Mormon Album Quilt, ca. 1930

Appraised on: June 24, 2006

Appraised in: Salt Lake City, Utah

Appraised by: Allan Katz

Category: Folk Art

Episode Info: Salt Lake City, Hour 1 (#1113)

Originally Aired: April 16, 2007

IMAGE: 1 of 3  

Appraisal Video: (-1:-9:45)

GUEST: My husband and I purchased this about ten years ago from an antiques dealer, and it's a Relief Society quilt, we were told. Um, I don't know a lot about the Relief Society, but I just love the folk art look to it. We were told it was probably from the 1900-1920 timeframe. One of the squares-- actually, the wishing well-- was done by Annie Burns, and we were told that her father was in Sugarhouse Prison in 1888, along with a gentleman named George Cannon, who was a first counselor to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. And that's about all I know, except it's very colorful.

APPRAISER: It is colorful. It's a wonderful piece of folk art. It's an album quilt, made up of 42 different squares, and it's kind of like a Rosetta Stone of Mormon culture and history. And each one of the squares was done by a different woman, and signed, and then sewn together in the form of this quilt. The center piece here, you have Brigham Young, who's coming through the mountains and declaring that "this is the place." And that's just a wonderful rendition of him in a folk art form. Next to him is the family setting; so you have the mother, the father, the child. If this was a little earlier, you might have two or three women sitting there as his wives. But this is into the 20th century, so here you have the depiction of the family being a singular wife. Down below, we have an interesting square. It's a beehive. And that's saying that we should all get up every morning and be industrious and be as busy as the bees. Here you have the Mormon Battalion square, showing a soldier. And we have the seagulls here eating the crickets, saving the crops. In terms of dating it, I think you're a little early. It's more 1920s, 1930s, rather than turn of the century. It's a tradition that continues today. What did you pay for it?

GUEST: $300.

APPRAISER: I think that, in terms of insurance value, I would insure it today for somewhere around $2,500 to $3,000.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: It's colorful, the condition is wonderful, and I just thank you for bringing it in to ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

GUEST: Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for having me.