Theatrical Tinsel of 19th Century Actress Mrs Laura Honey-- Very Rare

Description: SPECTACULAR & ELABORATE TINSEL OF EARLY 19TH CENTURY ACTRESS LAURA HONEY as Celestia in The World in the Moon LAURA HONEY (nee Bell) was born in 1816 and died in 1843. Her mother was also an actress and Laura began performing as a child, often in the company of her mother, the actress Mrs Young. She married William Honey in 1831 at the age of fifteen. Honey performed in all the major West End theatres and, as a young widow, took over the management of THE CITY OF LONDON THEATRE. Importantly she also worked at the Olympic Theatre under the management of famed actress Madame Vestris. Honey made her reputation playing male drag (or "breeches") parts as did Vestris. Together they developed scandalous reputations for wearing tights and exposing their legs to the public view. Savvy business women that they were, they had earlier learned that exposing their legs -- even wrapped in tights -- to the male gaze was very good for box office receipts. Here Mrs. Honey is perched atop a raised tuft which appears vaguely Egyptian in design and shockingly exposing her shapely legs. Laura Honey, alas, passed away at the age of 26 from what was then diagnosed as "inflammation". Prints depicting actors and actresses were sold as either plain (black and white) or colored by hand or, most desirable, painstakingly decorated with a variety of very small colored tin-foil pieces -- each meticulously glued into place. They were advertised as "Penny Plain, Tuppence Colored". Numerous in their day, they were extremely delicate and rapidly deteriorated due to a general lack of care. Today they are quite rare and most are found only in theatre archives such as The Folger in Washington D.C., The Museum of the City of New York or the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. This particular tinsel featuring a working actress is rarer than many because the colored and hand-decorated prints were more often devoted to depictions of actors and their roles rather than to actresses. The tinsel offered here has been framed and glazed for decades and is consequently immaculate. As near pristine as possible. And beyond its uncommonly flawless condition (for nearly 200 years old), it is also more elaborately decorated than the usual tinsel. It is framed in bird's-eye maple with what appears to be a brass inner frame. A brief biographical description of Mrs. Honey is affixed to the back. Altogether this exquisite piece represents an era of bygone theatre, a 19th Century pastime of art and craft and today what is very likely a one-of-a-kind theatrical artifact.

Price: 800 USD

Location: Kilmarnock, Virginia

End Time: 2023-09-10T22:51:35.000Z

Shipping Cost: 17.5 USD