#6942                                                                                                    Sarah Alexander Sampler               

Click here for larger image

Rare Baltimore Maryland Sampler

17 " x 16 1/2".    21 1/4" x 21 " including a modern frame.  Sarah was born "about 1820" in Baltimore, Maryland. South- ern samplers are quite rare and very difficult to find, so Sarah's lovely needlework is quite special.  She stitched her parents names( James and Frances), and the names of her brothers and sisters as well as Mary Ann Banning, who was probably her teacher.   The siblings listed are:  Margaret, Ninian, Catherine, Martha Jane, Sarah, John Andrew and Rebecca.     The names are surrounded with a gorgeous basket of meandering flowers and an outside border of queen stitched strawberries.   
  

Click here for larger image.

Her verse reads:

"Jesus permit thy gracious name to stand
As the first efforts of an infants hand
And as her fingers o'er the canvass move
Engage her tender heart to seek thy love
With thy dear children may she have a part
And write thy name thyself upon her heart".

Her signature reads: "Sarah Alexanders Sampler  Worked by her in the tenth year of her age".                                                                                                   

Click here for larger image.

 

There is some staining in the signature area as well as a few holes in the fabric.   The holes are top center, the left outside edge and the signature area.   But the silks are vibrant and still show a nice sheen.   The only thread loss in is the alphabet area at the top.  The sampler has been mounted on acid-free board.                                                                                                                         $2450.00

                                                                         #6931                                                                                                      Eliza Slack Quaker Sampler               

Click here for larger image

     Attleboro, Massachusetts

26 1/4 " x 22 1/4".    27 3/4 " x 23 3/4 " including a vintage frame.   Eliza was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts in 1800.   Her parents were Samuel Slack and Lucy Miller.   Samuel's ancestors trace back to as early as 1606 in Massachusetts, so the family must have been among the earliest settlers.   Eliza's sampler is a lovely example of a classically Quaker sampler.   All of the motifs are typically Quaker as is the black block lettering and the verse.          
 

 

Click here for larger image.

Her verse reads:

" Jesus permit thy gracious name to stand
As the first effort of my youthful hand.
And while my fingers o'er this canvass move
Engage my tender heart to seek thy love.
With thy children let me bear a part
And write thy name thyself upon my heart".

She signed her sampler,  "Eliza Slack's Work   1822".                                                                                                   

Click here for larger image.

 

While the silks are vibrant and they still retain quite a bit of their sheen, there are several holes in the fabric.   The most noticable of these are in the verse and signature areas and along the top edge of the fabric.  The sampler has been mounted on acid-free board.                                                                                                                                                                                                              $2375.00

                                                                         #6847                                                                                                18th. Century Dutch Sampler
                                            

Click here for larger image

12 " x 17 1/4".    15 1/2" x 20 5/8 " including a 19th century bird's eye maple frame.    I am going to say that this fabulous sampler is circa 1700 - 1730, although I think it might actually be a bit earlier.   The stitcher did put two sets of initials inside the cartouche, but she did not sign her sampler.   The initials are "O.G.B. and A.G.Q.". There is a great deal going on in this wonderful and very early sampler, and most of it is biblical in origin.  Of particular beauty is our stitcher's rendition of Adam & Eve sitting under the apple tree.  The tree and Adam & Eve are quite realistic and very beautiful.  You can actually see Eve handing the apple to Adam.   And they are surrounded by several different types of animals in the Garden of Eden.
 

Click here for larger image.

                                  
One exceptionally unusual motif is a ship that I think is meant to be Noah's Ark.  There are also a man and a woman standing at a well, an incredible phoenix (or maybe it's a griffin), the spies of Canaan, the crucifixion, Moses holding two tablets, and a man climbing some stairs up into a windmill.  But, by far the most unusual motif on this beautiful sampler is what I believe to be a very realisitic monkey.  This is not the "spinning monkey" that is often found on Dutch samplers.  This one is a fairly large, standing monkey. I have never seen anything like it.  And the stitches on this wonderful sampler are exceptionally tiny, making this a bea- utiful piece of needlework history.                                                                                                                     

Click here for larger image.

 
The sampler is showing a fair amount of thread loss. This is most noticable in the band just under the last alphabet. But, Moses' tablets have also almost faded away.  There are also some holes in the fabric.  The large ones are in the bottom center border area and at the top just above the letters "R & S".  There are also a few very small holes mostly in the apple tree area.   The sampler has been mounted on acid-free board.                                                                                                                                             $2175.00

                                                                         #6774                                                                                                Emma Elizabeth Smith Sampler
                                         Atkinson, Henry County, Illinois
                                                          

Click here for larger image

16" x 16".   18 1/2" x 18 1/2 " including a modern frame.   Emma Elizabeth Smith was born on May 5, 1857 in Atkinson, Illinois.  That makes this an exceptionally rare sampler.   Emma's parents were John Wesley Smith and Sarah Ann Rummell.  She married Samuel Kiner in December of 1874, and George Edwin Perkins on July 3, 1891.   She was buried in Geneseo, Illinois so she lived her entire life in Illinois.   Emma worked her sampler at the age of 10.   She included an alphabet, numbers, verses, florals, birds, baskets of fruit and a charming pictoral.  There is a lady in a striped dress standing in her garden filled with flowers, birds, dogs and a hillside leading up to her house.  She signed her lovely sampler " Emma Elizabeth Smith 1867."

Click here for larger image.

Emma's verse reads:
Let all thy Converse be sincere;
Thy Conscience as the Noon Day clear;
Think how the all seeing God thy ways,
And all thy secret thoughts surveys.

Virtue's the chiefest Beauty of the Mind
The noblest Ornament of human kind
Virtue's our Safeguard and our guiding star
That stirs up Reason when our Senses err"                                                                                           

Click here for larger image.

         
There is a fair amount of thread loss in Emma's sampler. Most of the losses are in the alphabet and the border.   There is also a cut in the fabric along the right border as well as some darkening to the center of the sampler.  But, in spite of its losses, this is still an exceptionally rare and special piece of needlework.  It has been mounted on acid-free board.                                                                         $1625.00

                                                                             #6746                                                                                                      Mary Turnor Sampler               

Click picture for larger image

        
7 1/2 " x 21".   9 1/2 " x 23 " including a modern frame.   Mary's beautiful sampler is a very typical band sampler in that it starts with bands of alphabets and numbers, followed with pro- gressively more elaborate decorative bands.  But it is a very nice band sampler because some of those decorative bands are both very unusual and quite lovely.   The patterns and motifs used are reminiscent of the motifs used in earlier band samplers of the 17th century.  While Mary stitched the final band on the sampler in simple cross stitch, it has the look and feel of a band worked in flame stitch.        

Click picture for larger image.

Mary signed her sampler  "Mary Turnor  1768"
so her needlework is actually quite early.   The back of the sampler has a printed label which reads, "Only conserva- tion framing techniques and archival quality acid-free mat- erials were used in the production of this piece."   I have not taken the sampler out of its frame, but I believe the label to be accurate.

                                                                                                  

Click picture for larger image.

 
In spite of its age, the sampler appears to be in very good condition.   There is some overall darkening to the fabric, but I think that is partly due to the fabric being dark to start with. There are no holes although the linen is a bit thin in some areas. Because a white mat was used behind a dark fabric, the fabric looks a lot thinner than it is. The fabric is actually quite strong.  The thinning is a very small problem to the condition of the sampler.  The colors are still strong and there is only a very tiny amount of thread loss. This is a very early sampler in good condition with an affordable price.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            $1695.00