Smoothly finished art pottery piece with predominantly orange and green coloration. Heart-shaped jar, orange with green and black spots. Smooth finish. Jar stopper designed as a woman without facial features wearing a gele (headtie) and two green earrings.
Glass chicken egg used for inducing hens to lay eggs. According to Mrs. Gold, to encourage a hen to lay eggs in a specific place, farmers would often begin making their nests and place the artificial nesting eggs in them with the hope that the hen would complete her nest in that location. This also helped the farmer keep track of which hens were laying eggs and where the eggs were located. The glass eggs remained in the nest until the hen laid and incubated the eggs and the offspring hatched. It was important to maintain this process and promptly remove the artificial egg so that it could be reused.
A glass turkey egg used to encourage turkey hens to lay eggs in a particular location. According to Mrs. Gold, to encourage a hen to lay eggs in a specific place, farmers would often begin making their nests and place the artificial nesting eggs in them with the hope that the hen would complete her nest in that location. This also helped the farmer keep track of which hens were laying eggs and where the eggs were located. The glass eggs remained in the nest until the hen laid and incubated the eggs and the offspring hatched. It was important to maintain this process and promptly remove the artificial egg so that it could be reused.
Front and top views of a contemporary sweetgrass basket for decorative use in the shape of a hat; center constructed of pine needle; sewn with palmetto leaf.
Front and top views of a contemporary sweetgrass basket for decorative use in the shape of a hat; center constructed of pine needle; sewn with palmetto leaf.
Front and interior views of a multiple views of a contemporary sweetgrass basket in the form of a hat, made of sweetgrass and bulrush and sewn with palmetto leaf. There is a felt band sewn inside.
Front, interior, and profile views of a multi-colored basket made of sweetgrass, bulrush, and pine needle, sewn with palmetto leaf. Sweetgrass is natural and dyed blue, orange, and red. A wrapped hinge is sewn into the bottom for hanging purposes.
Full and profile views of a coiled basket, possibly used for fruit, with a cross handle; made with sweetgrass, bulrush and pine needle, sewn with palmetto leaf. Basket is asymmetric and sits extremely crooked in its natural state; this feature has been manually edited somewhat in the images to ease viewing the object.
Copper slave badge, square in shape, reading "Charleston 20 Servant 1823." Under the date, a stamp reads "LAFA," signifying the maker, John Joseph Lafar.
Chair made by slaves from Ridgley Plantation near Florence, South Carolina. The chair is made with mortise and tenon joints reinforced with square nails. The seat is of animal skin. Evidence that the legs of the chair have been shortened indicates that it was a slave's chair. Slaves were not permitted to sit higher than the master or his children.
Salt-glazed border tiles made from kiln-fired red clay, used to line walkways and gardens. Made by slave labor on a plantation near Hickory Hill, South Carolina. Four tiles exist in the collection, two of each shown here.
Copper slave badge, square in shape. Face is stamped "Charleston 1840 Servant 1869." 1840 is the year produced and 1869 signifies that it was the 1,869th "servant" badge sold that year.
Slave auctioneer's token, 1846. These tokens were distributed as one-cent pieces and served as advertisements for the businesses and services depicted on the coins. Face view of token reads "W.W. Wilbur Auction & Commission Merchant; Charleston, So. Ca.; Going at Only A Penny" encircling the image of an auctioneer. Obverse view of token reads "Merchants & Manufactors Agents; Collection Broker Notary Public" encircling the image of a tree.
