Rogers Series 2: Pins and pincushions
Series 2. A wooden toy pincushion resembling a violin, still containing pins (not pictured).
Pincushions have existed in their present form since at least the 16th century (but likely much earlier). At that time, pincushions tended to be large, valuable, and highly decorated. By the 18th century, pin receptacles evolved to include closed containers (pin-poppets), disc and cylindrical pincushions, and various novelty containers. England and France were for a long time the largest manufacturers of rare, expensive, high quality pins until the 1830s, when the United States introduced machine-made pins created in a single piece. Many of the pincushions in this series still hold some of these European and American pins. It was important to have a designated object with which to secure pins because sewing pins were a costly luxury until mass production began in the early-/mid-1800s.
鈥═he pincushions in this series are small and date from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries. The novelty and well-decorated containers were constructed from ivory, wood, copper, brass, or other materials surrounding a small section of fabric that houses the pins. Some pieces in this series are referred to as toy pincushions due to their novel shapes, such as the wheelbarrow, the cradle, and the violin. These pincushions are mostly English with a few of other European origins, a few are American, one is Native American, and another is from British India.