Originally Posted by elsa
Thank you so much for your help, I wanted to save them.
I hear ya...but I also forgot to ask have you had then dated? Or do you know their history.
I recently spent time with a textile historian for the state of OK who specializes in CW era textiles. I had recently acquired 3 old quilts and thought it would be fun to have them dated/appraised.
I nearly fainted when the lady grabbed them up and started ooohhhiiinngg...and aahhhing..and gushing...she had everyone in the room within ear shot come to see MY quilts. They are not especially pretty, rather plain really, though done well and in really fantastic shape. One I knew was really old as the reds are deteriorated, and the purples are now brown. Turns out the one that looked the newest was actually the oldest, has the most interesting story within the fabrics, and is valued the most.
One of those old quilts was a 1870's, then a 1865'ish, and the newest looking one is more like an 1840-50! It has an amazing story and is currently being tested to get a more accurate date, and location origin! IF it comes from OK and is within the dates she believes, in the condition it is in, it will be museum quality with a value in the thousands....
I found that quilt out in a little country town at a barn sale lieing on the trash pile...the lady said that old things was up in a barrel in the attic and nobody wanted it so out it goes! I asked if she would sell it, and she said honey it is in the trash, take it! I gave her $1.00 so that I would not have to say I was a trash digger..
:-D
The other two were acquired at local estate auctions. I only paid $1.00 for each of them as well!
The most important thing that the lady told me was to NOT wash these quilts at all. I can spot clean them, but I am not wash them!
The oldest one she did not washed until after the testing is done. Then she said for $30 the historical society would wash it.
I can find where I put the pix of the other 2, but this is one that I thought was the oldest. They did use CW era fabrics in some of the blocks, but the background fabric is newer fabric and that gave it away, the backing is also not of the CW era but closer to the end of the century.
I thought this was the oldest, but it the youngest of the 3
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