I have for sale an amazing Antique 'Mary Card' design c1916, white filet hand crochet small Centrepiece with the words from the Australian poet, Adam Lindsay Gordon, 1833 -1870
his famous quatrain from “Ye Wearie Wayfarer”
“Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone.
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.”
This wonderful piece of history is made with quality white cotton thread, attached to a white linen centre, the original pattern had the Flear-de-Lis hand crocheted to the middle, as that pattern was one of seven designs to raise money for WW1 - see last two photos.
See all photos below.
A design by Mary Card (an Australian lady who became world famous for her creative crochet designs
- see more information about her below)
These stunning and intricate lace pieces are highly collectible and getting very hard to find :) just wonderful ... "oh the hours it would have taken to make?" :)
Excellent Antique Condition - I cannot see any issues with the wonderful hand crochet work, but there are two teeny tiny wear spots on the linen next to one edge - hardly noticeable and only mentioned for complete accuracy :)
Measurements; 32cm x 29cm or 12 5/8" x 11.5 inches
- see more photos below
Information on Mary Card (1861–1940)
Mary Card (1861-1940), crochet pattern designer, was born on 24 September 1861 at Castlemaine, Victoria Australia. In 1880 Mary was a student at the National Gallery School of Design. 1903 she had become increasing deaf, faced with the need to find an occupation in which her disability was not a handicap, she decided to combine her writing, drawing and needle-work abilities to become a 'professional designer and teacher of needlework through the press'. Choosing Irish crochet as her medium, she joined a Ladies' Work Association which undertook repairs of valuable crochet pieces and taught herself to mend old lace. When she discovered that she could make new and effective designs to be worked from a chart method of her own invention rather than the usual printed directions.
Her first designs were published in the Ladies' Home Journal in the United States of America. In 1909 she decided to offer her designs and a monthly article to the New Idea (later Everylady's Journal), Melbourne. Her patterns became so popular that the editor reprinted many. She then developed 'giant charts' for more ambitious designs and to cater for workers with failing eyesight, drawn on the scale of ten squares to the inch with a guiding line at every inch.
With five books published, Mary went to the U.S.A. late in 1917 to launch some of her newer designs. In New York, The Mary Card Co. was set up to reprint her crochet books. Later she settled in England in a studio-cottage at Barkham, Berkshire. She continued to produce designs for more than twenty years
Mary Card revisited Australia occasionally. Early in 1940, in poor health, she returned to Victoria to live at Olinda, where she shared a cottage with her sister Harriet. She died there on 13 October 1940 and was cremated.
Reference ~24/08/2020; Citation detail; Sally O'Neill, 'Card, Mary (1861–1940)', Australian Dictionary of Biography published in hardcopy 1979.
Would look so lovely in your collection :)
Overseas buyers must pay via PayPal.
Keep watching as I will be listing lot more Vintage Linen and treasures in the days/weeks to come :)