Stitching pony belonging to and used by William Sugg
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1850s
name: label: Used by
content: William Sugg, American, 1828 - 1889
notes: label: Description
content: A wooden stitching pony or leather clamp used for leather crafting. The stitching pony consists of a plank wooden seat, four rectangular legs, and a post that sits to the front of the seat.
label: Description
content: 2015.44.1a (Seat, stitching pony): A wooden stitching pony seat. A plank of medium brown wood, worked and carved to act as a seat. The front is cut at rectangular angles and the back is rounded. There are two carved, rounded indentions on the center proper left and proper right of the seat, where a user’s legs would rest. There are four rectangular cut-outs, for the legs (2015.44.1b-e). The legs slide into from the bottom, for the seat to rest down on (positioned two parallel at the front and two parallel at the back). There are two large bolts going through the width of the seat.
label: Description
content: 2015.441b (PL Front Leg, stitching pony): The wooden proper left front leg of the stitching pony with a metal attachment. The leg has a side cut-out at top to fit into the stitching pony seat (2015.44.1a) through a wood joinery technique. The leg tapers towards bottom. About a quarter up from the bottom, a metal attachment (lever) is bolted in and can move up and down. The lever is flat (vertical) on its proper left side, flat up against the leg, with a hole on the far left side. The remainder of the lever twists so that it is horizontal. There is a hole immediately following the twist in orientation and a bolt, with a loop at the top, meant to hook into the clasp on the bottom of the leather strap hanging from the post (2015.44.1f), which moves the lever up and down. There are three more holes on the proper right side of the lever.
label: Description
content: 2015.44.1c (PR Front Leg, stitching pony): The wooden proper right front leg of the stitching pony with a metal attachment. The leg has a side cut-out at the top to fit into the stitching pony seat (2015.44.1a) through a wood joinery technique. The leg tapers towards the bottom. There is a metal attachment (saw-like) bolted in at the top and bottom, positioned vertically, on the proper right outside of the leg. This saw-like feature is where the lever from the proper left front leg (2015.44.1b) sits. The function of the lever depends on how high or low on the saw-like feature it sits (lower stretches the leather strap from the post (2015.44.1f) more, higher the leather stresses less. The saw-like feature is stationary.
label: Description
content: 2015.44.1d (PL Rear Leg, stitching pony): The wooden proper left back leg of the stitching pony. The leg has a side cut-out at the top to fit into the stitching pony seat (2015.44.1a) through a wood joinery technique. The leg tapers towards bottom.
label: Description
content: 2015.44.1e (PR Rear Leg, stitching pony): The wooden proper right back leg of the stitching pony. The leg has a side cut-out at the top to fit into the stitching pony seat (2015.44.1a) through a wood joinery technique. The leg tapers towards bottom.
label: Description
content: 2015.44.1f (Post, stitching pony): The post of the stitching pony. The post sits towards the front of the stitching pony, in a cut-out in the seat (2015.44.1a). The cut-out fits the bottom of the post through a wood joinery technique, and continues below the seat level. The post consists of two vertical planks of wood, parallel to each other, connected at the bottom, parting further at the top. There is a spring/coil attached to the middle of both sides of the wood, which allows a user to adjust the distance between the two planks. There is a block at the center (sitting directly above the seat cut-out), aligned on the proper left , with a hinge connecting the proper left vertical plank to the side of the block. Below the seat, the block continues, attached to the proper right vertical plank. A leather strap is connected to the proper right exterior of the proper right vertical plank on the post. The strap hangs on the outside of the stitching pony, to about half-way up the proper right front leg. The bottom of the leather strap has a metal clasp, which hooks to the lever on the proper left front leg metal attachment (2015.44.1b).
place: label: Place used
content: Sugg McDonald House, Sonora, Tuolumne County, California, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: American West
label: Topic
content: Business
label: Topic
content: Craftsmanship
label: Topic
content: Families
label: Topic
content: Labor
label: Topic
content: Skilled labor
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Tools and Equipment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Gerald & Ruth Howard
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2015.44.1a-f
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: wood and metal and leather
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 43 3/4 × 18 1/4 × 33 3/8 in. (111.1 × 46.4 × 84.8 cm)