Featured Update on Nantucket Double Lollipop Basket

I just received a reply from the Nantucket Historical Association, which @komokwa suggested I contact when I posted this basket last month. https://www.antiquers.com/threads/questions-on-damaged-nantucket-double-lollipop-basket.86409/

I also sent a photo to rafaelosonaauctions.com, also suggested by komokwa, but haven't received a response.

Here's the reply from the Reference Archivist at the NHA:

"I have been unable to locate any records for a basket maker with the initials "AMT" working on Nantucket. What evidence do you have that it was made on island? The item certainly may have sentimental or personal value to you and may also be of historical value if the maker could be identified. Alas, it is against museum policy for NHA staff to provide financial valuations of any kind. For this, I recommend that you contact a professional appraiser in your area. Best regards, Matthew J. Kuhnert, Reference Archivist"

I thanked him for responding and explained that I didn't have any evidence that the basket was made on Nantucket. I also included links to similar baskets, and a link to an article I found today that said "barrel makers on the whaling ships began to weave hybrid baskets incorporating elements of the Wampanoag [Indian] baskets with a round wood base inspired by New Hampshire work baskets" https://www.graymist.com/nan_history

I also mentioned in my reply to the NHA that I'm now wondering if this basket could be one of the early hybrid baskets made by someone on one of the New England whaling ships and, if so, should not be called a Nantucket basket. Or, maybe it was made by one of the Nantucket or other New England harbor lightship station crew members who made baskets, although the graymist.com article says the lightship station baskets were refined versions of the whaler’s hybrid baskets (what I assume everyone now calls Nantucket baskets).

For now, I'm just planning to hang onto the basket and enjoy looking at it now and then. Maybe some day I'll stumble across other information about it.

 

??.... u didn't ask them what the value is............. did you ?

 

He maybe misread my message--I only asked if it has value with all the damage. I thought a museum might at least answer that from their perspective, or say they would gladly add it to their collection because of its rarity, but he obviously questions whether it's even a Nantucket basket.

 

Joan, you have good instinct/eye for things so I would hang on to this until you learn more definite.

 

They must get plenty of folks asking them for the value of their items .... we do !!

 

Good advice, Lucille, thank you.

 

I decided to send photos to the graymist.com website to see if they could tell me if this could be one of the early hybrid baskets made by a barrel maker on a New England whaling ship. I'll let you know if they respond.

 

Eldred’s is a high end auction house on Cape Cod. I bet they see a lot of Nantucket baskets. They’ve been in business over 75 years in a location that’s a magnet for regional wealth. I’d bet they’ve seen most things that have been made in New England at least a few times or more. Send it their way for an opinion. https://www.eldreds.com/

 

Thank you, J Dagger, that's the website where I saw the photo of a basket like mine, but not as much damage. It's currently being auctioned with a starting bid of $1000. I'll send them a photo and ask if they think it could be one of the early hybrid baskets possibly not actually made on Nantucket, and if they know where/when/who originated the Nantucket double lollipop name.

 

Oh, I didn’t see your original post. Sorry if you mentioned them already. Yeh you should drop them a line though.

 

No need to apologize...I didn't mention Elders in my original post, but found the basket on their site recently. I was thinking it was one I saw during my previous research, but that one (which is almost identical) was actually listed by Raphael Osana Auctions on Invaluable.com, which I was referred to by komokwa on my original post. I have problems remembering where I find information.

 

Tell me about it! I’m sooo bad at saving and organizing my research. I tried to start taking screenshots at least. However now I just have a phone with no storage space left and thousands of unorganized screenshots with no way to really find what I want. So I wind up doing web searches anew despite knowing what I’m looking for is somewhere in my phone already.

 

Here's an excerpt from a follow-up email I received yesterday from the Nantucket Historical Association:

"Your basket shares some characteristics with baskets made on Nantucket, such as use of a wood base, wood vertical staves, and rattan weaver. However, these "Nantucket-style" elements are not necessarily evidence that the item was made on the island or by a Nantucket craftsman. Scholars no longer think that "Nantucket-style" baskets are descended from native-made examples in the way the article you mention describes. In addition, no baskets are known to have been made on board whale ships: in fact, the "Nantucket-style" did not really emerge until after the decline of whaling on the island. According to the NHA's curatorial staff, based on the method of construction and materials used, your basket was possibly manufactured between 1865 and 1880."

Since I was still curious about where the term "lollipop" originated, I did more research and the first mention of it that I could find online was in an August 29, 2005 article in "Antiques And The Arts Weekly" about a "heart-form" open Nantucket lightship basket" (no handle) that sold for $115,000 at the August 6, 2005 Rafael Osana auction.
https://www.rafaelosonaauction.com/antiques/undated-prices-realized/world-record-nantucket-basket/
https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/nantucket-basket-record-smashed-at-osonas/

In that article, Rafael Osana is quoted as saying that he "arranged to get a basket on loan for an exhibit at the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum three years ago [2002]....that is smaller and had “lollipops” [not heart forms] on the end of the staves."

Then I found a similar Nantucket basket auctioned by Bonhams Skinner in 2008 almost identical to the $115,000 basket, but with rounded stave ends. It was called a "Nantucket Lollipop Basket." So maybe that was the first time the term lollipop was used for a Nantucket basket auction??
https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2431/lots/238

After that I found later examples on auctions from 2017-2024 of the more primitive Nantucket-style baskets like mine. The sellers call them Nantucket not Nantucket-style, so maybe they have evidence that they were actually made on Nantucket. In any case, they're listed on Rafael Osana, Eldred's, Kennedy's (TN), bidsquare.com, and 1st Dibs as Nantucket lollipop or double lollipop baskets (typical internet copying of catchy terminology?).

I also found new Nantucket "Lollipop Form" baskets made by Lucille La Rochelle (similar to the $115,000 antique basket) and offered for sale at
https://www.fourwindscraftguild.com/product-page/lollipop-form-baskets-by-lucille-la-rochelle.

I also found an Antiques Roadshow video from 2014, in which Leigh Keno appraised a basket ($1500-$2500) similar to mine but much better condition and said (I'm paraphrasing) his gut feeling was that it was from New England probably near the coast, late 19th century, great expression of folk art, probably not a Nantucket basket—construction too primitive (similar to what the NHA archivist said about my basket).

In any case, there's an active auction for a basket almost identical to mine (missing the handle, less damage) offered by Eldred's Auctions ($1000 starting bid). I found the same basket was auctioned by Rafael Osana in August 2023 (results not shown).

The Eldred's/invaluable.com auction ends tomorrow morning (Sept. 13), so I plan to see if it gets any bids.
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-...lollipop-basket-19th-centur-8652-c-26e4c22910
View attachment 498195

Maybe some day evidence will turn up as to whether or not my basket was made on Nantucket. Until then, I'll call it a 19th century Nantucket-style double lollipop basket.

Thank you to @komokwa, @J Dagger and @Lucille.b for your help and suggestions for learning about my basket.

 

and thank you for your efforts to continue the awareness of this basket form...!!!!

 

It looks like the basket shown above sold today for $1000 (the minimum bid). I still plan to hang onto mine for now... don't think it would sell for much because of all the damage.