F.Y.I.

Nantucket basketmaking declined by the 1930's, but was revived in the late1940's when Jose Reyes added a woven lid and called his purse a "Friendship Basket". Reyes, who was born in the Philippines, learned to weave as a child. He came to the United States before World War II, and was educated at Reed College in Oregon and later at Harvard. When he was unable to find a teaching position after WWII, he moved to Nantucket with his wife who had summered there for many years.

Needing a way to support his family, he turned to the craft of his childhood. When he was unsuccessful at selling the open style, he added a woven lid and placed a carved ebony whale on the top plate of his first purse. Soon he was finding it difficult to keep up with the orders. Prices for his purses went from $100 in the '60s to $300 in the '70s. Reyes died in 1980.