Lot Details
Lot 193
Jose Formosa Reyes Lidded Lightship Basket
Nantucket, MA, 1960s-70s
Depicting a whale. Height 7 inches, width 8 inches.
Nantucket lightship baskets weave a story of Nantucket culture and history. In the mid-19th century, using imported rattan, sailors began making baskets while in isolation on the South Shoal lightship. Lightships acted as floating lighthouses equipped with a foghorn to alert ships passing south of Nantucket. With idle hands and the right materials on the ships, the crew began crafting "lightship" baskets to give as gifts to wives and girlfriends or to sell. The early baskets were utilitarian in shape, either round or oval with a single handle. Three signature elements of the early baskets were the use of rattan, a mold for a precise shape, and a solid wooden base.
Most weavers knew each other, teaching each other the tricks of the trade and passing the culture down to future generations. Perhaps one of the most well known basket makers, Jose Formosa Reyes, came to Nantucket from the Philippines with a knowledge of basket weaving, and made over 5,000 baskets from 1948-1978. Reyes popularized the friendship basket pocketbook form well known today, with added carved decoration to the top and fastened lids to make them more versatile. Reyes began calling the purses friendship baskets, and it was even a tradition for young girls to receive a basket when they graduated high school.
Another prominent maker was Harry A. Hilbert. He started making Nantucket style baskets in 1970 in Wilton, Connecticut. He used intricate inlays and turnings as well as rare and exotic woods. They were, however, sold on Main Street in Nantucket.
Today, Nantucket baskets are still made and collected, with some collectors amassing a variety of makers and forms. Others have their single basket purse, which goes along with them to outings and shopping expeditions in the warmer months.
C Collection of Frank and Claire Tracy Glaser
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