Some years ago the Smithsonian had one of Harriet Powers’ Bible quilts reproduced in China for sale in their gift shops and catalogues. There was actually so much protest over the commercial reproduction of this unique work of African American art that the item, which was produced in two sizes and sold for hundreds of dollars, was discontinued. As a result they have been hard to find and much in demand. Every now and again one appears for sale on eBay. Over the last seven or eight years they have sold in the vicinity of $300 with lots of competitive bidding. One showed up for sale there last week and went for $65.00 with just 5 bids. A fluke? A sign of the economic times? A pretty startling decline in perceived value for sure.
UPDATE
As of December 2010, the eBay price has risen considerably to well into the hundreds of dollars.
VARIETY . SPICE . LIFE 
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I appreciate the tweet from a fine quilter’s site. My Twitter is MarilynElaine.
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Yes, the Harriet Powers Smithsonian quilts still remain popular. I also purchased mine from ebay a few years ago. I blogged about the 15th anniversary of these quilts here:
http://blackthreads.blogspot.com/2007/08/15-years-ago-smithsonian-reproduces.html
Enjoy! Kyra
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