Folding cot or camp bed

1780-1820

Measurements

33-1/4 in x 77-1/8 in x 44-1/4 in

Materials

Ash (rails), white pine (head- and foot-board), birch (legs), linen (canvas)

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation

Accession Number

1997.21

Inscription

"6" (or "9") is stamped into the ends of one rail

Provenance

Per a May 26, 1997, Winterthur memo from Brock Jobe to Wendy Cooper, the folding cot supposedly came out of the attic of a house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Comments

Like other forms of contemporary folding furniture, this folding cot or camp bed uses has paired wood bars that pivot on an iron axis in the center.  One end stands on the floor; the other tenons into side rails.  A large piece of linen canvas tacked to both rails holds the frame together, stabilized by head and foot boards.  All of the frame parts have an early, perhaps original red wash.  The woods used in this frame—birch, ash, and white pine—suggest a New England origin. 

The purpose of the “6” or “9” stamped into the ends of a side rail is not known.

Bibliography

Robert F. Trent, "Minor Furniture Forms in the Samuel Grant Daybooks, 1729-1744," in American Furniture 2017 (Milwaukee, Wisc.:  Chipstone 2017), 91.