Eric’s friend Susan McRae sent him a link to a basket she recently came across online that is up for auction. Eric then forwarded it to me and said, “Susan knows her baskets!” The site is called AuctionZip and you can find the item here.
Susan immediately recognized that it is a Taghkanic basket. It appears to be in good shape and if you are looking to add one to your collection, here
is your chance. It’s funny that the item’s location is in Peterborough, New Hampshire. You would have thought that the chances of the basket to have been made by the Peterborough Basket Company would have been very good. But it is not. Martha Wetherbee and Eric’s father wrote the book on these basket makers from New York titled “Legend of the Bushwhacker Basket.”
More photos and listing can be found here. The auction ends July 7, 2012.
For the book, you can find it here: Legend of the Bushwhacker Basket
I read “The Legend of the Bushwhacker Basket” last week and it was fascinating. Thanks so much to Martha and Eric’s father for their scholarship surrounding that community of weavers. I greatly appreciate that the makers are now recognized for their skill and in the process, for their descendants to gain the dignity that their ancestors deserved.
Thanks Kathryn for reading!
My brother recommended I might like this blog. He was totally right.
This post actually made my day. You can not imagine just how much time I had spent for
this information! Thanks!
Love those Bushwackers – I think that I can spot one from a distance of 300 yards.
I learned about them from Nathan and the book.
Thanks for the original link Susan!!