What makes a quilt "Crazy"?

While cleaning out an aunt’s estate, we found a banker box full of fancy embroidered robes and quilts.  My great grandmother taught in China in China in about 1915 or 20 so we guessed that these were things she brought back with her as souvenirs. 

 We don’t have space to display them and don’t want to be responsible for them.  Could you suggest a museum that we could give them to? 

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Not "Crazy" like insane! "Crazy" like shards of glass!

Christian missionaries – usually single men or married couples - began to open schools in China by the mid 19th century.  By the 1920s it finally became acceptable for single women to live and work as missionaries.   This was probably the time your great grandmother was there.  I’d urge you to keep the collection together until you can find more information about her – letters and diaries from this period fascinate scholars. 

However, I do give you permission to separate the fancy silk and velvet quilt.  This is not Asian at all but may have been something your great grandmother brought with her to China as a reminder of home.  This colorful throw is a Victorian Crazy Quilt (note capital letters) and it’s possible that it was made as a going away present for her.

To learn more about these quilts I contacted Julie Silber.  Julie is a world-renowned quilt expert and author.  First of all, she explained how the name came about. “The simple definition of a “crazy quilt” is a quilt that is composed of unrepeated shapes.  Plain, fancy, and in-between, if a quilt is made of random-shaped pieces of any fabric, it is known as a Crazy Quilt.”

The term “Crazy” does not imply that the makers were bonkers:  it most likely derives from pottery. During the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the hugely popular Japanese pavilion shocked and fascinated viewers with displays of pottery finished with glazes that “crazed” or split and cracked into glass like shards.   Crazing became a craze!

While most of us think of quilts as exemplifying a house wife’s frugality, Victorian Crazy Quilts were showcases made as much for display as for warmth.  Fabrics were often costly velvets and silks and many of the pieces were embroidered or painted with motifs from women’s lives.  Women making these quilts could afford expensive fabrics and had the leisure time to decorate them.   

Crazy Quilts were usually made by women of leisure who had time to embellish and funds to afford luxurious fabrics

Your quilt exhibits fine examples of embroidered fishing scenes and musical instruments, chenille and appliqued flowers, and painted panels and insects.   While the overall aspect is random pieces feather stitched together, you can see that the quilt is actually made up of 12 distinct blocks. 

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Looking at each of the blocks must have delighted and comforted your great grandmother during her travels. She would have been reminded of home and of friends and of happy times.  A fun project for you would be to figure out some of the motifs:  was your grandmother named after one of the flowers shown in the quilt?  Did she collect butterflies? Was she an adventurous explorer? Was she musical? 

I hope you can learn more about her.  The more you can associate the quilt with the people who made it or enjoyed it the more value it will have for your family.  Most museums aren’t able to take donations like this – while each quilt is unique the form was pretty common.  If you wanted to sell the quilt to a collector a fair price would be in the $300-500 range.

Get the Scoop on Victorian Serving Utensils

I bought a shoebox full of silverware and assorted stuff at an estate sale.  Mixed in with the knives, forks, spoons and other items were some things I can’t identify.  I hope you can tell me what these things are. 

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Scoops - the one on the left does not belong in the dining room

Just about everyone has a drawer or box where they toss things too good to throw away but with no apparent use.  These boxes of frugality and practicality are usually filled over generations and often hold a few treasures.   They often come out at holidays and are stuck back away because no one is exactly sure what they’re for.

Here’s the scoop on your mystery pieces. 

The piece that looks like an apple corer is actually a cheese scoop.   Cheese scoops are serving pieces – the scoop stays with the cheese, which is likely, a runny Brie or smelly Stilton.

The long narrow piece is a double-sided marrow scoop.  Marrow, the rich stuff in the middle of bones, was considered a delicacy until the early part of the twentieth century (Although I’ve counted no fewer than 11 hip restaurants in the east bay which feature marrow on the menus.)  Snapping a bone with your fingers or cracking it with your teeth was hopelessly vulgar.  Those who could afford silver services had this special implement to scrape the marrow out of bones.  The larger end of your implement was for beef bones; the narrower end for fowl. 

The piece that looks like a medieval torture device is actually part of a carving set.  The vase shape end is fitted over the bone of a roast or joint.  When the screw is tightened the carver has a safer, more stable grip on the meat. 

The piece with one pointed and one scooped end is a lobster pick.  (Although now that we have a Dungeness crab season again I guess it could be a crab scoop)  The little shovel like instrument is used to scoop tea leaves into the pot.

If the tiny scoop is in your dining room then get it out and put it in the medicine cabinet where it belongs!  It’s an ear scoop used remove excess earwax in pre Q-tip times.  (It’s been said that Leonardo Da Vinci used his mistresses’ earwax as a component in some of the paints he mixed:  no wonder modern artists can’t replicate his technique!)  This tiny implement sometimes had rings on the handle so they and other small toilet articles could be worn around the neck or hung from the waist. 

As far as value goes, what more could you want than great conversation pieces?  The monetary value depends on the material they’re made from.  Your cheese, marrow and tea scoops look like sterling so they have a value of $50-100 each.  If the bone holder is part of a carving set with a knife and fork the set would sell in the $100-200 range.  Most hostesses would supply a lobster pick to each guest so having only one means the value is only ten or fifteen dollars.   I can’t tell what the earwax scoop is made from but if you found a buyer you could charge twenty of thirty dollars.

English Registration Marks - Protecting the Authenticity of British Made Goods

I hope you can tell me something about this set of china.  I’ve always liked the nautical flair it gives to my table when I use it. 

The feet and cup handles look like rope. Each piece also has a gold band with raised dots.  Each piece is marked with a diamond and the number C6433.  Can you tell me who made it and how old it is?

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English Nautical themed lunch set - the blue hints that it might have been made by Minton

From the pictures I can’t tell you what company made your set but I can tell you quite a bit more!  The diamond mark you see does not indicate a maker.  The mark is an English Registration Mark and these marks were used on ceramics, metal, glass and wood decorative arts in the mid to late 19th century.In the 19th century Britain was a global superpower exporting and importing products to and from all over the world.  In order to protect the authenticity of British made goods and to prevent fakes or imitations from hurting British manufacturers, Britain began the registration mark system.

The marks do not indicate who made the item or when it was made.   The marks indicate very precisely the year, the month and the date when the design was registered with the patent office.  Once the design was registered, it was copyright protected. 

Diamond marks come in two series; the only difference between the series is the placement of the letters and numbers.  The mark on your set was used between 1868 and 1883.  The Rd in the center indicates the pattern is registered. 

The Roman numeral in the circle at the top represents the type of material: I – metal; II – wood; III – glass; and IV ceramics.  The Arabic number in the top section indicates the day of the month. The letter in the right hand section is a date code; the letter in the bottom section illustrates the month. 

With the help of a decoding chart I can tell you that the design for your ceramic pattern was copyright protected on February 1, 1869 but I can’t tell you the registering company or artist.  

To help with identification I sent your images to Colin Knight, president of the San Francisco Ceramics Circle, an affiliate support group of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.  From the translucency and the turquoise color, Colin’s best guess is Minton Bone China.  Thomas Minton started the company in 1798 and it was still in business until the 21st century so they certainly could have registered this pattern in 1869. Also, the identification C6433 is within a series of Minton patterns registered about this time.

I’ll continue trying to find the maker and pattern but, until then, I can safely say that your 19th century English bone china dessert set would sell in the $200-400 range.

For more information about the San Francisco Ceramics Circle find them on Facebook.

If you have the fortitude for research you can comb through the British National Archives at discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1741435 for pattern registration information