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Two Crazies

Vintage quilts can be tricky things to thrift online. Last month two crazy quilts went up for auction at ShopGoodwill.com that turned out to be little mysteries. I bid on this first one, which may date back to 1905 (there's a silk flag dated that on the top), with a max bid of $50.00. When I was outbid on the second day of the listing I decided to drop out; to me it wasn't worth more than fifty bucks. It finally sold for a whopping $289.99.

The problem with this crazy was the photos that showed the general condition, but not very clearly. Despite that I noticed signs of shattered fabrics (also an indicator of age) that made it less valuable. The embroidery seemed pretty simple, too. Gambling on a vintage quilt's condition that you can't inspect in person is always risky, but a quilt that is probably 119 years old is not a good investment unless it's in pristine condition.

By the time I noticed this second crazy, incorrectly listed as an embroidered tablecloth, bidding had already reached $160.00, so it was out of my price range (the winning bid finally came in at $601.00, which absolutely astounded me.) Comparing it to the other one it's less complete, but the embroidery appears to be more intricate -- only that may be for other reasons than actual handwork.

Besides being unfinished, the problem with this quilt top for me is the startling amount and quality of the embroidery. It's way too much and way too perfect. Also, I couldn't see much of it in detail, even when I blew up the photos.

Here is the backside of the quilt, which does show handstitching -- but not everywhere. The easiest place to spot this is in the center where the parrot embroidery appears -- but no stitching appears on the backside. This clue tells me that some (if not many) of the motifs on this quilt top were embroideries that were cut from other pieces and appliqued in place. It's an old shortcut, and a decent way to repurpose old embroidery, but it's not the sort of crazy I like to collect. If this one is worth six hundred bucks I will dine on my chapeau as well. That's a price you'd pay for a complete crazy in very good shape, not an unfinished one.

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