Saturday, June 11, 2011

A note from Stella

Pieced quilt, c. 1870, South Carolina, images courtesy of Stella Rubin.
The other day I received a note from Stella Rubin, a well known quilt dealer from Maryland who had something she thought I might like. It was a quilt made around 1870, possibly even a little earlier, and was coming directly from the maker's family in South Carolina. Stella wanted to know if I was interested in purchasing the quilt.

Of course I was!


She included three images of the quilt, which is truly magnificent. One of its most unique characteristics is the use of alternating color points around the arcs and in the sashing and cornerstones. From the pictures, it appears to be teal and red on cream, but I'm still waiting to see it in person to get a sense of the exact colors.


I absolutely love it when someone sees a "New York Beauty" quilt and thinks of me. Several dealers and other people in the quilting community around the US have been notifying me about quilts lately, and it's a privilege I genuinely appreciate.

The quilt will be the 40th textile object in my New York Beauty collection, and it seems like 40 is a good, square number as I finish the catalog for my summer exhibit at the Benton County Museum. This South Carolina beauty may be a latecomer to the party, but I think it has a good chance of making it in to the exhibit.

Thank you, Stella!

9 comments:

  1. Wow, Gorgeous quilt. Glad you have people looking out for you.This is a real beauty.

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  2. Beautiful quilt! I haven't seen many antique NYB around S.C. and Georgia...lots of new ones though!

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  3. It's a keeper! I can't imagine why the family would want to part with it, but I'm not arguing.

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  4. Another top notch quilt Bill!!

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  5. One of life's unexpected treats, but it was meant to be.

    I can only display about 20 of the quilts in the exhibit, and all 40 will be in the catalog. Before working on the catalog, I'd never really looked at the group as a whole. As the pieces started falling into place, a story surfaced, and that's been the best part of the experience for me.

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  6. How lucky, that you have quilt 'spies' on the lookout for you. Love this version of a 'New York Beauty'. from Jenny McH

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  7. Very cool, congrats and thanks for sharing

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