I am sorry to say that I do not know about quilts, but you would figure that out by the time I finish this description anyway.
Here is what I do know about this quilt:
My mother purchased this quilt about 20 years ago at an estate sale of a very old lady who was a granddaughter of Sam Houston. Yes, the famous Texas hero Sam Houston. At one time I had the receipt which mentioned her name and was given as provenance or proof that it came from the Sam Houston family. Sadly, I have lost the receipt so if you buy this quilt all you will have is a very cool story that it came from Sam Houston\'s family. I now have no way to prove it because I lost the receipt.
I had to look up the pattern and I have mainly seen it called Flyfoot. (Some say swastika). Reading about this pattern in quilt books tells me that it was a popular pattern in the 19th century and an ancient symbol. The Germans of WWII made the pattern unpopular after the war. The books go on to say that flyfoot quilts are almost always pre-1939 and their relative rarity can add value. I do not know what kind of fabric it is made from but it looks very primitive. I have tried to take closeup pictures so you can see it well and make your own determination of age, etc. I do not know if the back of the quilt is original because all the fancy hand stitching does not go through to the very back. It is tacked on in many places so it is secure, but I have seen a lot of quilts that seem to have the stitching going all the way through to the back side. It may have been made like this, I do not know. The back fabric is blue with a black pattern of a town and some boats that repeats over and over. Size is approximately 68\" x 86\". It has rounded corners which you will see in the photo where I show the corner folded back to show the fabric on the back side. I read enough about quilts to learn that some people want to know how many stitches per inch, so I measured several spots and came out with a pretty consistent 10 stitches per inch (which I hear is pretty good).
I do not know if the old lady relative of Sam Houston made this or if it was passed down to her from her family. She was in her 90\'s twenty years ago so she was probably born around 1900. If she made it, it can\'t be older than that, but there is a very good chance it may have been passed down to her by her family. I just have to tell you that I have no clue as to the age because I don\'t know how to tell the age of fabric - except to say that it looks quite old - but you will have to decide that for yourself. The stitching looks awesome in some areas, and not so great in others. I can\'t figure out why. Some of the white thread stitching is so beautiful it looks almost machine done - but upon very close inspection you can clearly see it is not. The yellow thread stitching does not look as nice to me, but again, I know very little about it. The white thread stitches are a pretty consistent 10 stitches per inch (I checked in 4 or 5 spots), however the yellow thread stitching is sometimes a little less stitches per inch (I measured one place at 9 spi). Maybe someone was teaching their daughter to quilt on this one and that would be a good reason to have areas of white thread and yellow thread, and why the white looks better and is more consistent. But this is just a guess. There are some loose threads in various areas of the quilt and I have tried to take photos of some of those for you to see the condition.
I wish I had more knowledge of quilts and I wish I still had the receipt. But it is up to you more experienced collectors to decide what value it has. I have tried to take good photos to help you. Since I do not have a clue as to value, I have used the \"make offer\" feature. If I am priced too low, it will be a great bargain for someone, and if I am priced too high, offer me what you think it is worth. Feel free to ask questions, but I can\'t promise to know the answer.
I do not like returns and would prefer that you only buy it if you are certain from all the photos that you want it. However, I will accept a return within 14 days if you pay the return shipping.
