Mystery Pattern

Has anyone out there ever seen this pattern before? I've been going through all my pattern ID books, and haven't found it yet. This quilt just arrived on my doorstep earlier today. It came from an eBay seller in Texas, who thought it was made some time around 1900. When I got a better look at it, I thought it was probably a little earlier, maybe around 1870. Here's why...

The first clue is the color and quality of the fabrics. The red is a true "Turkey" red, a name given to fabrics produced using an elaborate, multi-step dying process that originated in the middle east - specifically, Turkey. Reds made with this process have a bluish cast, and when the fabric ages, the color begins to wear off with a quality similar to what you might see in fading denim jeans. The over-dyed green has its own characteristics and signs of age, which also support the earlier date.

When it comes to dating quilts, size matters. This quilt is rather large - 76" x 94". Had it been made after the turn of the century, the size would probably be smaller. The narrow binding and relatively dense quilting further supports the correlation between the quilt's larger size and the theory of a date earlier than 1900. In general, the density of quilting seen in mid 19th century quilts had declined considerably by the turn of the century, and bindings began to get wider.

Back to the mystery of the pattern. I'll try to keep everyone posted if I learn anything new, but if you happen to have any clues, I hope you'll send them my way! For now, we're calling it "Slice of Lime with Red North Star" - the seller's name - but there has to be something more specific. While I may not be sure of the name, one thing's for sure - it's a marvelous quilt and I just adore it!