Collection of American Barbed Wire Patent Samples on Pine Board

A vernacular collector’s board displaying eight distinct specimens of nineteenth-century American barbed wire, mounted to a chamfered pine plank with wire staples. Each sample illustrates an individual patent design developed during the rapid enclosure of the American West, accompanied by a calligraphic paper slip recording the patentee and date of registration.

The mounted wires range from J. S. Lidden (November 24, 1874) to J. Brotherton (September 3, 1887), also taking in significant designs including D. Allis’s ribbon wire (July 26, 1881), Jacob Haish’s 'S' barb (August 31, 1875), and specimens by Burnell and Baker. Display boards of this type were assembled by agricultural historians and enthusiasts to record the intense patent race that revolutionised prairie fencing.

The specimens retain an authentic patinated, rusted surface, securely fastened to the pale timber ground. An intriguing artefact of American agricultural industrialisation and material history.