A Beautiful Basket
!) HE accompanying illustration gives but a
/4             faint idea of the beauties of a basket
owned by and in the private collection of
T    Mr. J. W. Burdick of Albany, N. Y.
t   Mr. Burdick, when not presiding over
the destiny of the passenger department
:,' + .: ,  of the Delaware and Hudson Company,
is an enthusiastic basket student and
many are the fine baskets he has brought into his collection.
He has made both weave and symbolism a study and so well
posted is he that only the choicest in basketry holds any
interest for him. The Tulare basket here shown is remark-
able for the fineness of its weave, boasting over 60 stitches to
the inch and has been in the possession of collectors for over
A TULARE BEAUTY
100 years. In color it is an old gold and the design is per-
fectly carried out without a single break. Not a "split stitch"
appears under the most careful examination, proving conclus-
ively that it was the work of an artist who scorned the steel
awl of modern use and plied her awl of fish bone so daintily
that not a space was broken. Mr. Burdick has many other
old weaves, both Pomo and Tulare, but this beauty is the peer
of them all. The basket was procured during Mr. Burdick's
residence in Southern California of a family closely identified
with the early history of that section of the Golden State in
and around Santa Barbara and had been in the family for over
fifty years. The basket is worth more than its weight in gold.