19thc Summit Thread Box with Bobbin Spools

The historic Summit Thread Company was a 19th and 20th century cotton thread and textile manufacturer based in East Hampton, Connecticut. They operated roughly from 1880 to 1940 producing cotton thread and ready wound bobbins for sewing machines. The company prided itself on both customer service and innovation.

I found this cardstock box of Summit threads with a group of tatting shuttles which led me to believe the thread was used for making tatting lace perhaps between 1880 and 1920. The box measures 9 ½” x 3 ¼” x 2 ¼” with thumb cuts on the sides for easy opening. A Summit Thread Company label is pasted on the lid. It notes “Combed Sea Island” which, according to Selvane, a contemporary fashion house, is the rarest cotton on earth” -- an extra-long staple cotton variety that has been mechanically straightened and aligned through combing to create exceptionally soft, strong and lustrous yarn. The box holds 500 yards (1 pound) of the “genuine silk finish” white threads on machine bobbins with cardboard cores of various heights. I think they were designed to be broken up into 3/8” tall individual bobbins. There are approximately 100 of them.

The box is in good condition with solid corners. The lid has some foxing along the sides and creases on the top. Inside the bobbins are jumbled resulting in some tangles of loose threads. Please examine the photos and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

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