This is really interesting to hear the responses - I love to hear all these stories - I hope others will chime in with stories of their own. Thank you to all who responded. I don't know if she will open the seam to see - she doesn't want to open the seam - I just told her I would ask and see if this is something that may have occurred in the past.

Jan, what condition is this 1790 quilt in?

My mother told me always put a coin in a purse or handbag which you are gifting, as it will ensure many more will follow, and the recipient will never be poor. Perhaps your coin was placed for the same purpose, especially if the quilt was a gift.

My mother told me if you put a penny in the hem of a quilt it means you'll have good luck and never be broke

That's the only thing I know about pennies being put in something...other than a purse or piggy bank!
Jan, love reading about your family history and interesting quilts.

... also when giving a gift of scissors or a knife, place a coin with it for good luck (??)....another ol' wives tale?

I would be worried about it wearing a hole in the quilt like QuiltnNan mentioned. Is it padded???

Totally unrelated, but I have a foreign-born daughter-in-law who cringes when someone tries to hand her a knife. She says it is bad luck (must be set down between hands).

My family went to pick up this quilt from a very aged family member I'd never met when I was about 9 years old. I didn't see it again until my father (it was in his family) mailed it to me in TX decades later because I was the quilter in the family.

I was shocked when I opened it one thew floor in the living room because it appeared there were little cock roaches in it! But that turned out to be chips of the chintz fabrics that had been dyed brown and set with iron mordants....they were "rusting" to pieces. It was incredibly fragile in the chintz, but the applique and the linen were in perfect condition.

Colonial Williamsburg has it in climate-controlled storage for a research item; it's too fragile to show. I even had to allow them to handle it, instead of me, when I last saw it 3-4 years ago to photograph it and match fabrics to reproduce it.

They keep it because of its extreme age and the written provenance. They told me it was "at least 1780 or earlier". There is only one other similar quilt in their collection, in better shape, but they know nothing about it at all.

I am SO thankful my father, who at first wanted to sell it, sent to me for study and safe keeping!:shock: Knowing about this quilt, the Dabney side of our family, and being able to research that it passed through the female line (Daddy was the only male to have it by default for a while) has changed who I am.:o

Jan in VA

Question about a vintage quilt
 

:):)So Interresting , I just got a quilt my DGM had,she hand pieced it . it was stored in a garage attic, in a plastic bag. I'am not opening till after Christmas ,when I can lay it out on a lg. table its from the 50's or 60's ,, DottieBug