dr. Bachman married her sister, Maria Martin, who went on to become a highly regarded naturalist painter, contributing to the illustrations of the important publications by Audubon and others. Rev. Dr. Bachman was the professor of Natural History at the College of Charleston, founder of Newberry College and of the South Carolina Lutheran Synod. The sampler remained in this distinguished family for generations, descending initially to a niece and namesake. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in very good condition with some minor loss to one area of the linen. It has been conservation mounted and is in a figured maple frame.

Sampler size: 14” x 13” Price: $11,000.

Grace H. Dougal, New Haven, Connecticut, 1830 This samplermaker, Grace Hewitt Dougal, was the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Peck) Dougal of New Haven. She was the third of their six children, born August 14, 1817, and in 1830, at age 13, Grace completed this small but very engaging sampler. The composition possesses a lively naiveté and the needlework indicates great control and skill. The subject is a footed bowl with large and varied flowers fairly springing out of it; note the bird perched within the arrangement.

An unusual and diminutive pair of fruit baskets, tilted on angle, embellish the lower corners.

Grace worked with very tight stitches and created openwork to decorate the bottom of the bowl and the deep blue and white buds.

The published V i t a l R ecords of New Haven 1649-1850 indicate that Grace married Charles E. Gorham, also of New Haven, on October 2, 1836 at the Methodist Church in Fair Haven. They removed to Cleveland, Ohio by 1838 where their three children, Isabella, Frederick and Charles were born and then continued further west where to Fort Wayne, Indiana where they were living in 1870.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a fine mahogany half spindle period frame.

Sampler size: 81/4” x 111/2”

Price: $5800.

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Charlotte John, Regent Town, Sierra Leone, 1843

A handful of samplers are known to have been made at the missionary schools that were established in Sierra Leone, on the west coast of Africa. The Church Missionary Society, a Church of England institution, played a key role in bringing western-style education to the missionary villages populated with freed slaves, particularly children, in Freetown, Regent Town and other cities. By the 1820’s close to 2500 African children were given English names and living in this colonial English manner.

In 1843, Charlotte John (note that she didn’t spell her given name properly in her stitching) worked this sampler, which is very much in the English tradition. It is remarkably similar to the sampler made by Lucy Grant in 1840, also in Regent Town, which is part of the sampler collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum and published as plate 88 in Samplers from the Victoria and Albert Museum by Browne and Wearden. Lucy and Charlotte must have been taught by the same teacher; their samplers both feature alphabets, religious verse and the same baskets of flowers and crossed stems of flowers under the date. This teacher may have been a Mrs. Denton, who is sited in the published periodical, the Church Missionar y R ecord of September 1846. While describing the daily activities of students at the Female Institution of Regent Town, the R ecord indicated that, after receiving instruction in arithmetic and reading, the girls “joined Mrs. Denton’s Day school for sewing.”

Worked in silk on wool, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and Price: $5750. is in a black molded and painted frame.

Sampler size: 123/4” x 11”

Cynthia Smith, Haverford, Pennsylvania, 1830 This classic sampler combines delicate needlework, splendid color and a verse that aptly recommends us to store our minds “with charms that last. / Most will endure when beauty’s past.” The samplermaker was twelve-year-old Cynthia Smith of Haverford, a small early town just west of Philadelphia. The influence of 18th century Philadelphia sampler design is evident in the compartmental composition and the effective use of sawtooth outlines.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition with some very minor loss to the teal blue silk. It has been conservation mounted into a molded frame.

Sampler size: 121/2” x 15”

Price: $4800.

Bullfinch and Basket of Strawberries, England, circa 1825 We occasionally encounter appliqué, stuffed and embroidered pictures in shadowbox frames, but rarely one as delightful as this rendering of a bullfinch perched on a basket of strawberries. The focus, of course, is the richly colored bird but details such as the pairs of cherries joined at their stems and the stylish scroll contribute to the composition. Delicate stitches form the feathers on the bird, the seeds of the strawberries, the veins of the leaves and the woven basket. The bird and berries are stuffed and the dimension adds greatly to the work. It is quite deep, with the interior walls measuring almost one inch.

It was worked with wool stitches onto felted wool and the ground fabric was painted a brilliant, deep golden yellow. In excellent condition, it is in its original oval shadowbox frame, which of very high quality carved and painted pearwood.

Frame size: 111/2” x 93/4”

Price: $3850.

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Abigail Staples, Prospect, Maine, 1841 Worked in Prospect, Maine, this is a handsome horizontal format sampler made

by Abigail Staples, who was 12 years and 9 months old in 1841.

Born on November 7, 1828, she was the 8th out of the 13 children born to Alexander Staples, a farmer, and his wife, Mary Ellingwood Staples.

The Staples family settled in Kittery, Maine, by 1671, and many ensuing generations stayed in Maine, residing in coastal or inland towns. Prospect is located in an agricultural area along the Penobscot River, 52 miles northeast of Augusta. In 1846 Abigail married Capt. Levi Griffith, but died just two years later, at age 21.

This would be considered a marking sampler; schoolgirls were expected to learn to make these samplers, working the alphabets in various stitches. This basic skill would serve them well as married women running households, as they would be marking their valuable bed linens to rotate their usage properly.

The sampler was worked in dark blue silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a molded and painted frame.

Sampler size: 103/4” x 171/4” Price: $1400.

Eliza Woods, Pettigo School, Ireland, 1849 Pettigo is a very small coastal town in Northern Ireland, located 15 miles southeast of Donegal. An 1854 publication entitled Handbook for Travelers in Ireland by James Fraser indicates that Pettigo was situated in a hilly, rough rural area of tiny islets, accessible only by dirt roads unfit for carriages of any sort. The population, in 1841, was 616.

We find it remarkable that a school which taught samplermaking existed there, and are pleased to offer this handsome little sampler that serves to document this.

Eliza Woods, working in 1849 at age 12, inscribed a quotation from the King James Bible and stitched a large crown to illustrate it. A swan, bird, butterfly and fruit basket provide further embellishment.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a period beveled and painted black fame.

Sampler size: 111/2” x 71/4”

Price: $1600.

Emeline Brown, Mary Ralston School, Easton, Pa, c. 1830 One of the most highly regarded American instructresses of the early 19th century was Mrs. Mary Ralston, who conducted a school for girls in Easton, Pennsylvania, from about 1813 until the end of the 1830s. Mrs. Ralston, an experienced and talented needlewoman, designed a distinctive style of sampler that featured a large building surrounded by magnificent, lavishly worked borders of flowers, fruit and leaves. For obvious reasons, samplers worked at her school are considered amongst the most desirable of 19th century schoolgirl needlework. Betty Ring in volume II of Girlhood Embroider y includes an extensive discussion of this school in a section entitled “Samplers of the Lehigh Valley: Easton Samplers and Mary Ralston’s School.”

Emeline Brown’s sampler depicts a large public building, perhaps a church, set on a lawn and flanked by leafy trees. Her border is outstanding, even when compared to other Ralston School pieces, and most resembles the border on the sampler illustrated as figure 505 in Girlhood Embroider y, owned by the Monroe County Historical Association. Mary Ralston retired in the early 1840s, and when she died in 1850, Mrs. Ring states that Easton newspaper observed that she “had resided in this place, where for many years she conducted a female school. Her many moral and social virtues made a lasting impression upon the affections of this community.”

The majority of the samplers known from this school are not signed or dated within the needlework.

Emeline Brown’s sampler may have had a black and gold reverse painted glass mat originally and it seems likely that this was later reproduced using black silk ribbon and paint.

This piece was worked in crewel wool and silk on linen and is in excellent condition with one very small area of loss to the linen. It has been conservation mounted and is in its fine original gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 18” x 20”

Frame size: 27” x 29”

Price: $16,500.

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Minerva E. Hardy, Lunenburg, Virginia, 1825 Far fewer samplers were made in Virginia than in the northern states and we are pleased to offer this significant and recently discovered family record sampler from Lunenburg County, southern Virginia. Vincent Hardy was born in 1770 and in 1809 married, as his second wife, a widow, Sally O. Penn. Vincent was a farmer whose first wife had died in childbirth. The 1810 census shows the household and indicates that, along with the family, there were 12 slaves. Vincent and Sally became the parents of eight children born between 1809 and 1822 and it was their fourth child, Minerva Elizabeth, who made this large, outstanding sampler in 1825 when she was 11 years old.

At age 16 Minerva married Robert Blackwell, a merchant, from an early Virginia family. They had five children and remained in Lunenburg. Robert had died by 1860 and Minerva Hardy Blackwell was recorded by the 1860 census, listing her own occupation as farmer, with substantial real estate. The family lost one of their sons, Thomas Blackwell, in the Civil War. Minerva died in 1877 and her sampler descended in the family for many generations.

The family information is recorded on the top portion, a verse entitled “Benevolence” was worked in the center and the lower register features a splendid scene of houses, birds and trees on a lawn. It is all surrounded by a fine border of fat queen’s-stitched strawberries with flower buds in the corners.

The needlework is excellent throughout and indicates that Minerva would have been taught by an instructress of considerable talent. There are not, however, any other known Virginia samplers that resemble this one.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany veneer frame.

Sampler size: 21” x 171/2 ”

Price: $22,000.

Portfolio made by Queen Adelaide of England, 1835 Historically, one of the ways in which members of the royal families supported their charities was to donate works by their own hands, to be exhibited and then sold at auction; the proceeds would be quite considerable and could make a significant difference for the charity in need. Watercolors, paintings and needleworks are known to have been contributed to various causes by monarchs throughout history.

Accompanied by a series of letters and labels, we offer this very fine and extremely rare needleworked portfolio which was made by Queen Adelaide, wife and consort of King William IV, who reigned between 1830 and 1837. It was made for and donated to the Hyde Bazaar, which raised money for the Hyde National School Building Fund in 1835.

Queen Adelaide (1792-1849) was German by birth and married Prince William, Duke of Clarence, in 1818. He succeeded to the throne in 1830, upon the death of his brother George IV. Queen Adelaide was known to be a needleworker and biographers of the King observed that the Queen and her ladies-inwaiting would spend the evenings with their needlework.

Interestingly, the decorative designs of this portfolio are indeed more reminiscent of German needlework of the period than of English.

The letters that document this piece were written by Member of Parliament, William Tatton Egerton, and the Queen’s Chamberlain, Lord Howe, in August and September of 1835. Mr. Egerton petitions the Lord Chamberlain for a contribution of work by Her Majesty’s hand to help alleviate the heavy debt of the school. The Hyde Bazaar, run by Rev. Herbert Allkins, obtains the promise of something made by the Queen and arrangements are made for the receipt of this parcel by post. A letter written after the Hyde Bazaar from the Lord Chamberlain expresses the Queen’s shock at the high prices that her work realized, but how pleased she is to have been able to “assist in some measure so desirable and praise-worthy a charity.” Printed labels that were exhibited along with the needlework remain with it as well (see above).

The portfolio has a green silk interior and a lightweight metal framework. The stitching, which is in excellent condition, was done onto fine metal screening and edged with light green chenille. It has been mounted and matted and is in a 19th century gold leaf frame.

Size of the portfolio: 12” x 201/4”

Frame size: 181/4” x 261/2”

Price: $7800.

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Mary Rickman, Ackworth School, England, 1786 to 1789 Ackworth School, the renowned Quaker school in Yorkshire, England, was founded in 1779 and samplers made there during the 18th and early 19th centuries have been the subject of much scholarly study in the past decade. Carol Humphrey’s superb book, Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth, provides an in-depth study and analysis of these highly appealing samplers and illustrates a great number of them. We are very pleased to offer this early and unusual Ackworth sampler, which has come to light only recently.

Oval format “extract” samplers with lengthy letter-perfect verse presented in a meticulous arrangement were made at Ackworth for many decades. This example is one of the earliest known of these from the school, and, according to Carol Humphrey, the only one with this particular Biblical verse which was extracted from Matthew 5:1-13. Mrs. Humphrey, Honourary Keeper of Textiles at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, further indicates that in the very early years, Ackworth samplers were not as formulaic as they became later on. This sampler descended with a detailed handwritten period note on the reverse of the frame, a specific family history regarding the maker, Mary Rickman, and her family, as well as that into which she married.

The Ackworth School archives indicate that Mary Rickman, daughter of Joseph and Anne Rickman, was admitted to the school on May 25, 1786. Her older sister, Benjamina, had also been a student there between 1780 and 1785. A sampler made by Benjamina is in the collection of Ackworth School and is published in Carol Humphrey’s book, on page 34. Research using Quaker records revealed a great deal of information about Mary Rickman and an extensive file accompanies the sampler.

Mary was born on June 4, 1775; her parents were members of the Westminster Monthly Meeting of London. As a young woman, Mary served as doorkeeper at the Women’s Yearly Meeting and later became a long term and highly respected Quaker minister. In 1815 at Brighton, Mary married William Binns (1768-1850), who also had attended Ackworth in 1782 to1783. His father, Thomas Binns had been a teacher at Ackworth for many years beginning in 1782, eventually becoming Headmaster at the Grove House School in Tottenham. William was an oilman and merchant and the Binns had no (continued on the next page)

children, but raised a nephew, Charles Binns. Mary died in 1851 at age 76. The lengthy notice of her death in the Quaker publication, the Annual Monitor indicates that Mary was an active and devout Friend throughout her life; remarks made at the end her life and published in the Monitor include the wish that “parents would encourage the dear young women amongst us to be engaged in the working for children of the poor instead of so much ornamental work.” Indeed Mary’s schoolgirl sampler with its compassionate sentiment and classically plain Quaker needlework is a stellar legacy of her life.

This sampler was worked in silk on wool and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation Price: $4800. mounted and is in its original carved frame.

Sampler size: 12” x 91/2”

(detail)

Nantucket Miniature Memorial Quaker Sampler to Lucretia Starbuck, circa 1812 This is a very delicate and unusual miniature sampler made in memory of a three-year-old by one of her older sisters. The family was that of Kimbal and Mary (Coffin) Starbuck, both members of prominent early Quaker families of Nantucket and married there in 1796. They became the parents of three daughters, Mary, Jr., born in 1796, Sarah, born in 1799 and Lucretia, “Born 26th of 8th mo 1809 Died 3rd of 10th mo 1812 Aged 3 years 1 mo and 11 days.”

Both Mary and Sarah worked outstanding samplers in 1808 while they were students at the Nantucket Friends School; their samplers are in the collection of the Nantucket Historical Association and published

by Betty Ring in Girlhood Embroider y: American Samplers & P i c t o r i a l N e e d l e w o r k 1 6 5 0 - 1 8 5 0, vol. I as figures 166 and 167. Either Mary or Sarah would have been the maker of this poignant and very personal little sampler, circa 1812. Lucretia’s death was recorded by the minutes of the Nantucket Monthly Meeting. The verse carefully stitched on to the sampler reads as follows, “So fond desires are often crossed And parents hopes in death are lost.”

Worked in silk on linen gauze, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in its original gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 41/2” x 4”

Price: $4250.

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Mary Jane Hales, Soulsbyville, Tuolumne County, California, circa 1868 Only a handful of samplers made in California are known and this is a particularly well documented one. It was made by Mary Jane Hales who was born on August 24, 1856 in Soulsbyville, Tuolumne County, which was a mining village, southeast of Sacramento and due east of San Francisco. A family note was hand written by one of Mary Jane’s children onto the paper backing of the framed sampler; this note provides much information about the Hales family and about Mary Jane’s marriages and children. (Indeed, this note indicates that this sampler belongs in a San Francisco museum as the Hales were pioneers of the state of California.)

Mary Jane’s parents were John Hales, who was born circa 1829 in Cornwall, England, and Mary Trengrove, born circa 1832, also in Cornwall. John Hales came to California as a young man during the gold rush of 1849; by 1856 he was married to Mary Trengrove. The 1860 census records indicate that John was a miner living in “Township No. 1” in Tuolumne County along with his wife and three children; the eldest was Mary Jane Hales, then age 3. The Hales remained in that area and had eight children, total. Information about Mary Jane’s younger brother Elisha Hales, born 1867, is published in the Histor y of Merced County, California with a Biographical R eview of Leading Men and Women, written by John Outcalt, published in 1925. Elisha was considered one of the prominent early settlers of the town of Gustine, who, after he tried mining, became a successful dairy and alfalfa farmer in Merced County, south of Tuolumne. (continued on the next page)

17 The family information that accompanies the sampler indicates that Mary Jane made this sampler when she was 12 years old which would have been circa 1868. We find that the 1870 census shows that Mary Jane was “at school” and that her father then considered him a farmer. In 1875 Mary Jane married James Trevithick, also a farmer, who was born in England, and by 1880 they were living in Sonora, a larger town just 10 miles west of Soulsbyville, with two young children. James died in 1894 and in 1897 Mary married Alex Arthur Davis, a gold miner, also of Soulbysville. They became the parents of at least two children. Mary died in 1936 in Soulbysville and her sampler descended to one of her Trevithick children.

The sampler was worked in wool and silk on linen and is in very good condition with very minor loss to the wool. It has been conservation mounted and is in its original black and gold painted frame.

Sampler size: 143/4” x 103/4”

Price: $22,000.

Kitty Waterman, Darning Sampler, England, 1804 One of the skills that young needleworkers were taught was whitework darning, which would hold obviously practical, lifelong applications. The majority of these samplers were made in Quaker schools in England and the United States, and exhibit a handsome graphic.

Kitty Waterman created this fine, technically proficient whitework darner in 1804, with nine different patterned blocks and an inscription worked in the classic Quaker styled lettering.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a late 19th century veneer frame.

Sampler size: 9” square

Price: $3800.

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Moravian Pin Book, Salem, North Carolina, circa 1850 Small objects that relate to the craft of needlework were made and exchanged by schoolgirls as tokens of regard throughout the 19th century. Students at the Moravian Seminaries and Academies of Pennsylvania and North Carolina were particularly adept at this, as the tradition of extremely fine needlework was firmly entrenched at their schools. This small and beautifully made pin book commemorates the Moravian Church of Salem, North Carolina and notes the date it was built, 1800. Kathleen Staples, noted scholar and curator in the field of Southern needlework, includes an almost identical example as figure 1 in her article, “Sewing Accessories in the Collections of MESDA,” (Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly, Summer 2005). Both were made with fine watercolor scenes of the church, gilt painted edging lines, inked inscriptions and a thick pink wool and silk pin cushion and “pages” of wool edges with embroidery stitches. Narrow pink silk ribbons would tie it closed. It offers great rarity and a gem like quality.

Size: 31/2” x 23/4” x 1”

Price: $1850. (back)

Sophie Letailleur, France, 1848 An interesting pictorial sampler, this was made by a 9-year-old French schoolgirl, Sophia Letailleur. Included are depictions of a sailing ship, a large dog at a tree with a bird, vases of flowers and other large and colorful birds on branches. A small wreath with a pair of doves inside, little stars and butterflies provide further decoration and the border is a vine with shaded leaves and buds.

The phrasing of the inscription is interesting, “Agee de 9 ans Annee dix848,” using “dix” instead of the digit 1. Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a fine 19th century rosewood frame.

Sampler size: 153/4” x 191/2”

Price: $2400.

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Les Pensionnaires Pieuse, France, circa 1820

This splendid silk embroidered picture depicts “The Pious Pensioners,” a young lady and a girl in an outdoor setting, with a little shrine set up in a tree. Accomplished in fine needlework and skillfully painted elements, it is an unusual and poignant subject. Rich chenille threads were used to great advantage providing shading and texture throughout. Some of the details to the setting include the large leafy fruit tree, graceful pair of silvery trees, the fine wooden fence and the large flowers in the foreground at left. Attention lavished on the two figures resulted in the fine bonnet and reticule to the woman, and the little flower and rosary beads held by the young girl, whose dress is punctuated with red and whose hair is caught up in a silk head band. The shrine, painted in watercolor, features Madonna and Child against an azure background. The gaze of the young lady is fixed upon this and her hands are clasped in devotion.

This extraordinary and praiseworthy frame is original to the embroidery, with extravagant carved and gessoed molding, finished in gold leaf and black paint. The framer’s label remains on the backboard, most interestingly it is in both French and Dutch. The framer’s workshop was P. Danckengny & Son and they specialized in high quality techniques and finishes; we can speculate that the family had shops in both France and the Netherlands.

The needlework was accomplished in chenille and silk on silk and it is in excellent condition with a replaced eglomise glass mat.

Sight size: 121/2” x 10”

Frame size: 211/4” x 18”

Price: $8600.

(detail)

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Elizabeth Neavel, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1829 Elizabeth Neavel was the daughter of Henry and Catherine (Leaver) Neavel of Gwynedd Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia. She was born on January 21, 1818 and was baptized at St. Peter’s Yellow Church in North Wales.

Henry and Catherine had been married in 1813 according to a notice in the newspaper of the county seat, Norristown.

Their initials appear prominently on Elizabeth’s sampler along with those of her siblings, Elias, Jeremiah, and Abigail (MMN was likely a younger sibling who died in infancy). Elizabeth did not marry and died sometime between 1829 and 1839.

Elizabeth made this handsome sampler in 1829 when she was 11 years old. It shares its composition and many salient features with other known samplers from this area of Montgomery County, specifically the fine double-chimney Federal house and lawn with little sheep and dogs, tall trees and a prominent pot of flowers. The unusual straight-lined leafy cartouche is also a regional characteristic, with roots in the Quaker sampler design prevalent in the area. The fine black lettering also shows a strong Quaker school influence.

This sampler was in the collection of Theodore H. Kapnek, one of the most highly regarded collectors of American samplers. This collection was exhibited at the Museum of American Folk Art and sold, after the death of Mr. Kapnek, at Sotheby’s in 1981. An extensive research file accompanies this sampler with photocopies of the 1830 will of Henry Neavel, and many other interesting legal documents relating to the family. Catherine Neavel, as a widow, lived with her son Elias for many years. He became a weaver and lived in Norristown.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a maple and cherry cornerblock frame.

Sampler size: 161/2” x 17”

Price: $14,000.

Rhoda Rogers, Newbury, Massachusetts, 1804 An outstanding body of needlework was created in Newbury and Newburyport, small coastal towns at the northernmost point of Massachusetts.

Published examples confirm that several teachers of extraordinary talents were working there in the late 18th and very early 19th centuries. In many ways Rhoda Rogers’s sampler is one of the most stylish and interesting of this group, presenting a wreath of finely worked full-blossom flowers and leaves surrounding a striking octagonal framework. Ten-year-old Rhoda filled this with alphabets, inscription and an ominous couplet, typical of the period. It is clear that her teacher expected her to fill the background of the octagon with tiny pale blue herringbone stitches; the young samplermaker must have felt that this was a daunting task as she completed only approximately half of it. A hilly lawn forms a base along the bottom and a strong sawtooth border frames it well.

The Rogers family of Newbury is well documented in the family genealogy, R obert R ogers of Newbur y: Massachusetts Three Generations of Descendants by Janet Ireland DeLorey and the family was in Massachusetts as early as 1640. Born on January 29, 1793, Rhoda was the daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Stickney) Rogers. In 1813 she married James Kent, a blacksmith, also of Newbury. They remained in Newbury, raised a family and both Rhoda and James Kent were still living there in 1880, along with one of their sons.

Scholars have been aware of this sampler since the 1980s when it was in the collection of Joanne Foulke, one of the guest curators of the 1990 Dartmouth College, Hood Museum exhibition of samplers from the Canterbury, New Hampshire region, and a discerning collector of American samplers. The Foulke collection was sold, in part, at Skinner Auction in 1988. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a 19th century gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 161/2” x 123/4”

Price: $9200.

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Lydia Ann Ingham, Essex, Connecticut, 1830 Born in 1819, Lydia Ann Ingham was the eldest child of Hon. Samuel and Lydia (Wilson) Ingham.

Samuel Ingham (1793-1881) was a prominent lawyer and judge who held many important public offices and rose to become a viable candidate for governor of Connecticut. The Histor y of Middlesex County Connecticut 1635-1 8 8 5 by J.H. Beers & Co. includes a full biography of Hon. Samuel Ingham, indicating that he was noted for his imposing presence and powerful voice and the “deadly precision” of his mind. Amongst the positions the Hon. Ingham held are Speaker of the House of Representatives, member of State Senate and Congress and Commissioner of Customs in the Treasury Department in Washington.

Lydia made this handsome sampler in July of 1830 at age10. In 1845 she married the Hon. James Phelps, of Colebrook, Connecticut who had studied law under her father and then rose to become a well respected and prominent lawyer as well. James was a member of the State Legislature and was elected to an eight year term as Judge of the Superior Court of the Connecticut. The same history of Middlesex County noted his strength of character and his integrity. Lydia and James were the parents of two sons, Samuel and James. The family lived in Essex, a part of Saybrook, Connecticut and appears in the 1850 though 1880 census records, living in the later years with Lydia’s father, Samuel Ingham.

Lydia’s sampler is a classic example of a house and scene sampler from the early 19th century. Her large three-story house sits amidst various trees on a shaded lawn. This house is depicted differently than many as it seems that Lydia tried to incorporate a three-quarter view into a frontal view, as is evident at the left side of the house. She was 11 years old when she finished this in July of 1830 and the needlework is excellent, with carefully worked lettering and many little motifs at the end of each line.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into Price: $4200. a beveled maple frame with a cherry bead.

Size: 16” x 171/2”

Meely Putnam and Phebe Upton, Samplers by Aunt and Niece, Danvers, Massachusetts, 1790 and 1825 It is interesting to be able to offer two fine samplers that were made within one family from Danvers, Massachusetts and which have remained together throughout the many generations. In 1790, ten-year-old Meely Putnam, whose full name was Parmelia, was working very much in the tradition of the late 18th century: a bordered band sampler with alphabets, aphorism and folky figures at the bottom. This sampler stands alone as a very good example of early needlework form coastal Massachusetts. Four eyelet-stitched blocks provide embellishments at the corners and the large letters that form the samplermaker’s name are also eyelet-stitched.

Meely Putnam was born November 13, 1780, the fifth of eight children born to Deacon Joseph Putnam and his wife, Ruth Flint. Her next younger sibling was sister Polly who married Ebenezer Upton, a successful farmer and Justice of the Peace. Their fifth born was Phebe Wood Upton, born in 1817. In 1825 Phebe worked this charming sampler with houses along the bottom and an unusual collection of flower braches, baskets and birds that compose the border. This free-form work has a strong folk art character and is sought after accordingly.

Meely died in 1797 at age seventeen and it seems likely that her sampler was given to Polly who gave it to her daughter Phebe, perhaps in honor of Phebe’s own accomplishments with the needle.

Both samplers were worked in silk on linen and are in excellent condition. They have each been conservation mounted into painted black and gold frames.

Sampler sizes: Putnam, 17” x 81/4” Upton, 171/2” x 121/4” Price for the pair: $12,000.

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Young ladies worked silk embroidered memorials to honor the memory of deceased family members and young men occasionally created their own memorials, generally using pen and ink and watercolor on paper. We offer these two very interesting examples.

Memorial to Capt. Reuben Spencer (1739-1806), Dutchess County, New York, 1806 This was made by his son and namesake, Reuben Spencer, then age 32, and it expresses the enormous grief that the Spencer family must have felt following the death of Capt. Spencer, “Aged 66 Years 8 Mos and One day,” after he was thrown from his horse. A large and handsome monument dominates the scene while a tiny riderless horse gallops at left and a small church is nestled into the right corner. Reuben Spencer, Sr. was born in Saybrook, Connecticut and served as captain of the Regiment of Militia in the County of Dutchess, New York in the Revolutionary War. Reuben Spencer, Jr., whose initials appear at the lower right corner, was a City Surveyor of New York as well as a boat captain in the Brazilian trade. One of his sons, Jesse Ames Spencer, was an Episcopal clergyman, educator and author of great repute; a copy of his published memoir accompanies this piece. It is in excellent condition and remains in its original dark figured maple frame.

Sight size: 7” x 51/2” Frame size: 111/2” x 91/2” Price: $2900.

Terry Family Memorial, by Oliver B. Goldsmith, Southold, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, circa 1830 A small and beautifully detailed double memorial, this honors siblings John Terry, who died in 1812 and Nancy Terry, who died in 1814; they were the children of Timothy Brewster Terry. The composition is excellent, with a pair of graceful, springgreen willow trees bending towards the center and protecting the tombs. Many generations of the Terry family lived in Southold, located on the north fork of Long Island, from the 1650s forth.

Other watercolor and ink memorials that are almost identical to this one have turned up in the area and a small body of work is now known to have been produced by Oliver Brewster Goldsmith (1815-1888) throughout his life. A dated 1828 Oliver B. Goldsmith watercolor memorial to George Washington (patterned after the wellknown 1801 engraving by Thomas Clarke), is owned by the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum of Colonial Williamsburg. This and other Goldsmith memorials were made when he was a boy; quite interestingly, Mr. Goldsmith became a calligraphy artist and professor of penmanship in New York. It is in excellent condition and remains in its original black painted frame.

Sight size: 41/2” x 61/2”

Frame size: 7” x 9”

Price: $2200.

Hannah Smedley, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1810 Inscribed, “Hannah Smedley the daughter of George Smedley and Hannah his wife made her sampler in the 16th year of her age 1810,” this is a very good Chester County sampler which shows strong regional characteristics from this important historic area, west of Philadelphia. The rows of stylized flowers and potted flowers at top and bottom, as well as the decorative bands interspersed within the alphabets, can be found on Chester County samplers from the mid 18th century forth.

The Smedley family belonged to the Quaker Church and the births of the six daughters of George and Hannah (Mercer) Smedley were recorded at the Uwchland Monthly Meeting; Hannah was born in 1794. Initials of her siblings, parents and grandparents fill the lines after the inscription. Information that appears interspersed with the lower register of pots of flowers and a large heart indicates that the sampler was finished on the 7th day of the 7th month 1810 and the initials “WL” are likely those of her teacher. Hannah didn’t marry and lived in Uwchland as an adult with her older sister, Mary; she died in 1851.

The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition; conservation mounted into a Price: $4650. black molded and painted frame. Sampler size: 161/4” x 131/4”

Hannah Smith, England, 1809 English schoolgirls frequently worked samplers that feature mirror image symmetry and precise lettering. This handsome little sampler by Hannah Smith, age 12 in 1809, is a pleasing example that includes a verse aptly titled, “Endeavour to Improve.” The scene along the bottom centers on a pair of enormous birds perched on a castle with little trees and plants on a shallow deep green lawn.

Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into its original maple frame with a gilt liner.

Sampler size: 73/4” x 93/4” Price: $1900.

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Ann Parkinson, England, circa 1815 A large, beautifully worked pictorial sampler, this was made by Ann Parkinson who was born in 1803. It is a splendid piece of needlework, well composed with layers of unusual scenes and vignettes; it does not resemble the typical highly symmetrical and formulaic English sampler. It features many animals and human figures, including the accepted representation of America, the figure of a Native American with bow and arrow and headdress. Additional figures include a graceful female figure, a

little gentleman in a blue jacket and a tiny fellow just to the right of the blue peacock. The double sawtooth borders echoes the horizontal sawtooth design that underscores the whimsical parade of deer, dogs, birds, butterflies and pots of flowers in the upper register. The richly shaded lawn along the bottom grounds the composition, providing a strong visual base. Overall there is an appealing and unusual aesthetic to this sampler.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition with slightly uneven color to the linen and very minor loss to the silk. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and painted black and gold frame.

Sampler size: 201/4� x 221/4�

Price: $6800. (detail)

Sarah Parker, Depiction of the Massachusetts State House, Pepperell, Massachusetts, 1811 Public buildings were occasionally used as the subject on schoolgirl needlework, but the Massachusetts State House, found on this remarkable sampler, is not known to have been depicted on any other sampler or silk embroidery. It was a magnificent domed building in the neo-classical style, designed by Charles Bulfinch, and built on the summit of Beacon Hill. In April of 1795, the Columbian Centinel, a Boston newspaper, announced the following: “Mr. Bulfinch, we are told, has executed an elegant plan of the intended New State-House, which unites elegance with convenience; and is calculated to be one of the first ornaments of this town, as well as do honor to Massachusetts.� The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1795 by Gov. Samuel Adams with the help of Paul Revere, and the Governor delivered an eloquent oration. Two and a half years later the building was ready for use, and for years remained one of the most prominent buildings in the United States.

The portrayal shown on this sampler is the southern view, from Beacon Hill, with the large clock in its pediment. Artistic license was used throughout, as the columns on this side of the State House were replaced by windows and the samplermaker cleverly inserted the year that she made the sampler, 1811, onto the two small roof caps of the side wings. It sits on a lustrous teal blue lawn and a pair of stylized, out of proportion trees flank the building. Creamy yellow silk stitches were used to create the muted gold sheen of the dome. A sawtooth inner border frames it well and is itself surrounded by a wide outer border, found on other Massachusetts samplers.

The samplermaker was 15-year-old Sarah Parker, of Pepperell, a small town in Massachusetts near the New Hampshire border.

The top half of Sarah’s sampler features alphabets and a family (continued on the next page)

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Sarah Parker, Depiction of the Massachusetts State House, Pepperell, Massachusetts, 1811 (continued) record, which registers the births within her family between 1771 and 1813. Sarah was the first born of Nathaniel and Sarah (Adams) Parker who, according to Pepperell town records, were married there in 1796; Sarah Adams was from Groton, Massachusetts. Sarah was their eldest child, born in 1796; she married in 1817 and stitched this information onto her sampler. Perhaps further research will reveal information regarding her marriage and later life.

Worked in silk on linen with silk fabric used for the clock face, the sampler is in very good condition with slight weakness to the linen. It has been conservation mounted and is in a 19th century gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 181/4” x 163/4”

Price: $14,000.

Henrietta Salara Baker, Plaistow, New Hampshire, 1823 Family Record samplers were very much in fashion throughout New England in the first quarter of the nineteenth century.

Schoolgirls, prepared with family’s vital statistics, worked their samplers in a variety of compositions, many of them using black silk threads for the lettering to simulate the printed page. This very good Family Record sampler was made by 13year-old Henrietta Salara Baker of Plaistow, a small New Hampshire town near the Massachusetts border.

The sampler documents the births of Henrietta’s parents, their 1802 marriage and the births of their three children.

Delicate vines with flower buds and leaves surround the inscriptions and a particularly lovely pair of flower baskets embellish the sampler. A wide border of finely worked flowers and vines frames the sampler well.

In 1831, Henrietta married John Peabody, a merchant, and they removed to Boxford, Massachusetts.

Together they had nine children and the sampler was passed down through the Peabody family for generations; a letter by Henrietta’s great-granddaughter accompanies the piece.

Worked in silk on linen this sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled grain-painted frame.

Sampler size: 17” square Price: $3800.

Pennsylvania German sampler, Warwick, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1820 A group of samplers made by Mennonites from the Warwick area of Lancaster County, north of the city of Lancaster, share strong regional characteristics and the specific elements that appear on this finely worked 1820 example. The majority of these samplers were made between 1783 and 1859; the motifs that appear on them include the geometric joining of four hearts, the two corner elements that employ star flowers and carnations growing from a little heart, many other potted carnation and pansy designs, and many crowns. Much like many other published and known Warwick area samplers, this example, while seemingly incomplete, may have fulfilled the assignment. Samplers of the Pennsylvania Germans by Tandy and Charles Hersh illustrates these samplers on pages 175 through 184 and discusses this group at length.

The typical Pennsylvania German placement of motifs is in evidence on this sampler: elements seem to float on a densely woven white ground, in contrast to the more linear spacing used on most American and English samplers. This, in combination with the stylization of the many flowers, hearts and crowns, and the palette of slate blue, rose, dark brown and tan, creates an almost modern effect. Worked in silk on linen this sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted in a molded and mustard painted frame.

Sampler size: 16� x 151/4�

Price: $2800.

(detail)

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York, Pennsylvania sampler, in memory of William Marshall, circa 1818 In Girlhood Embroider y : A m e r i c a n S a m p l e r s & P i c t o r i a l N e e d l e w o r k 1 6 5 0 - 1 8 5 0, vol. II, Betty Ring discusses a small group of distinctive mourning samplers worked under the tutelage of a York, Pennsylvania schoolmistress. Figure 476 illustrates a sampler worked in memory of George C. Stoher, circa 1822, which is strikingly similar to our sampler, which was worked in the memory of William Marshall, circa 1818. Other related examples are in the Historical Society of York County and the Dauphin County Historical Society. We are pleased to offer this newly discovered sampler, a splendidly worked addition to this group, which is attributed to William Marshall’s only child, daughter Elizabeth Marshall, who was born in 1804.

Two tall female figures in mourning costume flank a large white stone memorial tomb with a lush willow tree above. A rich green lawn and an extravagant border of garlands of flowers and leaves form a strong visual framework. The faces, hair and arms of the two figures are painted onto the linen, as is the case on the other samplers worked at this same school. The composition, technique and execution are almost identical to the example published by Betty Ring. Overall this is a large and beautifully realized piece.

William Marshall was born in Ireland circa 1755 and emigrated to the United Sates by 1790. In 1806, then married and with a daughter, he became a citizen of the United States. His naturalization took place in York County and a photocopy of this document accompanies the sampler. It indicates that Mr. Marshall has “behaved as a man of good moral Character … [who will attend] to the Principles of the Constitution of the United States and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same … he will support the Constitution and absolutely and entirely renounce all allegiance to an Foreign Prince or Potentate.” (continued on the next page)

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Research indicates that William Marshall was a merchant in York; it seems from the inventory taken after his death that he was a merchant of fine fabrics. His estate was substantial, totaling almost $4600 exclusive of real estate. In addition to the four houses in York, three empty lots and various acres left to his wife, Mr. Marshall left a plantation in Harford County, Maryland to his daughter.

Elizabeth seems to have married George Mehring, a farmer of Maryland in 1830; they had seven children and Elizabeth died in 1853 in Maryland. The file that accompanies this sampler includes photocopies of many documents including the will and inventory of William Marshall as well as Orphans Court and other legal proceedings.

The sampler was worked in silk and paint on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine mahogany frame.

Sampler size: 213/4” x 191/2”

Frame size: 261/4” x 24”

Price: $18,500.

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ASF, Motif sampler, Germany, 1766 Samplers made in the middle of the 18th century in northern Europe can offer interesting pictorial subjects arranged in pleasing compositions and executed in a fine vocabulary of stitches. This is an excellent sampler with some motifs that came originally from 17th century pattern books; others, such as the little figures, the deer with antlers and the freeform springs of flowers, are more naïve. The alphabet, in its early form without the letters J and U, appears in a compartment in the upper left along with two sets of initials which are likely those of the maker and those of her teacher. The repetition of ASF in the center wreath indicates that this is likely the maker.

The sampler was worked in silk on a fine pale blue linen. It is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted and is in a 19th century gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 121/2” x 143/4”

Price: $3200.

Sarah Edmonds, Kidderminster, England, 1816 A large and interesting schoolroom exercise, this sampler was made in Kidderminster, the Worcestershire town northwest of London, known for production of woolen fabrics and carpets. Various alphabets, worked in cross-stitch, four-sided stitch and eyelet stitch, fill the upper half of the sampler, with a lengthy verse entitled “Always Speak Truth” below. An unusual series of dates and facts were then worked going down a side compartment, combining history lessons with needlework skills.

Indeed, 1727 marked the first use of inoculations on criminals, by Dr. Richard Mead of the Royal College of Physicians. Admiral Nelson successfully destroyed Napoleon’s fleet in 1798 and in doing so, took over the trade route to India. The fact regarding the letting of good lands in 1544 is one which a historian of early English land rental could confirm.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a cherry veneer frame.

Sampler size: 213/4” x 16”

Price: $2800.

Dorcas Newhall, Danvers, Massachusetts, 1819 Part Family Record and part unusual marking sampler, this was made in Danvers, Massachusetts in 1819. The needleworker was Dorcas Newhall, the daughter of Joseph Newhall and his wife Hannah Galucia, who had married in Danvers in 1795. The bottom register of the sampler presents the vital statistics of their family, and, interestingly, Dorcas included the actual day of the week on which she and each of her siblings were born. The record of the death of her infant brother, Ashley, age 15 months and 26 days, was also included.

It seems that the assignment for the top of the sampler was to differentiate six types of letters and numbers, including “The Capital Letters,” “The Double Letters” and “The Sifering Letters.” This last category is most interesting: one of the accepted 18th and early 19th century definitions of sifering, or ciphering, was to write in script. We have not, however, come across this usage on any other sampler.

The sampler is surrounded on three sides by rose and pale pink open blossoms on a leafy vine. Large letters finely worked in the eyelet stitch form her name and the bottom edge of the sampler is finished with little baskets at the corners and a series of little plants or trees on a lawn. Centered in this little grove, Dorcas made use of one of “The Double Letters” to indicate that she was age 14 in 1819.

At age 19, Dorcas married her first husband, Nahum Hatch. He died just nine months later and in 1835 Dorcas married a farmer and shoe maker, George Shillaber, of nearby Salem. They became the parents of several children and remained in the area; census records indicate that Dorcas was alive until sometime after 1870, having outlived her husband.

Worked in silk and crewel wool on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition with some very minor loss to the wool. It has been conservation mounted and is in a figured maple frame.

Sampler size: 241/4” x 163/4”

Price: $6800.

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Caroline Notherman, Depiction of Masonic Hall, Baltimore, Maryland, 1827 This very rare, handsome sampler was made in 1827 in Baltimore and features a large and detailed depiction of the city’s Masonic Hall. This public building was begun in 1814 and was utilized by the Masons from 1822 until 1868. It was designed by Maximilien Godefroy and appears in The Architecture of Baltimore: An Illustrated Histor y by Mary Ellen Hayward and Frank A. Shivers. From 1822 until 1867 the lower floor of the building was occupied by the Federal Court of Baltimore and the upper floor by the Masons; the building was demolished in 1895. It does not appear on any other known samplers; indeed, according to Dr. Gloria Seaman Allen, author of the new book, A M a r yland Sampling: Girlhood Embroider y 1 7 3 8 - 1 8 6 0, this sampler is quite a rarity.

Caroline Notherman was born circa 1816 to George Notherman, a shoe and boot maker and seller in Baltimore. Baltimore directories indicate that he had two different business addresses between 1814 and 1837 and that the family dwelling was at 61 Exeter Street, in Old Town. The family seems to have descended from Johann Georg Notherman who was born in Germany in 1700 and sailed to Philadelphia in 1732 on the ship Loyal Judith. He was a hatter in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1736 and by 1747 had removed to Maryland. Caroline Notherman married William Jones, Jr. in Baltimore on January 5, 1837.

Many years late, in 1880, Caroline and William Jones appear in the 1880 census in Brooklyn, New York living with Notherman family members.

The architectural details of the building are worked in delicate shades of ochre, pale blue, yellow and white. It sits on a rich lawn and is flanked by a pair of whimsical spotted dogs. An upturned garland of lush flowers and foliage surmounts the Hall and creates a framework for the name of the samplermaker. (continued on the next page)

(detail)

The sampler was worked in silk on linen. It is in very good condition, however there is some loss to the linen and there are some areas of darning. The silk needlework is in excellent condition overall.

Conservation mounted, it is in a figured maple and cherry cornerblock frame.

Sampler size: 17” square.

Price: $8400.

Nancy Abbet, Instructress Susan Grout, Grafton, Massachusetts, 1803

(detail)

We offer this splendid sampler which was made by Nancy Abbet of Grafton, Massachusetts, a small town southwest of Boston, under the instruction of Susan Grout. This combination of a 23 year old teacher and a 10 year old student created a highly folky and appealing sampler, which features a composition of free-form flowers springing from a basket, flowers tied with bow-knots and sprightly blossoms and buds decorating the border. This sampler remained unframed for over 200 years and this accounts for its remarkably fresh color.

The inscription reads, “Nancy Abbet born May 25th 1793 & wrought this work in 1803 By the instruction of Susan Grout.” Recent research has revealed much about both student and teacher; interestingly no other samplers made under this teacher are known to scholars, collectors or curators. Nancy was the eldest child of a blacksmith, Abner Abbet, and his wife, Phebe Peplow Abbet, who resided in Grafton. Abner Abbet (Abbot/Abbott) was a sixth generation descendant of George Abbott who came to Massachusetts in 1642 and was one of the first settlers of the town of Rowley.

Nancy Abbet did not marry and resided in Grafton until at least 1830. (continued on the next page)

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Nancy Abbet, Instructress Susan Grout, Grafton, Massachusetts, 1803

The instructress, Susan Grout, was born in 1780, the daughter of Jonathan and Hannah (Merriam) Grout of Grafton. In 1804 she married a widower, John Warren, and we know from this sampler that she was teaching prior to her marriage. Susan and her husband became the parents of 14 children; one of their sons, Samuel Dennis Warren (1817-1888), became a highly successful mill paper owner in Cumberland Mills, Maine and a biographical tribute was published upon his death. Notably his mother, the teacher of Nancy Abbet, was acknowledged as “a woman of rare wisdom and force of character.” She was his guide and counselor; again to quote this publication (a copy of which accompanies this sampler), “…it was his mother’s purpose that he should acquire a college education.” Education was paramount to Susan Grout Warren.

This sampler is wonderfully appealing in its own right and also serves to document the instruction of a highly talented and previously unknown teacher. Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted. It is now in a fine 19th century gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 151/2” x 17”

Price: $14,500.

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Eliza Ann Lovell, Weymouth, Massachusetts, 1819 Born in 1807, Eliza Ann Lovell was the eldest child of Cotton Lovell (1784-1855) and his wife, Betsey Blanchard Lovell (1785-1862), of Weymouth, Massachusetts. Located southeast of Boston, Weymouth was the second settlement made by the English, after Plymouth, and is beautifully situated on the water. The Lovell family resided there for many generations, according to the H i s t o r y o f We y m o u t h M a s s a c h u s e t t s , vol. 3, published by the Weymouth Historical Society in 1923. Cotton Lovell was a shoe and boot maker, an occupation for which the town was known. Indeed an 1839 Gazetteer indicates that this was the most considerable industry of the town, contributing greatly to its economy. When eleven years old, Eliza Ann Lovell made this stellar sampler, a classic example of the type of schoolgirl needlework made in schools throughout the prosperous towns of Massachusetts during the first decades of the 19th century.

A richly shaded lawn with willow trees and a well-developed flower basket decorate the bottom of the sampler and a structured border rises from the lawn and frames the needlework nicely. Eliza featured tightly worked alphabets and her inscription along with four lines from the poetry of William Cowper (1731-1800), the noted English poet. Somewhat unusual are the many little colorful birds perch throughout the sampler and the fine drawnwork edging that borders the sampler on all four sides.

At age 19, in 1826, Eliza married Naaman Torrey, who was also a shoe maker, whose family had deep roots in the area; his ancestor, William Torrey settled in Weymouth in the mid 17th century. They became the parents of eight children and Eliza died as a result of the childbirth of their last child, a daughter, who was named for her.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a 19th century beveled frame.

Sampler size: 163/4� x 131/2�

Price: $8600.

(detail)

SELECTED NEEDLEWORK BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, Gloria Seaman. Family Record Genealogical Watercolors and Needlework. Washington, DC: DAR Museum, 1989.

A Maryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery, 1738-1860, Maryland Historical Society, 2007.

Bolton, Ethel Stanwood and Coe, Eve Johnston. American Samplers.

Boston: The Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1921.

Browne, Clare and Jennifer Wearden. Samplers from the Victoria and alvert Museum.

London: V&A Publications, 1999.

Edmonds, Mary Jaene. Samplers and Samplermakers, An American Schoolgirl Art 1700-1850.

New York: Rizzoli, 1991.

Herr, Patricia T. The Ornamental Branches, Needlework and Art from the Lititz Moravian Girls’ School Between 1800 and 1865. The Heritage Center Museum of Lancaster County, Pa, 1996.

Hersh, Tandy and Charles. Samplers of the Pennsylvania Germans.

Birdsboro, PA: Pennsylvania German Society, 1991.

Humphrey, Carol. Samplers, Fitzwilliam Museum Handbooks.

Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth. Needleprint & Ackworth School Estates Limited, 2006.

Ivey, Kimberly Smith. In the Neatest Manner: The Making of the Virginia Sampler Tradition.

Colonial Williamsburg and Curious Works Press, 1997.

Krueger, Glee F. A Gallery of American Samplers: The Theodore H. Kapnek Collection.

New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978.

New England Samplers to 1840. Sturbridge, Massachusetts: Old Sturbridge Village, 1978.

Parmal, Pamela A. Samplers from A to Z. Boston, Massachusetts: MFA Publications, 2000.

Ring, Betty. American Needlework Treasures. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1987.

Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework, 1650-1850. Knopf, 1993.

Let Virtue be a Guide to Thee: Needlework in the Education of Rhode Island Women, 1730-1820.

Providence: The Rhode Island Historical Society, 1983.

Schiffer, Margaret B. Historical Needlework of Pennsylvania. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1968.

Schorsch, Anita. Mourning Becomes America: Mourning Art in the New Nation.

Clinton, New Jersey: The Main Street Press, 1976.

Staples, Kathleen, This Have I Done: Samplers and Embroideries from Charleston and the Lowcountry. Curious Works Press and the Charleston Museum, 2002.

Studebaker, Sue. Ohio Samplers, School Girl Embroideries 1803-1850.

Warren County Historical Society, 1988.

Ohio Is My Dwelling Place. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2002.

Swan, Susan B. Plain and Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework, 1700-1850.

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977.

Conservation Mounting of Antique Samplers and Needlework Because of the important role that condition plays in the field of antique samplers and needlework, we strive to insure that these pieces undergo proper preservation while in our care. Below is a step-by-step description of the "conservation mounting" process. Our techniques are simple and straightforward; we remove the dust and dirt particles mechanically, never wet-cleaning the textiles. We use only acid-free materials and museum-approved techniques throughout the process. Please call us if you have any questions in this regard.

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Carefully clean the piece using our special vacuum process.

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Mount it by means of hand-sewing onto acid-free museum board that has been slip-cased with fabric appropriate to the piece itself, and at the same time stabilize any holes or weak areas.

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Re-fit the item back into its original frame, or custom-make a reproduction of an 18th or early 19th century frame using one of our exclusive patterns.

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Supply a reverse painted black glass mat, if appropriate, done in correct antique manner.

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When necessary, install TruVue Conservation Clear glass which blocks 97% of the harmful ultraviolet light.

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In the framing process, the needlework is properly spaced away from the glass, the wooden frame is sealed, and the dust cover is attached with special archival tape.

detail of sampler by Minerva E. Hardy, Lunenburg, Virginia, 1825, page 12

AMERICA's LEADING sAMPLER AND NEEDLEwoRK DEALER

M. Finkel & Daughter.

detail of needlework by Queen Adelaide of England, 1835 page 13

detail of sampler by Charlotte Frye, Andover, Massachusetts, 1811, page 5

est. 1947

M. Finkel e9 Daughter.

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