Quilt Appraisal Surprise
 

Last month our quilt guild had 2 appraisers come and talk about quilts that some of our members brought in. One of the quilts was a baby quilt. The appraiser explained that baby quilts and doll quilts can be worth more than some full size quilts because of their rarity. We looked at each other in surprise as Carl's mother had recently given us the doll quilt her mother had made for her when she was 3 years old. That makes the quilt 80 years old. Right after guild we signed up to have them appraise the quilt the next day. They were both very impressed with it. The 9 patch blocks are 1" squares and are hand pieced as is the rest of the interior of the quilt. The borders and binding are machine stitched but it is hand quilted. We received the appraisal in the mail today and almost fainted. The 19" square dolly quilt was appraised at $325.00 and they commented that the market is very soft right now. I took a picture of it with my iPad and tried to upload it with this post but it keeps saying the upload failed.

Sorry, but I've no time to respond. I'm busy piecing doll quilts and quilting them by hand :)

I'm truly amazed by your appraisal! Thank you for telling us all about it.

What a pleasant surprise; almost like being on Antiques Roadshow!

What great news. Would love to see it. Hope you get the picture of it
posted soon.

Hope you get a photo on here. Thank you so much for sharing...the info astounded me.

That would have surprised me too! Especially since so much work can go into a full size quilt.

Sounds about right to me. I would have thought it might have even appraised a bit higher, but I don't know the condition of the quilt. Working in miniature & almost entirely by hand is a true skill. I often make doll quilts that match the crib quilts I make & typically do 1" finished squares by machine, plus miniature applique by hand & then hand quilted. Trying to get nice even seams when working with such a short, skinny piece of fabric is quite tricky.

I also know that in Chicagoland new baby quilts typically sell for as much or more than adult bed quilts. It's the reason why I decided to limit my business to crib quilts. I have no problem finding clients (grandparents) willing to spend $1,000 on a quilt for their new grandbaby, but couldn't find anyone willing to pay that much for a queen/king sized quilt.

what a revelation! making baby quilts sounds like the way to go!

I totally agree with Jan. I hope one of my quilts will eventually end up on the Antique Roadshow decades after I am dead and buried. :)

I was told by an appraiser that the crib and doll quilts retain better value because since kids use them, they got washed more and wore out faster. I have a crib quilt that my g-ma made for her oldest baby that died shortly after birth. The appraiser was surprised that the baby hadn't been buried with the quilt--my Mom thought that he was buried with a quilt made by her g-ma--and the quilt my g-ma made was never used. It was a higher appraised than the matching double size bed quilt.