Fancy Borders: A Dating Clue

Mid-19th century

quilt from an online auction.

 I've been doing posts about borders and how the changes in style can help in dating antique quilts. What seems to be important in dating is the elaborateness of the border. Quilters working between 1880 and 1930 were not as likely to make complicated applique borders like these mid-century examples.

When you find an antique quilt with a fancy appliqued border think: Before 1880. Like most other border clues this is a weak clue.

It's always fun to find someone who took parts of the block design and made a border like the quilts above and below. 

I  like the idea of throwing in some dots.

Often the border has NOTHING to do with the block, but the clue to a mid-19th-century quilt is that it's a 
fancy border.

NOTHING to do with the block...

The clues you can count on here: Red and green applique quilts tend to date from 1840 to 1890 (that's a strong clue.) The fancy border is a weak clue that helps you narrow the date to before 1870 or so.

Above is an applique from Tennessee with a plain border date-inscribed 1885. Plain borders are more typical of what you see in red and green later in the century. There are exceptions to the rule about fancy borders---which is why it's only a weak clue, but it can still help you narrow the date a bit.

One more thing: Here's a style characteristic that is NO HELP in dating:

The lack of a border is no clue to date.You see it in the star quilt above dated 1854...

and in this sampler dated 1894. No border means nothing---a double negative.