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These pillows or cushions are commonly referred to as christening pillows or cushions.  Brandt & Cullman tell us that these wonderful pin cushions were hung on the front door to announce the arrival of a baby to friends and neighbors.¹  I suspect all three of the pillows I am listing today were given as gifts to the newborn's mother and were kept indoors.  There is no indication that any ever had a ribbon for hanging and all three are quite heavy from the straw stuffing.

Steel pins form the sentiment

Welcome

Sweet

Babe

1798

The pins are handmade in two parts.  First, a wire was drawn, straightened, cut, one end was sharpened. and the other was ground to accept the the head.  Then a handmade head was added (if you look with a loupe you can see that the head fits like a collar around the straight pin).  Finally the entire pin was polished and the pins were placed in a paper packet for sale.  By 1776, American pin factories were turning out 5000 pins per day.²  

This is a simple and elegant 18th century pillow of a rare form. The pin decorated sentiment is placed at each side of the four corners of this rare hard-sided cushion.  The center pin design is a starburst. I love the hearts in each corner.  The pillow was created from silk over linen with fabric covered stiff card sides. 4 ¼” x 5 ½” x 2 ½”. The ivory silk over linen is edged with a corded ribbon and tassels. As you can see from the images, the silk has shattered above “1798” and “Babe”. There is also a slight amount of shattering to one edge and around the back edge. The linen underneath the silk is keeping the stuffing safe. There are 2 tassels missing from the bottom of the pillow.  Light staining on the reverse. This is a really excellent early pillow of rare form.  The apologies are minor considering how long this silk pillow has survived.  And it is dated 1798!

I was extremely lucky to acquire a private collection of these rare cushions.  Please take a look at all four that I'm listing today!  The last image in this listing is a group shot.

(#5045)      $525

¹Brant, Sandra & Cullman, Elissa, Small Folk A Celebration of Childhood in America.  E.P. Dutton, New York, 1980.  43.

²How Products Are Made::Volume 7, Straight Pin.  http://www.madehow.com/Volume-7/Straight-Pin.html

Please see the Christening or Birth Pillows page for more information about these rare survivors.

You can see the silk is shattering above "1798" and "Babe"

The corded tassels are wonderful.  You can see a little splitting of the silk at the edge, but there is a linen liner that keeps the stuffing safe.

This hard-sided pillow is a really rare form.

Assorted light staining to the reverse and two missing tassels on the bottom edges (all tassels are present on the top).

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