The Golden Basket - The Artist Glenaan Elliott Robbins

The Artist

Glenaan Elliott Robbins' personal history is indelibly tied to Nantucket. Her father, Mr. Coffin, is a descendant of the original Coffin family who came to Nantucket in 1659. A designer all of her life, Glenaan studied art, fashion and photography. After college she enrolled in the New York School of Interior Design, and worked with a major New York fabric firm.

Glenaan Elliott Robbins

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After completing courses in Jewelry Design, Diamond Grading, Colored Stone Grading, and Pearl Grading at the Gemological Institute of America, Glenaan returned to Nantucket with business savvy, jewelry design experience and a novel idea - a miniature Nantucket Lightship Basket made of gold.

Her original design, a gold basket with a scrimshaw top, opens to reveal an optional custom quarterboard where the owner's initials are scrimshawed. The gold baskets contain a tiny penny inside, dated 1977, the year Glenaan designed the first miniature gold Nantucket Lightship Basket. Glenaan's design has been imitated and copied, but Nantucket Islanders will tell you that hers is the original and authentic Gold Miniature Nantucket Lightship Basket.

Glenaan opened her first store, The Golden Nugget, on Straight Wharf in 1977. Soon Islanders and tourists alike referred to her store as "the shop with the golden baskets." In 1981, when Glenaan opened a new store on Main Street, it was named, appropriately, THE GOLDEN BASKET.

Glenaan is still designing authentic, original and exquisite works of art with a Nantucket history and New England flavor.

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The Tenth Anniversary
(1987)
Glenaan Original Design
18K Gold & Platinum
with Diamonds

Glenaan extends her personal invitation to visit THE GOLDEN BASKET
- truly a Nantucket tradition -
"Designer of the First Gold Miniature Nantucket Lightship Basket."