Mercy Gillow, St. Nicholas at Wade, Kent, England, 1769
Price: $4400, Sampler size: 13" x 11"

This highly appealing sampler was made by Mercy Gillow, a twelve-year-old living in a small coastal village southeast of London. St. Nicholas at Wade, with its Norman church dating from the 13th century, is the ancestral home of the Gillow family, with roots that are documented from the 16th century. Mercy was born there in 1757, a daughter of Thomas and Ann Gillow and named for her paternal grandmother, Mercy Eason Gillow (1706-1746).

The sampler features a biblical verse in both French and English and is sophisticated as well as charming. Mercy surrounded her inscription with an unusual sawtooth heart flanked by squirrels and oak trees. The palette of predominantly light green and pink is one rarely found on samplers and the needlework was skillfully accomplished. The sampler was worked in silk on wool and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into the 19th century gold-leaf frame that has been with it for many years.