Sampler

Embroidered samplers can appeal to buyers for all kinds of different reasons.

There is a huge disconnect today between the best and rest in the sampler world.

A small thread-covered purse or sweet bag in the shape of a pair of bellows is one among the highlights at Witney Antiques’ exhibition 'Choice and Precious Work: Treasures from the Schoolroom', which looks at historic needlework creations beyond the sampler.

Prices for embroidered samplers can vary hugely depending on what specific features are involved as well as factors such as condition and provenance.

By the mid-18th century, as the fashion for the pannier dress reached its peak, some women wore dresses measuring 7ft (2.13m) wide.

Well known for pottery, Sally Tuffin (b.1938) is also renowned for pioneering 1960s fashion as part of the Foale and Tuffin firm.

The best needlework samplers continue to bring prices far above more routine examples.

Oxfordshire dealership Witney Antiques’ latest exhibition features early example of band samplers.

Massachusetts sale includes elaborate examples of early needlework from across the Atlantic

Just as the title reads, this album offered by Mellors & Kirk in Nottingham contains Specimens of Needle-Work Executed in the Female Model School, Kildare-Place, Dublin.

Knowledgeable bidders spot a design by Owen Jones on offer in North Yorkshire

Rebecca Scott runs Witney Antiques, which is one of the businesses taking part in this week’s 'Cotswolds Curated' event.

Samplers made by siblings or generations of the same family can attract a significant commercial premium.

Embroidered samplers and pictures in high demand stateside

Estimated at just £80-150, a Queen Anne or George I period needlework sampler sold for £10,000 via thesaleroom.com at Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne.

Estimated at just £30-50, a late 19th century sampler sold via thesaleroom.com for £1850 at Wotton Auction Rooms (18% buyer’s premium) in Gloucestershire. A clue to the appeal is the inscription 'M Mountain, 5 Orphan House, Ashley Down, Bristol, 1879'.

As a young man in the 1960s, British creative designer Anthony Redmile (b.1937) took the London interior design scene by storm. Although his work was hugely eclectic, he became best known for his quirky designs taken from the animal kingdom.

This rare sampler, just 6in (15cm) across, was completed by a girl from the Queens Orphan School in Van Diemen’s Land (the island of Tasmania) in 1838.