Tramp art is our term for today. It's a type of folk art using carved, whittled, and layered sheets of notched wood that often came from old cigar boxes. You'll find examples of tramp art in the form of picture frames, keepsake boxes, and whatnot shelves and less frequently in furniture pieces. The heyday for tramp art in America was the early 1900's, but it was around as early as the 1870's until the the 1940's when cardboard cigar boxes became more common and pipe smoking became popular, so cigar boxes were less plentiful.
The large picture frame below is unusual because of its size, but has some typical tramp art characteristics such as stained rather than painted wood, lots of intricate carved details, and a creation date during the height of popularity of this art form, 1935. It was for sale recently at the Antiques Market of Williamston here in Michigan:
A puzzle picture frame, also called crown of thorns. This type of construction has pieces that interlock and nails aren't required:
Photo Credit: Design Sponge
A rare find: a crown of thorns hall tree:
Photo Credit: Folk Artisans.com
A tramp art church showing a familiar chip carved and layered roof:
Photo Credit: FolkArtisans.com
There is still debate whether tramp art was really made by tramps and hobos in exchange for food and other necessary items, although that certainly makes sense that wanderers would pick up cast off cigar boxes and re-purpose them into these charming creations. It's also possible that other artisans were inspired by and refined the designs. Most are unsigned, which makes it difficult to determine where they came from.
In terms of values, I'd sell a simple chip carved picture frame here in Michigan for under $100. An elaborate box would sell for several hundred dollars. It's difficult to give prices here, because each piece is so unique.
Mitzi
