Four Winds Craft Guild
Sailor's Valentines & Shell Art
Traditional Valentines:
Gerda Reid
The Nantucket friendship basket originated in 1948 through the creativity of a Philipino schoolteacher named Jose Formoso Reyes and quickly grew to be one of the most recognizable forms of Nantucket Baskets, despite it being 100 years later than the original open baskets. These lidded baskets were originally intended as ladies’ purses and crafted with hinged lids which displayed a central plaque, usually wood, allowing each basket to be uniquely adorned with a carved decorative embellishment. Early on the plaques and carvings were wood, but in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, as the purse form began to find its niche in Island style, ivory became more fashionable for embellishments as well as a specialized enhancement for the plaque and closure mechanism. We bring to you a wide assortment of these highly sought after vintage, pre-owned Nantucket purses by the first generation of artists including Jose Reyes, Stephen Gibbs, Sherwin Boyer, Stanley Roop, and Bea & Helen of the Wooden Jug.