***Comments Thread for the November Photo Contest***

[Mousetoescamper]

4. I'm in with two family heirlooms

The patchwork quilt was made by my late paternal grandmother during an arts-and-crafts class at her nursing home some 35 years ago. She wasn't an accomplished quilter, but I cherish it as something she worked on for hours and imagine that it contains a little of her DNA in the fibers.

The banjo belonged to a paternal third cousin who lived in the Northern Neck area of Virginia. The instrument is a Henry C. Dobson "Silver Bell" 5-string banjo made in New York City around 1880. The banjo has a broken neck which was reset and glued. Unfortunately, the fifth-string tuner is missing and there is a missing fret. The guitar tailpiece in the photo was on the banjo when it was given to me by my father 40 years ago. The bridge is new.

I felt that the heirlooms were complementary examples of Americana.