Samplings: XLV

VOLUME XXXXV

(detail of silk embroidery by Elizabeth Lewis, page 4)

(detail of silk embroidery by Dolly Warriner, page 20)

Copyright Š 2014 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 ...

We are delighted to present this issue of Samplings which is the 45th edition of our catalogue of schoolgirl samplers and needlework, produced semiannually since 1992. It is our hope that you enjoy reading through this catalogue which presents 39 fine antique samplers and schoolgirl needleworks; and, newly, 6 additional pieces from our inventory of other antiques. We thank you all 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. 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 68th 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 can be available 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 larger 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, some of 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 FedEx air, insured.

We look forward to your phone calls and your interest.

www.samplings.com Please check our website for frequent updates and additions to our inventory

Amy Finkel Jamie Banks mailbox@samplings.com 800-598-7432 215-627-7797

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 emailed or sent to us will receive our prompt attention. Please call us for more information.

ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF CONTENTS Allegory of Springtime, Denmark, 1734............................................................................... 7 Athelia Armstrong, Indian Hill, Cincinnati area, Ohio, 1819……………………………... 23 Sarah Backhouse, Mary Ralston’s School, Easton, Pennsylvania, circa 1815…………..... 32 Philura Barton, Miss Ann Phelps School, Chatham, Connecticut, 1824............................. 9 Mary Brecknell, Kidderminster, Worcester, England, 1723............................................... 31 Ann Brereton, Norfolk, England, circa 1816........................................................................ 6 Johannah Buzzel, Alton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, 1829..................................... 35 Hannah Carter, Dover, New Hampshrie, 1805................................................................... 30 Maria Clarke, Hungerford, Berkshire, England, 1821........................................................ 26 Rebaccah Claypoole, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1739....................................................... 2 Mary Coffin, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1801................................................................. 1 Agnes Douglass, Miniature Sampler, Dr. Bell’s School, Aberdeen, Scotland, 1839........... 28 Emily B. Emerson, Delaware Valley, America, circa 1820.................................................. 22 English Sampler with Black Lady and Gentleman, 1789................................................... 29 Hannah Hazeltine, Warwick, Franklin County, Massachusetts, 1799................................ 14 Rebecca Killeran, Boston, Massachusetts, Killeran Family of Cushing, Maine, 1796....... 10 Henrietta King, Mid-Atlantic States, American, 1830........................................................ 33 Elizabeth Lewis, Misses Patten School, Hartford, Connecticut, circa 1800-1805............... 4 Hannah Loper, Pittsgrove, Salem County, New Jersey, 1829............................................. 27 Catharine McPherson, Wheatland, Monroe County, New York, 1836.................................. 8 Motif Band Sampler, German, 1788................................................................................... 26 Omnium Gatherum: A Collection of Varied Objects.......................................................... 36 Pair of Pocket Watch Holders, England, 1833................................................................... 24 “Dear Friend Remember Me,” Presentation Sampler, England, 1838................................ 24 Esther Roberts, Ackworth Quaker School, Yorkshire, England, 1798............................... 18 Mary Rushworth, Keighley Mechanics Institution, West Yorkshire, England, c. 1838...... 28 Ann Eliza Scott, American, 1833....................................................................................... 25 Silk Embroidery of a Parrot, American, circa 1835........................................................... 22 M. Spence, Miniature Hollie Point, Norfolk, England, 1792.............................................. 21 Isabel Stewart, Nashville, Tennessee, 1848........................................................................ 12 Lucinda Stoddard, Nelson, New Hampshire, circa 1832.................................................... 16 Susanna Thomas, Middletown, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, 1824.............................. 11 Sarah Townsend, Waltham, Massachusetts, 1785.............................................................. 34 Caroline True, Montville, Maine, 1837............................................................................... 16 Mary Emeline Warren, Andes, Delaware County, New York, 1831..................................... 14 Dolly Warriner Silk Embroidery, Mary Balch School, Providence, RI, circa 1810............ 20 Nancy Wason, New Boston, New Hampshire, 1827............................................................ 17 Betsy Wells, Salem, Massachusetts, 1804........................................................................... 15 Mary Wetmore, Female Association School No. 2, New York, New York, 1816................... 5 Isabella White, Glasgow, Scotland, 1814............................................................................ 13

(detail of sampler by Rebecca Killeran, page 10)

Mary Coffin, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1801 Provenance: Ralph O. Esmerian Collection

It is a privilege to offer this extraordinary sampler, an important example with enormous visual appeal and provenance of great significance. Part of a group called the “Shady Bower” samplers, a name that stems from within the verse, this was made by Newburyport resident, ten-year-old Mary Coffin. The outstanding, highly-developed pictorial scene on her sampler, with its enormous vitality, is considered to be the finest within this group. Depicted are a couple centered on a shimmering duck pond, the elegantly dressed lady is shielded from the sun by a servant holding a parasol. The gentleman, equally well–attired, is occupied with a fishing rod, a nod to the early Boston needlework pictures that often depicted gentlefolk at leisure activities in the country. Two other young ladies, many trees and a grape arbor complete the scene. The composition is very successfully framed by large flowers on elongated branches and a graphic pink and black sawtooth border.

The sampler was published in American Radiance: The Ralph O. Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM 2001), figure 256. Writing about Mary Coffin’s sampler in this important book, Betty Ring states, “The schools of Newbury and Newburyport, Massachusetts, produced several groups of extraordinarily handsome samplers and silk embroideries during the federal period. Ten-year-old Mary Coffin’s sampler is one of the most colorful and appealing examples worked within a group of eleven pieces produced in Newburyport between 1799 and 1803…. These samplers have been attributed to the Newburyport school kept by Miss Mary Emerson (1753-1815) with her sisters Elizabeth (1760-1853) and Martha (1764-1827).” Betty Ring also included the Coffin sampler in her Girlhood Embroidery, vol. I (Knopf, 1993), illustrating it as figure 135. While part of the collection of the American Folk Art Museum, this sampler was exhibited in “Every Picture Tells a Story: Word and Image in American Folk Art,” in 1994 and 1995.

The oval enclosure, stitched with intertwined leafy and flowering vines, and tied by a double bowknot at top, frames the alphabets, verse and the inscription, “Mary. Coffin. AE. 10. 1801.” Born in 1790, Mary Coffin was the third of twelve children of Newburyport military officer, merchant and shipmaster, David Coffin (1763-1838) and his wife, Elizabeth Stone (1767-1811). Mary married Newburyport merchant Nathan Noyes, Jr. in 1815, and their seven children were born between 1816 and 1834. Mary died in 1864.

Worked in a rich color palette, the sampler was stitched in silk on linen and is in excellent condition.

It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine 18th century carved and painted frame.

Sampler size: 15¼” x 20¾”

Framed size: 18½” x 24”

Price upon request.

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Rebaccah Claypoole, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1739 Philadelphia, in the second quarter of the 18th century, was a city coming into its own, with prosperous craftsmen, sea captains, merchants and their families living in brick houses nearby the Delaware River. Additionally, education was important to this population. Benjamin Franklin, when writing about the 1730s, said that it had been the time “to cultivate the finer arts, and improve the common stock of knowledge." Girls as well as boys were educated, and needlework was an important part of the girls’ curriculum.

There exist a number of samplers, all exhibiting extremely fine composition and execution, known to have been worked by daughters of the city’s prominent citizens in the second quarter of the 18th century. Some of these girls attended the well-known schools of Elizabeth and Ann Marsh.

Research is currently being conducted into the equally outstanding samplers made at schools other than those of the Marsh mother and daughter, and one very small group to emerge includes our extraordinary sampler made by Rebaccah Claypoole. In both verse and inscription, the maker informs us that she worked this sampler in 1739 when she was nine years old, in Philadelphia. The verse, worked inside the rectangular frame near the bottom, is a classic one in which the samplermaker identifies her country as England and her city as Philadelphia. The inscription below that, worked in pale beige silk, reads, “RC her sampler aged 9 years 1739.”

Much of the very fine needlework and specific designs of the motifs, bands and borders is greatly similar to that of Elizabeth Marsh school samplers, but the inclusion of the Spies of Canaan, the two figures holding a huge bunch of grapes, would not likely appear on samplers worked under Elizabeth Marsh, who was a Quaker. Our Claypoole sampler shares many characteristics, including the Spies of Canaan, with a sampler made by Cathrine Parry, also in Philadelphia and in 1739 (a photo of this is in the archives of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts).

The Claypoole family in Pennsylvania originated with James Claypoole who was born in England in 1634 and lived much of his life in London, a prominent and successful merchant.

The Claypoole Family in America, vol. I (Indiana, PA, 1971) quotes a 1952 article written about James Claypoole, stating that he was a Quaker and one of William Penn’s largest backers, purchasing 5000 acres of land directly from Penn.

Claypoole, with his wife and children, sailed to Philadelphia on the ship Concord, arriving on October 6, 1683. The next spring the first brick house in the city was built for the Claypoole family. Rebaccah Claypoole is a great-granddaughter of James Claypoole, born on July 1, 1730, as the oldest child of George and Hannah Claypoole. George Claypoole (1706-1770) was one of the city’s most significant and successful cabinetmakers, and the furniture produced in his cabinet shop is greatly revered today. (continued on the next page)

Rebaccah Claypoole, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1739 (cont.)

At some point between generations, the Claypoole family left the Quaker church, and when Rebaccah married in 1752 it was at Christ Church, the prominent Episcopalian church established in Philadelphia in 1695. Her husband was William Fisher Conwell who was born circa 1732 in Lewestown, Delaware. The family seems to have lived in South Carolina and Delaware.

The sampler was worked in silk on fine wool and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in an 18th century frame.

Sampler size: 19” x 14”

Framed size: 16¾” x 11¾”

Price: $45,000.

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Elizabeth Lewis, Misses Patten School, Hartford, Connecticut, circa 1800 - 1805 Betty Ring writing in Girlhood Embroidery, vol. I (Knopf, 1993), tells us much about “New England’s most exquisite neoclassical silk embroideries,” many of which she states originated at the school run by the Misses Patten of Hartford, Connecticut. The needlework made by their students dates from the very beginning of the 19th century and Mrs. Ring describes the “coats of arms … often surmounted by a gold or silk raised-work eagle above a swagged garland suspended from spangled bowknots in the upper corners. The central motif was often partly encircled by palms or fronds with golden, bearded ears of wheat.” The Patten sisters, Sarah, Ruth and Mary were granddaughters of Rev. Eleazer Wheelock (1711-1779), the founder of Dartmouth College; they taught the daughters of the prominent citizens of Hartford and beyond.

Students at the Patten School produced a number of these outstanding coat of arm needleworks, as evidenced by those illustrated by Mrs. Ring, as well as by the examples published by Susan P. Schoelwer in Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art and Family 1740-1840 (The Connecticut Historical Society, 2010) as figures 42 and 49. We are privileged to offer this newly discovered example, one that offers strong aesthetic appeal. Depicted is “The Lewis Arms” and this is the work of Elizabeth Lewis, whose initials are very gracefully painted between the arms and the lower border.

Elizabeth Lewis was born on March 8, 1785, the daughter of George and Elizabeth (Penfield) Lewis of Portland (now Chatham), Connecticut. The Lewis family descended from George Lewis (1600-1664/5) who was born in England and settled in Barnstable, Massachusetts in the 1630s. A family note that accompanies this silk embroidery indicates that Elizabeth was fourteen years old when she made this, and that it later descended to her grandson, James Bolton. In 1815, she married Festus Cone, and their daughter, Elizabeth Cone, later married Thomas Bolton; this James Bolton was their son. Festus Cone (b. 1784) served as Captain in the 25th United States Regulars during the War of 1812.

Afterwards the family removed to Moscow, Livingston County, New York, where Festus was a farmer.

Census records show the family there until at least 1870.

The silk embroidery was worked in silk, padding and metallic thread on silk. It is in excellent condition and in in a fine period frame with a replaced eglomisé glass mat.

Sight size: 16¾” x 13¼”

Framed size: 22½” x 19”

Price: $22,500.

Mary Wetmore, Female Association School No. 2, New York, New York, 1816 “A charming group of small samplers known as ‘Female Association’ samplers has survived from several New York City schools operated by Quaker women … between 1815 and 1826, children often made them as gifts for members of the Female Association, and they were usually signed with the name of the Female Association School where they were made.” Betty Ring, in Volume II of Girlhood Embroidery (Knopf, 1993) discusses this important and particularly endearing type of sampler. They are very small and exhibit extremely fine needlework; these samplers become available only very rarely. The Female Association Schools were established in the first years of the 19th century by a group of philanthropically-minded Quaker ladies to provide a basic education for the needy children of New York. These samplers, therefore, were worked by young girls from the working class and not by the daughters of the well-to-do, as is typically the case. Female Association students were taught sewing skills along with academic matters, and several samplers sharing the same Quaker characteristics and overall format have survived.

Mary Wetmore, age 13, attended School No. 2, which opened its doors on February 18, 1812 on Henry Street. As noted by Betty Ring, most of the Female Association school samplers were made as gifts for the Quaker ladies who served on their boards and Mary made her sampler, “For Sarah Herbert,” as stitched at the top. The lettering throughout is almost unimaginably delicate and the Quaker motifs are equally fine. All of the Female Association School samplers exhibit a very pleasing and classic Quaker composition and Mary’s work is an outstanding example. It closely resembles the Female Association School No. 2 sampler made by Ann Hayden in 1815 and previously in the personal collection of Betty Ring. Another related Female Association School sampler, worked by Charlotte Gardner in 1813, was published in our catalogue, Samplings, vol. XXXVI and is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Worked in silk on linen, this example is in excellent condition with very minor darkening to the linen.

It has been conservation mounted into a figured maple frame.

Sampler size: 8¼” x 8”

Framed size: 10¾” x 10½”

Price: $11,000.

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Ann Brereton, Norfolk, England, circa 1816 The samplers of Norfolk, England form, as a group, one of the most cohesive and visually appealing types of English sampler.

Imitation and Improvement: The Norfolk Sampler Tradition by Joanne Martin Lukacher (In the Company of Friends, Redmond, WA, 2013) is an important new book that is both scholarly and greatly interesting. Included are many groups within the overall, illustrating approximately 115 samplers. Our favorite Norwich category is that of the darning sampler and they are described by Ms. Lukacher as follows, “Darning samplers, which became popular in England in the second half of the 18th century, make use of needle weaving techniques to achieve engaging patterns, complex in appearance.”

These samplers can evidence a wonderful delicacy, organized around typical and very handsome floral compositions.

We are pleased to present this praiseworthy Norfolk darning sampler, a recent discovery and addition to this group. In characteristic fashion, it features a fine basket of flowers with corner-blocks, oval elements and many flowers, all worked in the needle darn technique. Quite unusual and amusing are the four large striped birds worked in metallic, iridescent threads. An early family notation from the backboard tells us of the maker, Ann Brereton, born circa 1807, and that she worked this at age 9. She later married a Mr. Seppings as the note was written by her son, Thomas Seppings. We turned to Ms. Lukacher for further information and are grateful for the following: “This sampler-maker was probably from the area around Fakenham, about 25 miles northwest of Norwich, and two villages to the east/northeast of Fakenham -- Brinton and Briningham. The Brereton family was originally from Cheshire. In Norfolk the family seat was at Letheringsett Hall near Falkenham until it was acquired by the Hardy family in the mid 1770's. Brinton Hall, a Georgian house in the village of that name, was rebuilt in 1822 by the Brereton family. In the 18th and 19th centuries branches of the Brereton and Seppings families were frequently intermarried and would customarily have had business interests in common. For example, records show that in 1770 a Thomas Seppings was apprenticed to John Brereton of Brinton, a Norfolk mercer. Thomas was a popular name in the Seppings family and the name Ann a favourite of the Breretons. Given the propensity of the families for marrying cousins, it’s difficult to pin down this Ann although probably possible with diligent research.

The close relationship of the two families in this part of Norfolk is evidenced by a large mid-Victorian pyramidal monument dominating the parish yard of the Church of Saint Maurice in Briningham bearing the names Brereton and Seppings under a statue of the muzzled bear from the Brereton family crest.”

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

Sampler size: 11¼” square

Framed size: 13¼” square

Price: $5600.

Allegory of Springtime, Denmark, 1734 Early 18th century samplers made in some of the countries of northern Europe, specifically Germany, Holland and Denmark, can be extraordinarily sophisticated in concept, composition and execution. Danish samplers are more rare than those from the other countries and we are privileged to be able to offer this important example. Visually it is an absolute delight. The subject is an allegorical interpretation of springtime, with many additional vignettes, motifs and architectural patterns, some of which were published in the period. A very similar sampler, depicting autumn and made in 1732, likely by the same stitcher, is published on pages 52 and 53 of Stickmustertucher, by Eva Maria Leszner (Rosenheimer, 1985). Both spring and autumn feature a large, central female figure, the diamond and star band at top, precisely the same two corner blocks flanking the peacock at the bottom and many of the same splendid subjects throughout. Many sets of initials were stitched onto the samplers; typical of northern European samplers, the names of the makers were not included.

Extremely fine work in a varied vocabulary of techniques contributes to the strong aesthetics of this sampler. Metallic threads were used to highlight many areas including the dress and jewelry of the grand lady, the jacket of the gentleman with a feathered hat, the elaborate crown held by the pair of heralding angels, the feathers of the peacock, and the horns of the milk cow. Fine and fully worked tent-stitched areas form the building, the corner elements, the flower-strewn hillock under the peacock and many other elements.

Some of the tiny pictorial vignettes deserve specific notice, for example, the miniature Adam and Eve near the head of the peacock and the man on horseback and his servant shielding him with a parasol. We feel that the samplermaker could not have improved upon her work.

The sampler was worked in silk and metallic threads on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in what is likely its original carved, painted and gilded frame.

Sampler size: 14½” x 13½”

Framed size: 17” x 16”

Price: $17,500.

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Catharine McPherson, Wheatland, Monroe County, New York, 1836 We always appreciate a sampler that incorporates specific traditions from the family heritage of its maker into its visual elements. Catharine McPherson, a nineyear-old schoolgirl living in New York State, southwest of Rochester, included on her sampler many elements that closely resemble those that traditionally appear on Scottish samplers. She was the daughter of Duncan W. McPherson who emigrated from Perthshire, Scotland in 1798 and Catharine McArthur, also born in Perthshire, Scotland, who married in 1817 in New York State. The McPhersons had ten children between 1818 and 1840; our samplermaker was their fifth, born on August 4, 1827. The family was an active part of the thriving Scottish immigrant community in Monroe County, a large group of industrious men and women; The History of Monroe County New York (Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1877) includes an entire section entitled “The Scottish Settlement” and discusses the McPherson family as well as the Malloch family, which Catharine married into when she wed James Malloch in 1846. He was the son of a sea captain and was a four-year-old boy when his family immigrated to the United States. The sampler tells an excellent and classic story of a family’s emigration to America and their productive lives in the early years of our country’s history.

Catharine and James remained in Wheatland and James was a farmer; they had five children and lived in close proximity to McPherson family members. Catherine died on December 14, 1856, at the young age of 29 and is buried in Caledonia Cemetery with other family members.

Motifs such as the open-tail peacocks, the large crown and the sailing ship along with the use of the many family names and initials are the Scottish characteristics. It is likely that Catharine’s teacher was also a recent Scottish immigrant and employed the needlework traditions that she brought with her. In the overall, however, the sampler, with its free-form composition and asymmetrical layout, has a decidedly American personality. Interesting to note, as well, is the simplistic version of the American flag flying from the ship. This sampler was an outstanding accomplishment for its nineyear-old maker.

Worked in silk and linen on linen, it is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a molded and black painted frame.

Sampler size: 16” x 17”

Framed size: 18¾” x 19¾”

Price: $11,000.

Philura Barton, Miss Ann Phelps School, Chatham, CT, 1824 Provenance: Theodore H. Kapnek Collection

A wonderfully pictorial sampler, this was worked by Philura Barton in Chatham, Connecticut, under the instruction of Miss Ann Phelps. It was in the collection of Theodore H. Kapnek, one of the most notable of all American collectors. His samplers were exhibited at the Museum of American Folk Art in 1978 and published in A Gallery of American Samplers: The Theodore H. Kapnek Collection by Glee Krueger (Dutton, 1978), this as figure 91.

Philura Barton, born on January 30, 1813, was one of the eleven children of William and Clarissa (Betts) Barton. William Barton (1762-1849) is widely credited as the father of the important bell making industry in Chatham. He initially worked with his father, William Barton, Sr., an armorer during the Revolutionary War in both Connecticut and New York. In 1808, he established the first bell manufactory in Chatham and lived and worked on Barton Hill for many years, producing hand bells and sleigh bells. Barton was considered one of the town’s most respected citizens, “a very liberal minded man … happiest when benefiting others” (The Town of Chatham, The Connecticut Magazine, 1899). The original foundry was destroyed in a fire in 1816 and a new one was built. Some of his sons and other young men in Chatham learned their craft from him and the town’s reputation for fine bell making continued, ultimately spanning over two centuries. In 1915, the town of Chatham was renamed East Hampton.

In 1826, the Barton family removed to Greene County, New York, and in 1830 Philura married James Henry Gaddis there. In the 1840s William Barton returned to Chatham and died there in 1849. James Gaddis, a farmer and inn keeper, and Philura remained in New York State where they became the parents of at least ten children. She died on December 25, 1883 in Kingston, Ulster County, New York.

In New England Samplers to 1840 (Old Sturbridge Village, 1978), Glee Krueger illustrates a remarkably similar sampler, made

by Caroline M. Buell, dated August 26, 1824 and also naming Miss Ann Phelps School, as figure 86. Mrs. Krueger also makes the point that Ann Phelps, in keeping with other Connecticut instructresses, favored strong architectural features in her sampler composition. The Buell and Barton samplers, dated within a month of each other, are the only known Ann Phelps School samplers. Both included highly detailed scenes dominated by a beautifully rendered Federal house with intricately mullioned windows and many tiny figures of men, women and children engaged in daily activities. A graphic three-sided border of diamond shaped elements surrounds both samplers.

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

Sampler size: 16” square

Framed size: 20¾” square

Price: $18,000.

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Rebecca Killeran, Boston, Massachusetts, Killeran Family of Cushing, Maine, 1796 Provenance: Theodore H. Kapnek Collection

The daughter of a highly prominent citizen of Maine, Rebecca Killeran was born in Cushing, a coastal town, south of Rockland. Her father was Honorable Edward Killeran (1751-1828) and her mother Elizabeth (Burton) Killeran (1753-1831), also of an illustrious family from this area of mid-coast Maine. Rebecca was the fourth of their eleven children, born on June 10, 1781. Edward Killeran was a first lieutenant in the Revolutionary War, a teacher, surveyor and sea captain who served in many important roles within the local and state government. Many published sources include a great deal of information about Edward Killeran and his family. He was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of Maine and served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, as Maine was then a part of the state of Massachusetts.

The Killeran family would have lived much of their time in Boston and Rebecca attended school there, accordingly. She worked this large, handsome sampler at a Boston school; it features alphabets, verse and inscription grounded on a bottom border of a lawn with flowering plants and is surrounded on three sides with a splendid border of a delicate, flowering vine with a great assortment of blossoms. The color palette of Rebecca’s sampler is especially appealing.

The verse featured centrally by Rebecca is entitled “The Rural Scen[e]” and was also used with precisely the same title on a sampler made in 1802 in Lexington, Massachusetts (page 463, Over the River and Through the Wood: An Anthology of Nineteenth Century American Children’s Poetry, John Hopkins Press, 2014). Flanking this verse are fine sprigs of flowering branches and two flying insects.

While in Boston, the Killeran family furnished their home with furniture made by important cabinetmakers of the period, some of which descended in the family for two centuries and has been documented as such. Rebecca didn’t marry and died young, at age 23, in 1804. She is buried in the Old Meeting House Cemetery in Cushing, Maine, along with her parents and other family members.

Important to the provenance of this sampler is the fact that it was in the collection of Theodore H. Kapnek, one of the most important American sampler collectors of the second half of the 20th century. His samplers were exhibited at the Museum of American Folk Art in 1978 and published in A Gallery of American Samplers: The Theodore H. Kapnek Collection by Glee Krueger (Dutton, 1978); Rebecca Killeran’s sampler is figure 38.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a molded and black painted frame.

Sampler size: 21½” x 18”

Framed size: 24” x 20½”

Price: $8700.

Susanna Thomas, Middletown, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, 1824 History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania

by Henry Graham Ashmead (L.H. Everts & Co, 1884) publishes a synopsis of the history of the Jonathan and Ruth Thomas family of Middletown Township, stating that Jonathan Thomas “was an active leader in the Society of Friends, in which faith he was reared. Mr. Thomas was a public-spirited citizen, and by his intelligence, exemplary character, and rare discernment in matters of business enjoyed a commanding influence in the county.” Jonathan Thomas (1776-1856) was a farmer and builder on an extensive scale, also serving as director of the Delaware County National Bank and the Delaware County Mutual Insurance Company. In 1801 he married Ruth Young, of nearby Chester County; they had nine children including Susanna, the maker of this praiseworthy, large sampler.

The sampler boasts a particularly good and balanced composition, with a strong assortment of Quaker sampler motifs. Of note is the name of the instructress, “Sarah Evans Teacher,” which appears below the verse and between the baskets of fruit, and the names of Susanna’s parents, each enclosed within a wreath. Susanna must have been an experienced samplermaker at this point, unsurprising in that she was 16 years old. The birds, butterflies, flower branches, fruit baskets, and fruit trees are very evenly stitched and the border provides a good framework for it all.

While we aren’t able to be certain of specifics regarding Susanna’s teacher, Sarah Evans, it is obvious that she was experienced and talented in the needle arts. Susanna remained single and lived with family members until her death on July 15, 1871 in West Chester, Chester County.

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

Sampler size: 22” x 20½”

Framed size: 26¾” x 25¼”

Price: $16,000.

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Isabel Stewart, Nashville, Tennessee, 1848

Strongly colored, folky pictorial scenes framed by borders with similar characteristics can be found, although only rarely, on samplers of the middle Tennessee area. The Tennessee Sampler Survey, a nonprofit organization that researches and documents samplers made in that state, recently turned its attention to Isabel Stewart’s outstanding sampler, providing authentication, research and much specific information. Here, in part, are their findings: “Isabel Stewart's sampler is an interesting new discovery and a wonderful addition to the known group of Tennessee samplers. While Isabel's sampler shows a strong relationship to other documented Tennessee samplers, the use of the peacock motif is highly unusual. The strong color palette is typical of Middle Tennessee samplers from this time period the fact that those used by Isabel remain so well preserved is significant. The Tennessee Sampler Survey website, TennesseeSamplers.com, works to present these samplers, along with scholarly research and information for sampler owners, to the public. Since 2004, TSS has located and documented over 200 Tennessee samplers.”

Born in Nashville on July 27, 1834, Isabel Stewart was the second child of John Stewart and his first wife. The Stewart family may have descended from William Stewart, an early Tennessee settler who founded Stewarts Ferry of Stone River. Tragically, Isabel’s mother died in childbirth; her father remarried Mahala Corbitt and six further children were born. John was a farmer and the family lived in close proximity to Minerva College, a highly regarded female seminary that was chartered in 1848, but was educating students prior to that as well. Isabel made this sampler in 1848 at age 14 and the Tennessee Sampler Survey believes that she was likely a student at this seminary. (continued on the next page)

Isabel Stewart, Nashville, Tennessee, 1848 (cont.)

Isabel married Hartwell Perry Reavis (1825-1902), as his second wife. They had nine children, living first in Oakley, Macon County, Illinois, where Hartwell listed his occupation as carpenter. By 1880 they were living in Smith County, Kansas. Isabel died in 1914 and she and Hartwell are buried in the Crystal Plains Cemetery in Smith County. The sampler remained in Kansas for many generations.

In addition to the sampler’s importance as a well-documented one from a state that produced very few overall, Isabel’s needlework is an exuberant example of folk art. She seems to have taken particular delight in her renditions of the houses and impossibly large basket of flowers. Her composition and color, used with consistency throughout the sampler, create strong aesthetic appeal. Richly dyed hues of wool were worked onto linen and the overall condition is excellent. There is some slight weakness and to the linen which has been stabilized. The sampler has been conservation mounted and is in a maple and cherry cornerblock frame.

Sampler size: 17½” x 17¾”

Framed size: 22” x 22¼”

Price: $18,500.

Isabella White, Glasgow, Scotland, 1814 A wonderfully pictorial and folky sampler, this is inscribed, “Isabella White sewed this sampler December 16 1814.” The maker was born in 1802, the daughter of a stage coach manager, John White, and his wife Jean (Bain) White; Isabella was the youngest of their six children. In 1832 Isabella married a flour merchant, Robert Shaw. She died in 1893, at the age of 91.

Consistent with the classic Scottish samplermaking tradition, Isabella noted her parents’ names, and the initials of her siblings: Margaret, Jean, Isabella, Katharine, Margaret, William. She listed her teacher’s name, Mrs. Barr, and her family initials as well. We have known of a few other samplers worked under Mrs. Barr, and further research should uncover a great deal of information about this excellent instructress.

Miss White stitched a handsome composition with a stunning house and lawn scene, and filled it with animated motifs. A variety of birds, one large, unusually colored bird encircled in a vine, two spiky chickens, a proud peacock at the front gate and other pairs of birds are throughout. The flowers and plants are just as diverse, from the early band across the top, to the tall thistle blossoms at the left of the house and the vibrant red flowers in a vase to the right, as well as the classic fruited trees, buds and evergreens. The house itself is quite notable – the blue tiled roof, the sawtooth surround of the door and center window, the well-groomed lawn and fence, and most remarkably the words between the two chimneys: TO LET. One tends to think that a house on a sampler is the maker’s own. The White family house seems to be depicted with a “for rent” sign; most unusual, indeed.

Worked in silk on wool, the sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a black painted, molded frame.

Sampler size: 17¾” x 12¾”

Framed size: 20¼” x 15¼”

Price: $6800.

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Mary Emeline Warren, Andes, Delaware County, New York, 1831 Worked in 1831, in the town of Andes, New York (in the Catskills and southwest of Albany), this sampler was made by 8-year-old Mary Emeline Warren. She was born on September 24, 1823, the daughter of Luke and Mary (Baird) Warren. They had wed in 1810 and had sixteen children between 1811 and 1833: Mary was their tenth child.

The sampler features alphabets, a moralistic verse, a fine scene of oversized fruit baskets, pine trees and a pair of spotted dogs, and a wonderful homage to George Washington with the years of his birth and death noted. American schoolgirls occasionally included memorials or tributes to Washington on their needlework and this is a very good example.

On November 18, 1847, Mary married a farmer, John Miller, who had been born in 1818 in New York State, and they lived in Ogle County, Illinois. Mary’s parents had removed to Michigan, as well. Mary and John had two adopted children. She died on June 9, 1889 and is buried in Roseland Cemetery in Ogle County.

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

Sampler size: 14” x 17¼”

Framed size: 16½” x 19¾”

Price: $4800.

Hannah Hazeltine, Warwick, Franklin County, Massachusetts, 1799 Warwick, Massachusetts, a small town in north central Massachusetts at the New Hampshire border, is the origin of this very fine little sampler. The inscription reads, “Hannah M. Hazeltine born Warwick Sept 19th 1788 aged 11 years.” Hannah was the daughter of Dr. Benjamin Hazeltine (1763-1826) who was born in Sutton, Massachusetts and his wife, Abigail (Mayo) Hazeltine (1766-1859), who was born in Roxbury. By 1784, Dr. Hazeltine was practicing medicine in Warwick, having served as a surgeon’s mate in the Revolutionary War. Information about him is published in a 19th century family genealogy as well as in Warwick, Massachusetts: Biography of a Town, by Charles A. Morse, (Cambridge, MA, 1963). The family had lived in Massachusetts since the mid-17th century. On July 8, 1818, Hannah married Moses M. Reed, of Winchendon, one town to the east, where they lived for many years. Hannah and Moses both died in 1877. (continued on the next page)

Hannah Hazeltine, Warwick, Franklin County, MA, 1799 (cont.)

The sampler features a wonderful scene of a three-story house sitting on a hill flanked by trees and with several little animals on it. Notably, the upper corners of the sampler are embellished with very fine queen’s-stitched, heart-shaped elements. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and it has been conservation mounted into a period carved and painted frame.

Sampler size: 11¾” x 11½”

Framed size: 14½” x 14¼”

Price: $4200.

Betsy Wells, Salem, Massachusetts, 1804 A very small group of important samplers, worked by young schoolgirls in Salem, Massachusetts in the first decade of the 19th century, were made on green linsey-woolsey; this excellent example was made

by Betsy Wells, age 11, and dated July 6, 1804. These samplers feature center frameworks surrounding alphabets and inscriptions, with wide borders of flowers and fruit on meandering vines on three sides. The bottom border is often more pictorial and can feature animals as well, and Betsy’s sampler quite wonderfully includes several large and fat white sheep and a delightfully animated little black dog. Other samplers from this group are in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Lynn Historical Society.

Betsy was born in 1794 to John and Anna (Devereaux) Wells who married on August 15, 1784 in Salem. We know that the Devereaux family had deep roots in Massachusetts, beginning with John Devereaux who immigrated to Salem in 1630, as published in The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633 (Robert Charles Anderson, 1995).

Betsy Wells married James Farley on October 11, 1812. They didn’t have children and remained in Salem. Farley was a distiller and worked as the foreman of Norris’s Distillery in Salem. He died on December 29, 1837 as the result of a fire there, and the Boston Courier of December 25, 1837, published a brief account of this accident. Betsy Farley died in 1847, at age 53.

The sampler was worked in silk on linsey-woolsey and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame with a black bead.

Sampler size: 18” x 15½”

Frame size: 22” x 19½”

Price: $18,000.

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Lucinda Stoddard, Nelson, New Hampshire, circa 1832 This sampler is signed, “Wrought by Lucinda Stoddard aged 10 years,” along the bottom, underneath the house and lawn scene. Lucinda Maria Stoddard was the daughter of Amos and Lucy (White) Stoddard who lived in Nelson, New Hampshire, west of Manchester and near Keene (just south of the town of Stoddard). Featured on the sampler is a large house with green windows and a widow’s walk railing between the two chimneys. A particularly fine border of grape bunches, grape leaves and tendrilling vines frames it well.

Lucinda’s ancestors came from England and had settled in Hingham, Massachusetts by the middle of the 17th century. She was the 4th of 6 children and lived with her parents until at least 1850, as indicated by census records.

She then married John Proud who was born circa 1822 in England and had emigrated to the United States in 1850. They removed to Wilmington, Delaware and had at least 2 children. Lucinda died in 1894 and John in 1898; they are buried in the Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Cemetery in New Castle County, Delaware. The sampler descended in the family until just recently.

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

Sampler size: 16¼” x 17¼”

Framed size: 19” x 20”

Price: $5800.

Caroline True, Montville, Maine, 1837 Entitled “1837 A SAMPLER 1837” at the top, this is a handsome rendition of alphabets and numbers carefully worked by ten-year-old Caroline True, who nicely included her birthdate, December 30, 1826 and the name of her town, Montville, Maine, in her inscription. Montville is in Waldoboro County, and is located 26 miles northeast of Augusta. A New England gazetteer published in 1839 by John Hayward of Boston, describes it as, “a beautiful and flourishing town, watered by some of the head branches of Sheepscot River … with a population in 1837 of 1,937.” Specifics about Caroline have remained elusive to our researcher although we know that the families of Moses, Paul and Ezekiel True were recorded in Montville in the 1830 census.

Several flower buds embellish the top corners and bottom row and a perimeter of diamond-shapes provides a fine border. The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and painted black frame.

Sampler size: 16½” x 17½”

Frame size: 19” x 20”

Price: $2800.

Nancy Wason, New Boston, New Hampshire, 1827

A wonderfully appealing group of samplers was produced in the 1820s by young girls from the town of New Boston and those surrounding it in southern New Hampshire. The large needleworks depict double-chimney Federal houses, trees and baskets of flowers set on verdant lawns, and carefully spaced alphabets and verse; the samplermakers often framed their compositions with borders of large flowers on delicate vines. These samplers would have been made under the instruction of a number of different schoolteachers and represent a style that became popular in this area. Signed, “Wrought by Nancy Wason AD 1827 ag’d 10 yrs,” this praiseworthy sampler is a very good example of this type of work. Additionally, Nancy stitched a most appealing verse, “There’s not a tint that paints the rose / Or decks the lily fair / Or streaks the humblest flowers that grows / But heaven has placed it there.”

Genealogy and Family History of the State of New Hampshire, vol IV (The Lewis Publishing Co, 1908) begins the section regarding the Wason family as follows, “In the tide of immigrants that set into the colony of New Hampshire from Ireland about two centuries ago, came the ancestor of the Wasons.

Like the great majority of settlers from that island, the immigrant Wason came to the wilderness of a new country to bear the hardships and privations and enjoy the freedom and advantages of a land in a state of almost primitive nature. He proved his good qualities as a pioneer, was an enterprising and respected citizen and became the ancestor of men who today are among the leading citizens of the state.” Generations later our samplermaker, Nancy, was born, on October 16, 1816, the fourth of nine children of Deacon Robert Wason and his wife, Nancy Batchelder. History of New Boston, New Hampshire (Boston, 1864) also publishes much about this family, stating that, “Deacon Wason reared a highly interesting family, none of whom has forsaken the faith or rejected the principles that characterized the worthy men of earlier days. He was social and affectionate, and always aimed to cultivate the intellect and improve the heart of his children.” This sampler certainly attests to the fact that his daughter Nancy was well educated. Nancy remained single for many years and married in 1878, at age 62, Deacon Henry Larned Johnson, selectman and representative to the State Legislature of Jewett City, Connecticut and Nashua, New Hampshire. She died at age 84 in 1901. (continued on the next page)

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Nancy Wason, New Boston, New Hampshire, 1827 (cont.)

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

Sampler size: 16½” x 19¾”

Framed size: 22” x 25¼”

Price: $22,000.

Esther Roberts, Ackworth Quaker School, Yorkshire, England, 1798 The Ackworth School, located in northern England, was established in 1779 by members of the London Yearly Meeting with the purpose of providing an education for Quaker children from less affluent families; it was expected that both male and female students would receive a strong academic education, as well as skills that would assist them in their work later on. The girls also learned needlework, both plain sewing and well-honed needlework, and many of their samplers exhibit extraordinarily fine stitching. Some of the Ackworth school sampler patterns became hallmarks of excellent samplermaking throughout England and the United States, and Carol Humphrey’s excellent book, Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth (Needleprint, 2006), tells us much about the history of the school and many of the students. Interestingly, when members of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting decided to establish the first American Friends school, they sent committees to Ackworth and then used that school as the template for the formation of Westtown School.

(continued on the next page)

Esther Roberts, Ackworth Quaker School, Yorkshire, England, 1798 (cont.)

One particularly desirable type of sampler made by Ackworth students is that which features geometric medallion patterns. They occasionally also incorporate alphabets, ligatures, numbers and occasionally a small dedication or pledge of friendship. We are pleased to offer this outstanding geometric medallion and alphabet sampler, made in 1798, by Esther Roberts, an Ackworth student who entered the school in June of 1796 and left in November of 1798. The execution of her needlework places it with the finest Ackworth samplers. Esther included the phrase, “A Token of Love” and in the wreath enclosure above her name, the acknowledgment “ER to HR”, perhaps this sampler was dedicated to her mother, Hannah.

Esther was born on July 24, 1785, the oldest of the five children of John and Hannah (Beaumont) Roberts, residents of the village of Totties, nearby Ackworth. John and Hannah were members of the Pontefract Monthly Meeting. When Esther entered the school, her younger sister Ann did so as well, and they left together, released to their father. The file that accompanies the sampler includes wonderful handwritten records about the enrollment of Esther and Ann Roberts from the archives of Ackworth School.

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

Sampler size: 13¼” x 12”

Framed size: 17” x 13¼”

Price: $12,000.

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Dolly Warriner Silk Embroidery, Mary Balch School, Providence, Rhode Island, circa 1810

An outstanding group of silk embroidered memorials was made at Mary Balch’s renowned school in Providence, Rhode Island. Examples were included in the groundbreaking and scholarly exhibition at The Rhode Island Historical Society in 1983 entitled Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee: Needlework in the Education of Rhode Island Women 1730 - 1830, and are published in the book of the same title by curator Betty Ring. Writing specifically about the silk embroidered memorials from this school, Mrs. Ring states that these ambitious embroideries are identified by their shimmering willow trees, marbleized monuments with blended shading and the extremely fine black silk lettering used for the epitaphs. Our Warriner family large silk embroidery is an excellent Balch School piece, with an interesting family history to accompany it.

It features delicate needlework and a composition that includes the characteristics that best represent the Balch School memorials. These specific marble monuments, a large, graceful willow and a neoclassical column in ruins dominate the setting, with abundant foliage in the foreground and a painted sky forming the background. Three members of the Warriner family are honored on the monuments, Deacon Noah Warriner, his wife, Mrs. Mary Warriner (born Mary Ainsworth of Providence, Rhode Island in 1751) and one of their children, Mary Warriner.

The maker was Dolly Warriner, born July 6, 1793, a younger sister of Mary. Dolly married in 1813 and must have attended the Balch School as a boarding student prior to her marriage. Her mother’s family ties to Providence would have likely contributed to this choice of school.

Deacon Noah Warriner was born in 1748 in Wilbraham, now part of Springfield, Massachusetts. He was a sergeant in the Revolutionary War and part of a brigade of Minute Men, serving in Roxbury and Lexington. Later he served as Town Clerk of Wilbraham. After his first wife died in 1778, he married Mary Ainsworth and they became the parents of seven children. A published family genealogy, The Warriner Family of New England Origin, by Rev. Edwin Warriner (1899), contains much information about the family. The entire tragic narrative of the death of young Mary Warriner in 1799 at age 15 years and 9 months is included; she drowned during a sailing excursion on the local pond along with five young friends. (continued on the next page)

Dolly Warriner Silk Embroidery, Mary Balch School, Providence, Rhode Island, circa 1810 (cont.)

The needleworker, Dolly, married Col. Warren Lincoln, also of Wilbraham. They continued to reside there and became the parents of four children. The Warriner genealogy states that this Lincoln family is “one of the most influential in the nation” the same family as that of President Abraham Lincoln, however this information has not been verified. Their eldest, William Lincoln, was a noted business man in western Massachusetts whose wife was related to John Quincy Adams and other men who figured prominently in the history of this country.

An inked inscription was written onto the silk in the space provided, after the death of Mrs. Mary Warriner, mother of Dolly, in 1831, at age 79 years and 6 months.

A faithful reproduction has been made of the original eglomisé glass mat, inscribed “D. Warriner,” which was unfortunately cracked. The embroidery and silk background are in excellent condition and it is in 19th century gold leaf period frame.

Sight size: 17” x 21½” Frame size: 23” x 28½”

Price: $11,000.

M. Spence, Miniature Hollie Point, Norfolk, England, 1792 We were delighted to have been offered this rare, miniature treasure on a recent trip to London. Hollie Point is an English needlework technique that found favor in the 18th century; depictions are formed when fine threads are gathered and tightly worked with twisted buttonhole stitches, creating spaces between them. These typically include geometric designs, letters and numbers, flowers, birds and animals. The inscription on this example reads, “M Spence W. this 1792 Aged 74,” and a family notation that accompanies it expounds on this and informs us that “W.” was the abbreviation for “Worked.” The note further indicates that M. Spence was a “sewing lady” who worked for and made this for Betsy Tolver, who married Samuel Paget in 1799. This must have been highly regarded, as it remained in the Paget family until 1970.

What a remarkable accomplishment for M. Spence, at age 74! While her identity has been lost, research tells us that the family lived in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

Sarah Elizabeth (Betsy) Tolver (17781843) indeed married Samuel Paget (1774-1857), on December 7, 1799. A great deal of further information about the Paget family accompanies this piece.

Notably, Betsy was herself a distinguished needleworker and collector.

The reverse of a hollie point piece is just as beautifully finished as the front and we photographed the back of this prior to mounting.

It is in excellent condition, and has been conservation mounted and is in a 19th century frame.

Size of the needlework: 12¾” x 2” Framed size: 15¾” x 5” Price: $4800.

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Silk Embroidery of a Parrot, American, circa 1835 Needleworkers turned their interests to wildlife, particularly exotic birds, in natural settings, as they became familiar with and enjoyed the art of John James Audubon (17851851). The Birds of America, published 182738, included many inspiring plates, and young ladies followed suite by producing excellent needlework pictures of similar subjects, such as this highly colored parrot perched on a branch leaning in towards three fat strawberries. Every feather is separated stitched, each leaf is specifically veined and the berries have seeds worked in French knots.

This silk embroidery was worked in silk on silk and remains in its original gold leaf frame and eglomisé mat. It is in excellent condition.

Sight size: 8¾” x 6¾” Framed size: 14¾” x 12¾” Price: $2800.

Emily B. Emerson, Delaware Valley, America, circa 1820 The many teachers who were themselves educated at the fine schools established by the Society of Friends in the early 19th century disseminated the distinctive and excellent Quaker motifs and design elements throughout the region. Betty Ring, writing in Girlhood Embroidery, vol. II (Knopf 1993), Quaker Samplers in America, states “It was only in the Federal period that the Religious Society of Friends introduced sampler motifs that were purely their own, and these were maintained over a wide area throughout the last forty years of the schoolgirl needlework era.” These motifs include stylized flower branches, potted flowers and baskets of fruit and the white swan gliding under a curved branch. The composition of a Quaker motif sampler will frequently be centered on a variation of a diamond-shaped cartouche that encloses a specific pictorial element. Emily B. Emerson created this small, finely-worked sampler under Quaker instruction and it is a highly pleasing example.

The sampler was worked in silk on fine linen gauze and it is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is now in a figured maple frame.

Sampler size: 9¼” x 7½”

Framed size: 11¾” x 10”

Price: $1850.

Athelia Armstrong, Indian Hill, Cincinnati area, Ohio, 1819

Athelia Armstrong was born on June 26, 1805, as she stitched on her praiseworthy, large sampler. She was the eldest child of William A. Armstrong (1771-1851), a farmer who lived in Indian Hill, Ohio, and his wife, Naomi (Norris) Armstrong (1782-1852). Both the Armstrong and Norris families had removed to Ohio from Maryland. Athelia’s grandfather, Nathaniel Shepherd Armstrong, was born in 1749 and by 1800 had left Maryland along with his wife and nine children to farm land that he acquired in Ohio.

Published information states that, “Nathaniel sold the family farm for twelve to fifteen dollars an acre, gathered up their belongings in wagons, and set out. On June 22, 1800, after driving their wagons across the wilderness, waiting out flooded rivers, and floating on handmade flatboats down the Ohio River with all their worldly goods, the Armstrongs anchored at Columbia near Cincinnati.” The family settled at the village of Indian Hill, about 13 miles from Cincinnati, where they established a number of successful grist and lumber mills. Nathaniel Armstrong is considered one of the area’s most prominent early pioneers and was noted for his business and civic activities.

Athelia made her sampler when she was “aged 14 years” – featuring large alphabets and a classic poem that begins, “Teach me to feel anothers wo [sic]”. The basket of flowers at the center of the bottom and the border of buds on vine embellish the sampler nicely. The condition is excellent and even the alphabet, worked in beige thread, just above the poem, is all complete.

Sadly, Athelia died at age 24, on December 15, 1829. She is buried in the Armstrong Chapel Cemetery, part of the United Methodist Church, which was established by her grandfather on land that he deeded as a burying ground. This Armstrong chapel was built in 1831 and is considered an important and historic site in the area. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and has been conservation mounted into a bird’s-eye maple frame.

Sampler size: 16½” x 19½”

Framed size: 20½” x 23½”

Price: $6200.

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“Dear Friend Remember Me,” Presentation Sampler, England, 1838 One of the most endearing traditions within this field is that of needleworkers stitching small samplers to be presented to friends and family. While there are some particular American presentation groups, notably the Philadelphia Presentation Samplers, in the overall far more of these are English. The majority are small or miniature in scale, in keeping with the personal nature of the intent. We were pleased to have recently acquired this outstanding example, inscribed simply, “Dear Friend Remember Me 1838.” The composition is classically English, filled with tiny trees, potted flowers, pairs of birds and a basket of fruit arranged in mirror-image symmetry. A lawn of hillocks, populated with birds grounds the arrangement well. Some of the elements, notably, the pair of white swans gliding at right and left of center, and the pair of birds under a stylized branch below the crown at the top center, are well-known Quaker sampler motifs. The stitching is almost impossibly fine and the sampler is both highly refined and wonderfully intimate.

It was worked in silk on linen gauze and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a 19th century gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 8” x 6¾”

Framed size: 9½” x 8¼”

Price: $4600.

Pair of Pocket Watch Holders, England, 1833 Some of the most interesting and visually compelling needlework articles that we know of include a group of beautifully stitched pieces made at the orphanages and asylums in England. These were made and then sold to raise funds for the particular institutions, and if tucked away and kept out of light, have remained in splendid, original condition. The items can be roll-up pockets, pin cushions, hanging bags, and, as we offer here, pocket watch holders. This particular form was made as a pocket, and one would slip one’s watch into the enclosed area below, with the silk binding under the basket and birds forming the opening. Many of these orphanage pieces display extremely fine stitching and some characteristic elements found within this group are included on this pair – the wonderful oversized basket with a pyramid of fruit and a pair of birds, the touching hearts and the use (continued on the next page)

Pair of Pocket Watch Holders, England, 1833 (cont.) of long satin-stitches for many of the motifs. This type of work was almost never signed and was rarely dated, so the tiny stitches declaring 1833 on each of these is certainly of additional advantage.

They are worked in silk on fine linen gauze and retain their original pale pink silk bindings. In excellent condition they are now conservation mounted and in a 19th century frame.

Size of each pocket: 7” x 4½”

Framed size: 9¾” x 12”

Price: $4800.

Ann Eliza Scott, American, 1833 An engaging sampler, this features a scene of a bold house, depicted in threequarter view, flanked by a tall, deep green tree and a similarly tall lady in a blue top hat holding her ivory reticule. The scene sits atop an angular hill of teal green grass, which continues below two very large baskets of flowers.

Signed, “Wrought by Ann Eliza Scott / October the 15 AD 1833,” the samplers includes bands of alphabets and numbers spanning the top half of the linen, completed by a large beige, eyelet-stitched alphabet which ends with Ann’s initials in deep brown silk. The verse reads: “Religeon [sic] should our thoughts engage / Amidst our youthfull bloom / Twill fit us for declineing [sic] age / And for the awfull [sic] tomb.” This was taken from the hymn Religion is the Chief Concern, words by John Fawcett (1740-1817) from his Hymns Adapted to the Circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion, 1782. Ann completed her sampler with a fine four-sided, stylized border of flowers on vine.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a molded and painted black frame.

Sampler size: 17” x 16¼”

Framed size: 19½” x 18¾”

Price: $5800.

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Maria Clarke, Hungerford, Berkshire, England, 1821 Maria Clarke stitched her letter-perfect marking and verse sampler in a handsome deep green on beige. Repetitions of each letter in the alphabet span the sampler, followed by a single, large uppercase eyelet-stitched alphabet. Maria also incorporated her additional learned skill of a foreign language by including The Golden Rule in French, rendering this a rare example.

Miss Clarke’s inscription extends across the bottom of the sampler: “Maria Clarke Hungerford Berks. May 1821.” Hungerford is a small town in Berkshire, southern England, and has been in existence since the 12th century.

Worked in silk on wool, Maria Clarke’s sampler is in excellent condition with very minor, secured weakness along a center fold line. It has been conservation mounted into a black painted, molded frame.

Sampler size: 12” x 13”

Framed size: 14½” x 13½”

Price: $1700.

Motif Band Sampler, German, 1788 Samplers made in the middle of the 18th century in Northern Europe offer interesting pictorial subject matter arranged in pleasing compositions and executed in a fine vocabulary of stitches. This particular German example exhibits a wonderful assortment of various animals, plant life and figures, many of which hold symbolic meaning.

The gnarly oak tree, the element featured central and flanked by crowned parrots, symbolizes nobility or longevity, and the crowned parrots relate with the meaning of eternal life. The lobster has been known to have contemptuous meaning toward the British. Personified along the left side of the sampler is Justice, a blindfolded woman holding a sword and a scale. Many of these elements have been determined with interesting meaning, and composed together create a remarkably animated field of work. A good reference for similar examples is Patterns and Motifs: Stitched and Ornamented on Textile Ground by Anne Wanner-Jean Richard (VGS Verlagsgemeinschaft St. Gallen).

German samplers, and Northern European samplers, generally are signed with initials, and (continued on the next page)

Motif Band Sampler, German, 1788 (cont.) many initials at that. Wreathed in flowers are likely the samplermaker’s initials (and perhaps those of her teacher) IFE / MCE, as well as the date 1788. Crisply worked lines of alphabets, numerical progressions, crowns and decorative bands uniformly fill the lower half of the register.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a painted, molded frame.

Sampler size: 19½” x 13”

Frame size: 21½” x 15”

Price: $3200.

Hannah Loper, Pittsgrove, Salem County, New Jersey, 1829 This is a sampler that has a great deal to offer on many levels. It is large, wellcomposed and wonderfully pictorial, and the needlework is excellent and was accomplished in a good variety of stitches.

The central depiction focuses on two large houses each with a black dog on the path leading up to the front door, and each with a leafy tree under a resplendent sun. Many baskets of flowers, pairs of birds, and small geometric elements provide further decoration; the maker’s initials are nicely set into the space between the two houses. A large pair of fruit trees flank the elaborate cartouche that contains the inscription, “Hannah Loper’s work done in the 15th year of her age October the 20 AD 1829 Were born in June the 20 AD 1814 Pitts Grove.” The border is outstanding, with large-blossomed flowers and buds growing from a graceful vine on three sides.

The Loper family in America seems to have begun with Jacob Loper (1624-1652) who was born in Stockholm and emigrated to New Amsterdam in 1647. By the beginning of the 18th century the family was in Salem County, New Jersey and several generations later, Hannah was born on June 20, 1814.

She was the daughter of a farmer, John Loper and his wife, Mary, of Pittsgrove. Hannah married Thomas Blackwood, an innkeeper who owned a hotel opposite the courthouse in Pittsgrove and they had at least four children. Hannah died on March 5, 1852 and Thomas died just over a year later. A wonderful file accompanies the sampler as result of genealogical research into the Loper and Blackwood families. Included are extensive photocopies of the wills and one estate appraisals of John Loper, Hannah (Loper) Blackwood and Thomas Blackwood.

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

Sampler size: 21½” x 22”

Framed size: 25¾” x 26¼”

Price: $12,500.

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Mary Rushworth, Keighley Mechanics Institution, West Yorkshire, England, circa 1838 Keighley is a town in West Yorkshire, England, just northwest of Leeds, and the origin of this interesting and appealing sampler. It was made by eleven-year-old Mary Rushworth, and she commemorated an important society that had been recently established there, the name of which was the Mutual Instruction in Mechanics, Experimental Philosophy and Mathematics.

It was established in 1825 by four men, as part of the early 19th mutual improvement society movement in England. According to Mabel P. Tylecote, author of the Mechanics’ Institutes of Lancashire and Yorkshire Before 1851 (University of Manchester Press, 1957), it was “founded by people in humble circumstances for the immediate benefit of themselves and their friends.”

Importantly a lending library was part of this institution. One of the four founders was an architect and artist, John Bradley (1781-1844), who was close to the Brontë family, and Brontë memoirs include mention of their use of the Keighley Mechanics Institution Library. A plaque, hung on the outside of this building in 1955, stated, “To this building when it was a Mechanics’ Institute the Brontë family came each week from Haworth to borrow books: 1835-1855.”

The society erected and opened a new building in Skipton Road in 1834 and this precise building, with its double doors, broken arch pediment and other specific details, was depicted by Mary Rushworth on her sampler. She likely attended the local National School which had a close relationship with the Mechanics’ Institution, as evidenced in an 1834 newspaper article. The 1841 census recorded the family of James and Sarah Rushworth and their eight children, including Mary, age 14. While we can’t be certain, we assume that this Mary was our samplermaker.

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

Sampler size: 13¼” x 12½”

Framed size: 16¼” x 15½”

Price: $3200.

Agnes Douglass, Miniature Sampler, Dr. Bell’s School, Aberdeen, Scotland, 1839 Dr. Andrew Bell (1753-1832) was a Scottish educator and reformer whose work in India with the Madras System of education was enormously important throughout the United Kingdom in the early decades of the 19th century. In 1811, after studying and working in Madras, Dr. Bell returned to the British Isles and formed the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor, and served as its superintendent for many years. The Madras method is a monitorial system, based on the theory that older students should be the mentors and teachers of younger students. This practical method allowed for great numbers of poor students to receive a primary education. Almost 13,000 schools were opened throughout the United Kingdom by Dr. Bell’s organization, with over 900,000 students educated, thusly. (continued on the next page)

Agnes Douglass, Miniature Sampler, Dr. Bell’s School, Aberdeen, Scotland, 1839 (cont.)

This finely made, miniature sampler, worked by Agnes Douglass in 1839 at Dr. Bell’s School in Aberdeen, is the only example of needlework produced at one of Dr. Bell’s school that we are aware of to date. Tiny stitches form the alphabets, numerical progression, inscription and border. The maker was Agnes Douglass who was likely the daughter of Alexander and Margaret Douglass, born circa 1832. The family lived in Gallowgate in Aberdeen, as recorded by the 1841 census. Worked in silk on wool, the sampler is in very good condition, with some secured weakness to the wool.

It has been conservation mounted and is in a gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 5” x 4” Framed size: 7” x 6” Price: $3400.

English Sampler with Black Lady and Gentleman, 1789 This is a very handsome pictorial sampler with strong contrast and rare imagery. A tall flowering tree with a large blossom at the top is the main focus, with large birds perched on each of the four branches. A black dog chases a rabbit underneath, and a finely attired couple stitched in black stand below, as well. She wears a pink dress and a deep green hat, his suit is pale blue and he wears a black top hat. The depiction of black people is unusual on samplers and holds a strong appeal.

The classic aphorism, “This work in hand my friends may have when I am dead and laid in grave,” is stitched above. A flowering zigzag framework surrounds the composition on all four sides.

Worked in silk on linen, this sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into its original beveled bird’s eye maple frame with a gold liner.

Sampler size: 12” x 10”

Framed size: 16½” x 14½”

Price: $6400.

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Hannah Carter, Dover, New Hampshire, 1805 An article in the August 1997 issue of The Magazine Antiques entitled Schoolgirl Samplers of Dover New Hampshire by Rita F. Conant documents an outstanding group of samplers from the coastal town of Dover in southern New Hampshire. The schoolmistress responsible for teaching these young needleworkers was Sophia Cushing Hayes Wyatt, an obviously knowledgeable and talented teacher.

Betty Ring, writing about these samplers in Girlhood Embroidery, vol. I (Knopf 1993), indicates that “At the turn of the new century, a stunning group of samplers was worked in Dover by local girls as well as several who lived just north of the Piscataqua River.”

Our sampler is inscribed, “Hannah Carter born January 28 in 1793 Aged 12 years” and while less elaborate than some in the group, includes the splendidly worked flower and vine border, together with a script alphabet, which identify the group. Several of the specific horizontal bands that separate the rows of alphabets can also be found on other Dover samplers.

Schoolmistress Sophia Wyatt, in her Autobiography of a Landlady of the Old School (Boston, 1854), which is partially excerpted by Mrs. Conant in her article, writes that the girls who attended her school “were selected from fine families, and were emulous each one to obtain useful knowledge …

Many of these young ladies are now wives of eminent gentlemen, placed in affluent circumstances, kind, affectionate mothers and a great acquisition to society.”

Hannah Carter’s birthdate is recorded in the vital records of Dover; she was the daughter of a wheelwright, Benjamin Carter and his wife, Hannah (Reynolds) Carter, who married in 1792. On May 1, 1814, Hannah married Stephen Varney, a young man from a prominent Dover family. Their six children were born between 1814 and 1829.

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

Sampler size: 16¾” x 15¾”

Framed size: 20” x 19”

Price: $8800.

Mary Brecknell, Kidderminster, Worcester, England, 1723 Worked by Mary Brecknell, this is an excellent “Tablet Sampler,” a uniquely English form. Carol Humphreys, in her book entitled Samplers (Fitzwilliam Museum and Cambridge University Press), notes on page 64, while discussing a specific 1744 sampler, “Samplers inscribed with the Lord’s Prayer, a Creed, or the Ten Commandments became increasingly popular in England from the 1720s. Their format was similar to the painted boards displayed in churches of the day, with the appropriate religious tract set out for the education of the congregation.

The combination of moral edification and instruction in stitching was embraced enthusiastically by governesses and schoolteachers.” Mary worked her sampler in 1723, indeed an early one of its kind.

The Lord’s Prayer and Apostles’ Creed were each stitched in this tablet format, along with Mary’s inscription: “Mary Breck / nell Ended / her sampler / 1723 / Aged 10.” She was born in 1713 in Kidderminster, Worcester, England to William and Mary Brecknell, who were wed in 1705 there, as well. Primarily worked in red and green and neutral ivory silks, tightly stitched crowns and alphabets span the top register, divided by decorative bands. The surround of the tablet is most notable: a fine fully worked green ground with striped-blossomed flowers across the top. Cora Ginsburg, a highly esteemed dealer in exemplary needlework and early textiles, sold Mary Brecknell’s sampler in the 1980s and this provenance is to its advantage.

Worked in silk on linen, Mary’s sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a black painted, molded frame.

Sampler size: 18¼” x 7¾” Frame size: 20¾” x 10¼” Price: $6800.

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Sarah Backhouse, Mary Ralston’s School, Easton, Pennsylvania, circa 1815 This large, handsome sampler was worked by Sarah Backhouse at the relatively advanced age of 18 while she was attending the school of Mary Ralston in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Made circa 1815, Sarah’s sampler is an excellent example of the early type of Ralston school needlework.

Characteristics of this early group include large and small buildings, large evergreen trees with the trunk notably extending up into the foliage, use of the queen’s stitch and trees with diamond-shaped leaves. Other examples, dated 1813 and 1814, are published in Betty Ring’s Girlhood Embroidery, vol. II, as figures 509 to 511. Mrs. Ring provides much information about Mary Ralston (1772-1850), who ran a girls’ private school in Easton for many years. She was highly respected, as evidenced by the published obituary in the April 13, 1850 Easton Democrat and Argus: “[Mrs. Ralston] 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.”

Along with the classic housescape scene, Sarah also included a large depiction of a basket filled with an airy arrangement of flowers. Her border is more complex than many and frames the work well, echoing the diamond-shaped leaves on the trees. Details such as the tiny evergreen tree underneath its much larger version (and also with its trunk extending upwards into its foliage) and the deep blue violet flowers punctuating the flower arrangement add to our appreciation of this sampler.

Specific identification of Sarah Backhouse has eluded us, but it’s likely that she was the daughter or granddaughter of Richard Backhouse, well-known as the proprietor of Durham Iron Works, beginning in 1779. Published information about Backhouse’s iron works indicates that during the Revolutionary War, he supplied shot and cannonballs, and after the war became an important maker of stoves.

Durham is only approximately 9 miles from Easton and a school such as Mary Ralston’s would certainly have attracted a young lady from a family such as this. (continued on the next page)

Sarah Backhouse, Mary Ralston’s School, Easton, Pennsylvania, circa 1815 (cont.)

The sampler is worked in silk on linen; the linen is in very good condition with some weakness in the lower corners. The needlework, itself, is in excellent condition and the sampler has been stabilized and conservation mounted into a black molded and painted frame.

Sampler size: 21¾” square

Framed size: 24¼” square

Price: $3900.

Henrietta King, Mid-Atlantic States, America, 1830 We are always delighted when we can offer a sampler with perfect visual appeal and a fine color palette as is the case with this one, worked by nine-year-old Henrietta King in 1830.

The composition centers on a beautiful, white, classically-inspired house with its tall blue columns and pair of brick chimneys. A sharply styled pine tree to the right of the house leads to a small dependency building. To the left of the house a fruiting tree, with its origins in early European sampler motifs, has attracted an enormous insect while a tiny, curly-tailed dog walks on the shallow lawn below. Other of the vignettes include a lady in a striped skirt with her basket of flowers and this same small dog, depicted twice. A number of the motifs, notably the pair of carnation branches flanking the wreathed inscription and the pair of birds at center, show the strong influence of Quaker design that was prevalent throughout the area. The verse, like many of the period, advises a child to lead a moral life.

A stylized border of relative complexity frames the composition on four sides and the deep green leafy vine provides a strong visual component. The needlework is remarkably consistent throughout the sampler, leaving us with no doubt as to young Henrietta’s skill.

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

Sampler size: 18” x 17”

Framed size: 22½” x 21½”

Price: $11,000.

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Sarah Townsend, Waltham, Massachusetts, 1785 The maker of this sampler, Sarah Townsend, employed a personalized version of our favorite four-line sampler poem, “Sarah Townsend is my Name / New England is my Nation / Waltham is my Dwelling Place / And Christ is my Salvation.”

And her inscription near the bottom, “Sarah Townsend’s Work in the Tenth Year of her age 1785,” lends even further to the identification of Sarah and the appeal of her handsome sampler. The vertical shape and the overall composition, that of a band sampler with an arcaded border on four sides, are classic 18th century characteristics. Sarah included a row of diamond shaped elements marching across the center of the sampler and two bands of stylized plants and flowers above and below, adding pictorial motifs to the traditional format.

We have photocopies from many different sources, including a published 1860 town history and various family genealogies, and have come to know much about Sarah Townsend, her ancestors, her husband and their children. In 1634 Martin Townsend, age 38, sailed from Ipswich, England on the ship Elizabeth. His great-greatgreat granddaughter, Sarah, was born on September 17, 1775, to David Townsend (1746-1814) and Sarah (Jennsion) Townsend, of Waltham, Massachusetts, west of Cambridge. David was known as a “Cornet,” an honorary military title. Our samplermaker, Sarah, was one of ten children. In 1802, she married Phineas Upham (17731805), who was also from an old Waltham family. They had two children, and Sarah died in 1831.

Sarah’s sampler is unusually wellmade as revealed by examination and photography of the reverse, which is as carefully stitched as the front. Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a beveled cherry frame.

Sampler size: 16½” x 10¼”

Framed size: 19½” x 13¼”

Price: $3400.

Johannah Buzzel, Alton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, 1829 This large and very fine sampler was made in central New Hampshire by twelveyear-old Johannah Buzzel in 1829; it features extravagant needlework on a grand scale.

Johannah was born in Alton on September 6, 1817. Her sampler includes excellent borders formed from luxurious flowers and buds on naturalistic leafy vines, which emanate from a particularly splendid and decorative basket. A small flower arrangement in a pitcher fills the border at the top and flower bouquets tied with bowknots anchor the upper corners. A fine deep blue sawtooth inner border adds greatly to the composition.

Careful stitching forms a variety of alphabets, one worked in the eyelet stitch, along with one of the most appealing verses to appear on early 19th century samplers. The verse celebrates the peaceful hours that “the book the needle and the pen,” divide.

Johannah was the daughter of a farmer, John, and his wife Belinda, and on August 18, 1844 she married Noah Kimball Nutter (1822-1906), a mason, from nearby Wakefield, New Hampshire; they had three children. Johannah died in 1892 at age 75, and she is buried along with family members in the Lovell Lake Cemetery.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition with one very minor area of weakness to the linen in the upper right corner. It has been conservation mounted into its outstanding original mahogany veneer cornerblock frame.

Sampler size: 24¼” x 18¼” Frame size: 29” x 23” Price: $6800.

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Omnium Gatherum: A Collection of Varied Objects Along with samplers and needlework, we offer a variety of other antiques including furniture, folk art, glass and examples of decorative arts. On these two pages we present some of these objects; you will find a greater sampling at mfinkelanddaughter.1stdibs.com.

Pair of Straw Work Pictures, Dutch, 18th century This outstanding pair of detailed and whimsical pictures was made of gouache and straw work and portrays provincial life along a river, with many people, birds, waterfowl and animals, boats, public buildings, townhouses and a windmill. They have an interesting provenance, as they were owned by Desmond Coke (1879-1931), a novelist and writer of stories for boys, who wrote under his own name, as well as the pseudonym Belinda Blinders. In excellent condition and in their fine, original carved frames.

Framed size of each: 11½” x 15¼”

Price for the pair: $7800.

Blown Glass Compote, American, circa 1850 This fine and generous hand-blown, colorless glass compote features two rows of cut bull’s eyes around the bowl and a well-proportioned, applied base. Good, appropriate wear is visible on the bottom edge, and a very clean pontil is found, which reflects the skilled glassblower.

Dimensions: 7” x 8½” diameter Young Lady Ironing, Tole Painted Tray, England, mid-19th century This handsome and well-painted tin tray portrays a highly unusual subject. The great majority of tole trays that one comes across depict a floral still life or a romanticized subject; this back-of-the-house portrait is quite a rarity. The oval format, with its black and gold surround, is similar to the composition of a classic silk embroidery. Nice weight to the tray, well-made with two handles cut in, and a rolled top edge. The paint is all original.

Dimensions: 18½” x 23” x 1¾”

Price: $2400.

Price: $950.

37 Labeled Bellows, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1840 In its excellent original paint, this turtle-back fireplace bellows was made by the firm of Eckstein and Richardson and retains its original label in the vent hole on the reverse: “ECKSTEIN AND RICHARDSON PATENT No. 36 North Third Street, PHILADELPHIA.” John Eckstein and Ross B. Richardson made and sold bellows and brushes at this address in the early through mid-19th century.

Winterthur Museum owns two painted bellows made by the firm circa 1820-25, labeled similarly. We have had the leather recently restored, using the original tacks, and the bellows are in fine working order.

Dimensions: 5¾” x 2¼” x 16½” long

Price: $850.

Cast iron Stove Plate, J. Dalliba & Co., Port Henry, New York, 1830 A strong Federal composition featuring an eagle and half and quarter fans, this handsome, bowed, cast iron stove plate was made by the company founded by Major James Dalliba in 1822 as a furnace, in Port Henry, in the Adirondacks, on the banks of Lake Champlain. Dalliba transformed it to a stove works manufactory in 1827 and this was one of the most important American stove works of its day. By the mid 1830's, Dalliba died and the company was sold.

This is a rare example of this foundry’s work.

Dimensions: 12” x 17” x 2” Price: $3400.

Lodge Pole Top Finials, Daughters of Rebekah, American, circa 1900 Four distinctive symbols of the female branch of the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows, the beehive, moon, dove and lily, these were used on the top of wooden poles at parades, lectures and honorary meetings. Daughters of Rebekah was established in 1851 and members were the sisters, wives and daughters of Odd Fellows. They were known for their humanitarian, service-oriented organization; the name derived from Rebekah, an Old Testament woman whose kindness and hospitality to a humble, unknown stranger best characterized the soughtafter virtues. These four nicely chromeplated cast brass symbols have survived together, and in pristine condition.

The tallest finial stands 8¾” high.

Price for the set of four, on a contemporary stand: $2200.

SELECTED NEEDLEWORK BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, Gloria Seaman. . Washington, DC: DAR Museum, 1989.

, 1738-1860, Maryland Historical Society, 2007.

Columbia's Daughters: Girlhood Embroidery from the District of Columbia,

Chesapeake Book Company, Baltimore, Maryland, 2012.

Bolton, Ethel Stanwood and Coe, Eve Johnston.

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

Browne, Clare and Jennifer Wearden.

London: V&A Publications, 1999.

Campanelli, Dan & Marty. A Sampling of Hunterdon County Needlework: The Motifs, The Makers

& Their Stories. Flemington, NJ: Hunterdon County Historical Society, 2013. .

Edmonds, Mary Jaene.

New York: Rizzoli, 1991.

Herr, Patricia T.

. The Heritage Center Museum of Lancaster County, Pa, 1996.

Hersh, Tandy and Charles.

German Society, 1991.

. Birdsboro, PA: Pennsylvania

Humphrey, Carol.

Estates Limited, 2006.

. Needleprint & Ackworth School .

Ivey, Kimberly Smith.

Colonial Williamsburg and Curious Works Press, 1997.

. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978.

Krueger, Glee F.

. Sturbridge, Massachusetts: Old Sturbridge Village, 1978.

Lukacher, Joanne Martin. Imitation and Improvement: The Norfolk Sampler Tradition. Redmond, WA: In the

Company of Friends, LLC, 2013.

Parmal, Pamela A. Ring, Betty.

. Boston, Massachusetts: MFA Publications, 2000. . New York: E.P. Dutton, 1987. . Knopf, 1993. .

Providence: The Rhode Island Historical Society, 1983. . New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1968.

Schiffer, Margaret B.

Schoelwer, Susan P.

Connecticut: The Connecticut Historical Society, 2010.

. Hartford,

Studebaker, Sue. Ohio Samplers: Schoolgirl Embroideries 1803-1850. Warren County Historical Society, 1988.

. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2002.

Swan, Susan B.

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977.

(detail of sampler by Hannah Carter, page 30)

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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. q

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 Mary Coffin, page 1)

(detail of Allegory of Springtime sampler, page 7)