Your word "tacks" puzzles me a bit. Frames with tacks were often used for other purposes such as stretching crocheted pieces (tablecloths?) for drying/starching. Quilting frames didn't have tacks usually because they used fabric attachments to the rails to which one pinned or basted the quilts. It seems to me that tacks are too likely to hurt the arms of quilters who tend to rest an arm on those rails.
They looked more like this:
https://www.lehmans.com/product/old-...-quilt-frames/
Jan in VA