Boy waving a centennial flag
A few years ago the Thomaston Auction house in Thomaston, Maine
sold this pictorial quilt. Although in rough shape it was so unusual the price
was $17,000.
One would guess it's called a Centennial quilt because his flag
says 1876 but other than that I see nothing Centennial about it. Bridal Quilt
might have been a better name.
The quilt was long owned by a collecting family the Wellses of Vermont
who allowed it to be published in the Magazine Antiques in
May, 1934 when it was in better shape.
Mrs. Wells may have remembered the Centennial connection. I did find an 1876 reference to it as a Centennial quilt in the Rutland, Vermont Globe.
September, 1876
The exhibit described was not the giant Philadelphia exhibition but the 6th Annual Otter Creek Valley Fair in East Wallingford, Vermont
Here are the prize winners in their quilt contest. Maybe one of the fancy quilts?
Or maybe it didn't win a prize.
Do note as typical in that Centennial year: charm quilts and log cabin quilts
were popular. And this one is a form of Log Cabin.
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