How to collect: Samplers
The Period: 1650 to 1850 The Source: Women and girls The Appeal: Unique textiles used as reference pieces for stitches by embroiderers and in later centuries by young girls to practise their sewing skills The market for high- quality samplers is buoyant. The rarest examples, typically silk thread on linen grounds from the late 17th and 18th centuries, fetch from £2,000 to £10,000 each. Early samplers were reference pieces created by experienced embroiderers to practise stitches. Some are called ‘band’ samplers because they display rows of repeat pattern. By the mid 18th century, samplers had morphed into a means of teaching girls embroidery, which were signed and dated by their young makers. Dealer Ben Tulk of Madelena has seen samplers made by girls as young as four, with ages of six, seven and eight quite common.
Pictorial themes in these later samplers included alphabets, verses and ditties, country houses, and maps of England. Some of the most collectable samplers are those made at Quaker schools during the late 18th and early 19th centuries because records of the children who attended allow the maker’s history to be explored – these cost from £500 upwards. Samplers made in orphanages are also sought after. Basic mid 19thcentury samplers of wool thread on hessian can be bought from around £30 at auction, but a more collectable example will begin at around £250 from dealers. Map samplers aren’t currently very popular, so can be good value. After 1850, the production of samplers steeply declined.