Page 20 - Demo

16 Lucy Learned, Watertown, Massachusetts, 1808 Schoolgirls from Cambridge, Lexington, Concord, Watertown, towns west and northwest of Boston, worked samplers that share strong regional characteristics, including the fine deeply arcaded outer border, narrow sawtooth inner border, pots of flowers, little birds outlined in black and the inscription framework formed from tiny squares. These samplers are an interesting group which has engaged scholars, curators and collectors for decades. Eleven year old Lucy Learned worked, in 1808, this excellent example of this group of samplers. The inscription, worked in pale and deep pink, was somewhat larger than the space allotted and it extends slightly and charmingly into its border; Lucy's surname and the word, \its surround. The four line verse is one which was popular with teachers and samplermakers for many years. Lucy's parents were Samuel and Lucy (Coolidge) Learned who were married in Watertown in 1795 and became the parents of seven children born between 1796 and 1809. Lucy married Samuel Weeks Bickford, of Epsom, New Hampshire, west of Concord. They had seven children and by 1870 Lucy was a widow, living with her son Horace and his family in Epsom. Lucy died in 1892. The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition; it has been conservation mounted into a 19th century beveled frame. Sampler size: 17W' x 13%\Price: $5200. M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA's LEADI NG sA~ PLER AND NEEDLEWORK DEALER