"Money Bank", Tramp Art, made without nails

The name may seem like B.S., but a collection of "tramp art" is no bum steer.

Tramp art is a popular "Folk Art" that runs the gamut from "plain and simple" to eye-poppingly complex. The genre includes everything from jewelry boxes to picture frames. There is even tramp art furniture.

To be truly "tramp," the pieces must be made out of tiny scraps of throwaway wood. Most pieces are unsigned and undated, and that adds to the mystique that surrounds them.

Tramp art dates back to the Civil War.

In those days, the artists were soldiers, rather than hobos. Men in uniform, far from home and without money, couldn't find proper art supplies. But they still wanted to make things like gifts for wives, toys for the kiddies, or something special for "ma"

So they used what they could find. Like a cheese box, a fruit crate, or a cigar box. Nothing became something as trash was transformed into art with nothing more than imagination, skill, and a pocketknife.

Some tramp-art objects were made as a way for men to pass the time while serving jail sentences for nonviolent crimes like public intoxication.

During the Great Depression, itinerant rural artists and men without work became tramp artists. They chip-carved and glued scraps so they could scratch out a meager living...feed their families...or buy another pack of smokes... kind of like the Grapes of Wrath.

Prosperity arrived and tramp art began to disappear in the 1950's. What's rare is valuable, and so the prices for the 'disappearing art' started to soar.

A mirror from 1911 recently sold for $3000 and a sewing box fetched over $1300. And believe it or not, the stuff is so hot that modern plastic reproductions are being sold in upscale magazines.

Crazy!

This story is an excerpt from: "Betcha Didn't Know That!" by Leon Castner & Brian Kathenes. Learn more at: Value This  

Illustrated is a Tramp Art Money Bank.