Live auction - Lot 536
[World War I - Kansas]
Embroidered flour sack.
Hammer price: €
650
€ 200 / 300
Live bidding (Drouot*) Live bidding (Invaluable*)Bidding is closed
Lot description
Each side ca. 43 x 60 cm (cut open in order to be shown as a large piece of textile art). On one side "Belgian Relief | Flour | Furnished by | Wilson County | Kansas | U.S.A. ||", on the other side "John Bull | [Spe]rry Mills | Sperry Flour C° | U.S.A. | American Indian ||". Very nice specimen in excellent state of preservation.
In World War I the U.S. Commission for Relief in Belgium (co-founded by Herbert Hoover) sent thousands of flour sacks to "Poor little Belgium". These cotton sacks were recycled into clothing or household items, but some were embroidered by Belgian women and returned in gratitude to the benefactors in the U.S. They were a colourful war souvenir. Most of the remaining sacks are to be found in local museums, War Museums or in private collections.