RARE Miniature Vintage Basket Primitive Appalachian Oak Splint w Handle For Sale

~ Please Read Before Purchasing ~All items are box shipped. All jewelry items are also shipped in new jewelry presentation boxes and luxury gift wrapping is free with no request needed. Please look at photos carefully as they are part of the description. While I try to give you the best accurate assessment of every item, all jewelry listed is antique or vintage and is NOT expected to be like new. All items should be expected to have light to moderate wear on all components and findings, even if it can\'t be seen with the naked eye.
All jewelry listed is inspected very carefully by me, a certified antique and vintage jewelry appraiser, and is considered to be in very clean and well cared for vintage condition and reflected in the price of the item. As I am currently selling off my 50-year lifelong jewelry and other antique collections, ALL SALES ARE FINAL.
I\'ve been selling antique and vintage jewelry and other wares online since 1986 from my own site. My jewelry has been featured in many antique and vintage jewelry books. I have collaborated on the publication of several vintage costume jewelry books as well. I also serve as an authority as a jewelry appraiser on several high-end sale sites.Inspection at different assessment levels and under different lighting and magnification can be difficult to assess, describe, and grade. For this reason, I provide many clear photos and my best assessment of gentle handling, wear, or other imperfections. I also do not guarantee the future functionality of all antique and vintage clips, hooks, clasps, and closures. All are tested prior to shipping and in good working order.Description ~
As a collector and researcher of antique and vintage baskets for about 40 years, I always explain in detail what I find unique and rare about old baskets I collect.
This is a very petite oak splint rectangular basket with handle but note that is it deep reddish brown as it is made of red oak. This is a very old hand made miniature and no, it is not a Lonaberger or a mass-produced basket.
While I cannot be exactly certain of the age, this miniature basket has been in my collection about 40 years. I remember where I bought it.
It was outside Boone NC in the early 1980s way out in nowhere. It was at a man\'s house that was a 1930s log cabin who lived way back in the mountains and sold bird houses in his front yard. The basket was not for sale. I saw it sitting in a box of stuff in his shed where he made the bird houses and offered to buy it.
I came to know this man in later years, and he was of Cherokee descent, but he lived in northwestern NC, Watauga County. He told me that this basket has been in the shed a long time. I asked how long and he said a 3 or 4 decades. When I saw it I guessed it was 1940s, so 1940s or 1950s is about right.
So, how did I know this? How did I guess the age of it on first sight? First, it was red oak. Second, it had a twisted rim. No one in the Appalachians made twisted rim baskets of any size after the 1950s. I just know that. This style of rim weaving was popular in the 1930s and 1940s.
I rarely if ever find really old miniature baskets. I\'ve always been attracted to them because I sit and stare at them and wonder. I wonder what was the purpose of making a basket this small? I\'ve never come up with a good answer! Also notice the vertical canes are top wrapped over and under the braided rim. That is a very old-fashioned style of caning.
The basket has an excellent clean dark oak patina. You might swear it looks new but it has been stashed away in my collection for decades and previously in mountain shed for decades. Oak withstands the test of time.
There are no split or missing canes and the bottom and the corners inside and out are perfect as well. I have not cleaned it in any way. It is exactly like the day it was made.
It measures 3 3/4\" tall with handle. The basket alone is 4 1/4\" long x2 1/2\" wide x 1 3/4\" deep.