Ships, Folk Art, and Whimsey in Bottles

This is an older piece of folk art relating to The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina. It is a palmetto tree that is hand made in a 19th century bottle with a hand made stopper. It is signed by Bill Williams on both sides of a base piece holding the fan tree. The fan blades are carved in a pattern and have a white thread woven between each of the blades. The bottle is sealed with a wooden round shaft that has a half circle crosspiece making it impossible to remove the stopper. Outside the bottle the top is a larger round wooden half circle cap. According to the seller, this bottle came from an estate sale of the collection of Bill Williams who made this whimsey, a former professor at The Citadel. It was among many items of memorabilia of The Citadel in Willimas collection. Palmetto tree - Adopted as the "Official State Tree of the State of South Carolina" by Joint Resolution No. 63, approved March 17, 1939.