Tennessee Wall Pocket, ca. 1900
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GUEST:
My grandfather's mother made it, along with his aunts. So I'm not sure if it was her sisters or his father's sisters. So it was all people in the same household.
APPRAISER:
So when did they make it? I mean, do you have the history of it?
GUEST:
I don't really have a date. But as you see, we've got Presidents McKinley and Hobart here.
APPRAISER:
Right, McKinley, his picture is here. And then...
GUEST:
This is Vice-President Hobart. So that puts it at the turn of the century.
APPRAISER:
So you've got the president who was actually killed in office, and his vice-president, who... Who died in office, that's right. Kind of an unfortunate pair.
GUEST:
Yes, it was an unfortunate pair.
APPRAISER:
So basically what we have is a wall pocket-- this panel on the wall with these four pockets made of hearts. It's really wonderful that they're heart shaped, with the lovely images of young children on them. They probably would have used this to store sewing things, or store anything, really. But they were mostly decorative. These wall pockets were made of all sorts of things. Sometimes they were tramp art, sometimes they were fabric. What do we have?
GUEST:
We have pinecones.
APPRAISER:
Yes, we have pinecones.
GUEST:
And they are stitched onto shoebox cardboard, one at a time.
APPRAISER:
It is absolutely wonderful, I'll tell you.
GUEST:
It makes my heart sing.
APPRAISER:
I've looked at wall pockets all my life and all kinds of pinecone art, but I've never seen a wall pocket like this. I feel it is the mother of all wall pockets, okay?
GUEST:
Wonderful.
APPRAISER:
And it really is. It has this outline about it, starting with this center area here, and then these big scrolls. It's almost like the bonnet of a highboy. And then it comes down. The outline is very kind of vivacious, right?
GUEST:
Sure, it is. It's curvy.
APPRAISER:
But what is really neat is that on each of the pockets are these pictures of these lovely young gals, right?
GUEST:
That's right, and they're thread advertisements.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
For Clark's Thread.
APPRAISER:
Which is the thread that they probably used to sew the...
GUEST:
Most likely.
APPRAISER:
To sew them on, right? Down below here, you have these two sleeping young children, right? And down below here, this sweet little lass. And this is a thread ad. I see the little...
GUEST:
It is.
APPRAISER:
The ad right there. Conditionwise, you just had this one little loss down here, okay? Well, I feel that as a piece of Tennessee folk art and as a great example of all-American art, you know, it really is valuable. And I feel that you should insure the piece at at least $5,000. (laughing)
GUEST:
And I will gladly do that. That's amazing. I think about these pioneer women sitting in their dark room, stitching these terribly hard little pieces of wood.
APPRAISER:
Yes.
GUEST:
And I think of how amazing that was.
APPRAISER:
Well, your ancestors really had some patience and perseverance, I'll tell you, and some imagination.
GUEST:
Right.
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