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Price:  $229.00 US  ($265 CDN) plus shipping & handling Quantity: 1 Dimensions:  10 3/4" x 7 3/4" x 2 1/2" Description:  Pennsylvania, 1899. Signed A. Miller and dated 1899 on back. A fine example of American tramp cigar box art featuring a cigar box lithograph of "Battle Leaders" (William T. Sampson and Nelson A. Miles) of the 1898 Spanish-American war. The tray bears appliqué initials of the maker (AM), the upper section has a small triangular mirror and assorted appliqué leaves, flowers, horse shoe etc. Condition: Excellent.   Phoenix Antiques   R.R. #1 Indian River, ON (705) 872 8029 (Please quote item number on any inquiries.) Click on photos to see enlargements

Phoenix Antiques for Folk Art

As the name implies, tramp art was the work of wandering tramps, hoboes and assorted itinerant artisans. It thus falls into what is now being called "Outsider" art, the work of those who are not accepted by, or do not wish to join, mainstream society.

The central core of tramp art is based on chip carving and layering of pieces of wood to build up elaborate pyramidal shaped objects. The principal tool was a pocket knife and the material was cigar boxes or other recycled wood. Chip carving consists of making notches along the edge of wooden strips. When strips of decreasing width are mounted on top of each other fancy patterns can be formed. This form of tramp art produced the most wonderful pieces from small trinket boxes to clock cases, to picture frames, to crucifixes, to full sized pieces of furniture such as chests of drawers. It is believed that tramp art was brought to North America by German or Scandinavian settlers in the mid 1800s. By the Civil War years it was widely popular and continued into the Great Depression when it reached its peak.

Related forms include Trench art, Prison art, Twig furniture, Memory ware, Fretwork, and Whimsies.

Trench art blossomed especially during the appalling period of WWI when men spent days, weeks or months in terrified boredom in filthy trenches. Prominent in this artistic output are brass shell cases (from both sides) beaten into beautiful sprays of foliage with flitting birds and graceful butterflies – not the scenes of daily devastation.

Prison art is also rooted in a community of (mostly) men with too much time on their hands. Here the commonly used materials are cigarette packets, gum wrappers, matches and popsicle sticks. Amazingly, these humble materials can be made into jewelry boxes, belts, picture frames, and other decorative pieces.

Twig furniture was popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Itinerant craftsmen, many from First Nations, went door-to-door offering to make small tables, plant holders and other pieces which were fashioned from alder twigs cut on need. They were paid in cash or meals.

Memory ware consists of simple jars, bottles, flasks, bowls, urns or other containers, coated with an adhesive plaster into which fragments of broken china, buttons, brooches, pins, coins, and other "memorable" pieces of household rubble are inserted. The earliest pieces are clearly mid-Victorian and very interesting.

Fretwork is just that. Wooden items such as shelves, clock cases, bird cages and so on, intricately cut by a fine fret saw into complex patterns.

Whimsies A whimsey is a non-functional, entertaining piece usually involving interlocking pieces carved out of a single piece of wood – those snake vertebra pieces would be a good example, or balls within balls.