Stiletto or bodkin of turned bone, fitted in a conical basket-weave holder or sheath.
Stiletto (A) has ball-shaped head with hole in it, then narrowing to a neck with additional swells and narrowing until it tapers from midsection down to a sharp point.
Holder (B) is an elongated cone made with a brown reed-like material woven onto ribs like a basket. Handle is a twisted form of the same material, shaped in a double loop configuration.
It is assumed that this pair of otems were originally dwsigned for each other.
Provenance
Collected by Lillian Hollings Kiker, born to Scottish Americans who lived in New Jersey. Born (1912) and lived in New Jersey, last of Egg Harbor, she was active with quilting, sewing, knitting & crocheting. Collection inherited by donor when her mother passed away.
Tatting hook of bone handle shaft of iron hook set into smaller end.
Tool has handle of elongated teardrop shape, somewhat flattened in cross-section. Wire-like shaft with rounded hook on tip is set into handle. Shaft is thicker than hooked end.
Provenance
Collected by Lillian Hollings Kiker, born to Scottish Americans who lived in New Jersey. Born (1912) and lived in New Jersey, last of Egg Harbor, she was active with quilting, sewing, knitting & crocheting. Collection inherited by donor when her mother passed away.
Needle case of turned hardwood (maple?). Cylindrical body was turned in two pieces and strong chamfers at each blunt ends. Center band of glossy black with three scored lines at midpoint. Ends also painted black with a score line on each. Additional daubs of black paint on unpainted body.
Cylinder is hollow for holding needles. One third of body pulls off like a cap, sliding off a male extension of the 2/3 section. No contents.
Provenance
Collected by Lillian Hollings Kiker, born to Scottish Americans who lived in New Jersey. Born (1912) and lived in New Jersey, last of Egg Harbor, she was active with quilting, sewing, knitting & crocheting. Collection inherited by donor when her mother passed away.
Needle case of cast silver is a square-bodied long container that tapers from one end to the other. Made of 2 pieces, the thickest end is the cap that fits on a male extension of the main body. The length of each side of case is constructed of identical cast pieces of silver with a soldered seam still visible.
Decorated with low-relief roses on cap; grapevine and football shape are on main body. Small panels on narrower sides have a slogan in German: "ZUM / ANDENKEN / KEINE ROSEN / OHNE DORNEN" which translates as a warning to not prick one's self with the needle. Literally, it states "Remember (there are) no roses without thorns."
Possibly Germany
Provenance
Collected by Lillian Hollings Kiker, born to Scottish Americans who lived in New Jersey. Born (1912) and lived in New Jersey, last of Egg Harbor, she was active with quilting, sewing, knitting & crocheting. Collection inherited by donor when her mother passed away.
Needle case with needle threader, two pieces, a long metal tubular case of bronzed metal. Most of the object is the hollow tubular handle, 2.75" in length, with one rounded end and male-shaped "cap" fitting into opposite end. Handle has bery fine ribs running lengthwise on exterior. Cap end is very short with a smooth exterior. It has one rounded end while opposite end - that fits into handle - is fitted with a fine wire loop used to thread needles. The loop is mounted into red-painted wood which is in turn set into cap's hollow end. To use tool, cap is removed, reversed end for end, and reinserted into hollow handle.
On side of cap is stamped "GERMANY."
Provenance
Collected by Lillian Hollings Kiker, born to Scottish Americans who lived in New Jersey. Born (1912) and lived in New Jersey, last of Egg Harbor, she was active with quilting, sewing, knitting & crocheting. Collection inherited by donor when her mother passed away.
Bodkin of bone is a flattened needle with one rounded end and one end with a blunt point. Slot of 5/8" in length is cut into body near rounded end. This tool is used for threading ribbons, etc. through casings, fabric tubes or loops.
Provenance
Collected by Lillian Hollings Kiker, born to Scottish Americans who lived in New Jersey. Born (1912) and lived in New Jersey, last of Egg Harbor, she was active with quilting, sewing, knitting & crocheting. Collection inherited by donor when her mother passed away.
Bodkin of steel is a blunt needle used for threading ribbons or other fabric through casings, loops, etc.
Two thin pieces of tapered steel are laminated together through half their length at narrow end. Two pieces at wider end are separated, allowing a ribbon or other material to be fitted into "jaws" and clamped in place via a sliding mechanism fitted into slot that extends lenthwise toward jaws. Inside of jaw ends have 3 pairs of raised barbs or teeth that enable the jaws to hold material without slipping.
Stamped on one side at midsection is "THE DOT." This likely refers to the rounded sliding mechanism fitted in the slot.
Provenance
Collected by Lillian Hollings Kiker, born to Scottish Americans who lived in New Jersey. Born (1912) and lived in New Jersey, last of Egg Harbor, she was active with quilting, sewing, knitting & crocheting. Collection inherited by donor when her mother passed away.
Bodkin of steel is a blunt needle used for threading ribbons, tape or other fabric through casings, loops, etc.
Bodkin is two thin pieces of tapered steel that are laminated together through half their length at narrow end. Two pieces at wider end are separated, allowing a ribbon or other material to be fitted into "jaws" and clamped in place via a sliding mechanism fitted into slot that extends lenthwise toward jaws. Jaws are enabled to hold material without slipping via two raised beads stamped into one side and two matching holes on other side.
Stamped onto one side of tool at midsection is "PATD. MAR. 29. 92."
Provenance
Collected by Lillian Hollings Kiker, born to Scottish Americans who lived in New Jersey. Born (1912) and lived in New Jersey, last of Egg Harbor, she was active with quilting, sewing, knitting & crocheting. Collection inherited by donor when her mother passed away.
Set of tatting tools, nickel silver plated steel, has four pieces. Each piece has in common the shaped and decorated portions, the handles of the three tools and the needle case body. This feature is a flattened octagonal shape in cross-section, with successive divots ground out with a round grinding wheel. Handles and case all taper along their length.
A. Needle case is 2.75" long and .375" wide. At the heavier end of case is a fitted cap that slides onto a smaller male extension protruding from main body. Seam visible along sides where both halves of case have been joined.
B. Hook on handle is 4" long and .25" wide. Tapers from handle end down to where shaft is attached. Shaft has ball-and-ring at handle, a slight swell along length and a minute hook at tip.
C. Awl is 3.625" long and .25" wide. Same handle as above. Shaft is similar in shape except heavier and shorter and has a sharp tip.
D. Threading tool(?) is 3" long and .5" long. Same handle as above. Shaft is shorter and has a large open loop in a teardrop shape.
Provenance
Collected by Lillian Hollings Kiker, born to Scottish Americans who lived in New Jersey. Born (1912) and lived in New Jersey, last of Egg Harbor, she was active with quilting, sewing, knitting & crocheting. Collection inherited by donor when her mother passed away.
Mogul Cigarette Silk featuring President James Buchanan
Manufactured in New York, circa 1912-1915
Interesting ephemera featuring James Buchanan.
The complete set featured 24 Presidents and were collected then and now.
Mogul was an expensive hand-rolled all-Turkish cigarette that was started by an independent maker in New York City and by 1914 was owned by the American Tobacco Company.
After an anti-trust suit ATC was split into smaller companies with a focus on “standard cigarettes” that could be more efficiently mass-produced and sold at a lower cost. As the tobacco industry became more competitive, finer brands of cigarettes struggled in the marketplace and resorted to marketing methods such as these silks to retain their popularity.
Provenance: Donor found in family items while cleaning.
Set of 3 steel tatting hooks, no handles. All are similar with round, tapering shanks that terminate in tiny hooks of differing sizes. Theaded at other end for fitting into a handle, now missing. Double ring turnings adjacent to threads.
Provenance
Collected by Lillian Hollings Kiker, born to Scottish Americans who lived in New Jersey. Born (1912) and lived in New Jersey, last of Egg Harbor, she was active with quilting, sewing, knitting & crocheting. Collection inherited by donor when her mother passed away.
Small tool with thin curving blade set into a turned wood handle and brass ferrule. Saber-like blade is brass, having a small slot cut into bottom edge near tip.
Used for warping a loom by pulling warp ends through the reed.
Cast silver wax holder in shape of a small walnut. Identical halves of nut are attached at one end and partially open at the other. Interior is filled with beeswax for drawing thread through, and multiple score marks are evident in wax. Hanging ring at fixed end.
A) Pair of scissors 4.5" x 1.75", plain with serpentine "legs" connecting blades to oval finger rings.
B) Belt clip formed with artfully coiled wire, silver?, has two light chains attached via small rings. Ring-shaped hooks at other ends. Overall length is 14".
Seal press, George Shiffler Council, No. 177, O of IA, Order of Independent Americans. Part of the Nativists Movement. Anti-tax and Anti-immigration.
George Shiffler, a young Nativist was fatally shot at the Nativist Riots of 1844 in Philadelphia during which mobs attacked Irish-americna and Roman Catholic homes and businesses.
Molded cake of beeswax for waxing thread. Oval shape, flat bottom and domed top has molded raised image of a person milking a cow. Perimeter of oval has border of lobed scallops. Surface of wax cake is speckled with black particles of paint or similar substance.
Needle case of orange glass, cylindrical with rounded closed ends. Two-piece case has short and long sections that pull apart to reveal inner lining - a tube of marbleized paper. Glass case has identical bands of painted decoration at open ends of each section. Short section has "Forget" painted in stylized script and an adjacent "M" (?). The "M" is also found near painted band of longer section with additional decoration (?) along side of case. Case contains 3 very fine needles of differing lengths.
Long, thin, wood shuttle, flat torpedo shape, loaded with a thin cotton cording. One end of shuttle forms a point and opposite end is deeply notched. Cutout body near pointed end has needle-like finger within. 3-ply cording is wound between needle shape and tail end.
Miniature reeded sewing basket of rectangular form but bottom rounding in and down to a stepped oval foot ring anchored onto a solid softwood oval base. Top has high arched handle rising above a strut lashed across center from rim to rim. Hinged to this strut are two lift lids furnished with ring closures at ends. Lift lids have light cardboard glued to undersides, one missing.
Tops of lids are decorated with applied balls of wool onto silk leaves or flowers, now nearly unrecognizable.
Decoration on lids is very worn with one detached wool ball kept in basket with other small sheets of wool batting. Inside bottom of basket has residue and remains of fabric and paper. Cardboard liner under one lift lid is missing. Ring missing on one lid where needed for closure.
Large pincushion, top fabric is a light brown velvet; bottom fabric is a stiff, glazed red fabric. The outline of the cushion is a scalloped edge to which has been added a protruding, stiff rust-colored fabric. Beaded fringes further adorn this edging.
The greatest effort is spent on decorating the top with a garish assortment of various types of clear bead roping and massed up "flowers" with added colored beads of green, red, amber, and blue. Snaking beadwork running across the center is a stem or vine terminating with beaded leaves. Additional beaded leaves are clustered around the scalloped perimeter of top. Various pins inserted into top, including one with a clear spiraling glass head and two with berry shaped heads of twisted red yarns and gold threads. Stuffing is quite heavy and dense.
Provenance
The pincushion was owned by the donor's grandmother.
