Tuesday, March 18, 2008

mystery men



Help, who are these mystery menfolk figures? They are quite funky. I'm guessing they are known cartoon characters of the era as I've since found the first figure (police man?) in another redwork quilt.
UPDATE:  these figures are called Brownies and created by Palmer Cox.  Quite popular in the early 20th century, 1900's.




The quilt also has a boy scout leader insignia from the 1910's (above left) so I'd date it c. 1920. This quilt has a variety of figures and blocks of different sizes not the uniform sized blocks of later redwork. Note the above block has the boy scout insignia, the small dutch couple and large floral basket (the entire quilt is full of these unusual combinations). Please post if you have any ideas on these characters.
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