Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: So I brought this quilt top that I bought back in the early 2000s from an auction in Albia, Iowa.

I bought it from the... nun's home that was part of the Catholic Church there.

And I know I paid... probably less than $20 for it.

APPRAISER: Wow...

GUEST: I... am a quilter myself.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: And... part of it was just making sure that I saved it.

APPRAISER: So I would date it, approximately 1860s.

And I'm able to determine that because of the dyes that were used in the fabrics.

So you have, um, this, this overdyed green.

We didn't have a single process green until a little bit later in the 19th century.

So it was dyed yellow and then blue, or then blue, and then yellow.

So we're seeing some of the yellow come out in the front.

A little piece in the back where they-- the blue is actually poking out... ...in the stem.

You wouldn't make blue stems.

It was green.

So that's your double process.

You're also using Turkey red, and then this beautiful, beautiful chromium yellow.

The pattern is unique.

I think it's an original design.

It's like nothing I've ever seen before.

We see a lot of coxcomb designs.

We see a lot of these wheel designs with the flowers.

We see a lot of grape leaves and grapes, but we never see them all put together.

It is all hand done.

It's hand appliqud, and it's hand pieced.

It is just a quilt top.

It isn't finished yet.

I want to open it up.

So this is a four block design.

Not that everything that was four block came out of Pennsylvania, but they typically were from Pennsylvania.

APPRAISER: Because it's so graphic, and because it's an original design, I think even as a quilt top, this piece would sell at auction between $400 and $600.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: What do you think you're going to do with it?

GUEST: I will keep it.

APPRAISER: I agree, I wouldn't, I wouldn't try to finish it.

I know you're a quilter...

GUEST: No.

APPRAISER: ...I know as a quilter, too, your hands get itchy for that needle.

I would leave it just as it is.

GUEST: Yeah.

Yeah.