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Embroiderers' Guild of WA Textile Museum > Records

KNITTED, BAG

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Overview

This miser’s purse, hand knitted with cut steel beads, the precursor to marcasite, is square at one end with beaded fringe and rounded at the other with a beaded tassel. Used to keep coins, gold sovereigns in one end and silver in the other.

Misers’ purses were popular in Europe for 150 years, mid 19th C to around 1910s. Tubular in shape, closed at both ends, narrower in the middle with a slit and two metal rings called sliders. The rings are slid to one side, coins inserted through the opening and slid to either end, then one of the rings is slid tight against the end to secure the coins inside.

Hand-made, crocheted, knitted, knotted or stitched in a variety of materials - cotton, silk, wool, velvet, they varied in length from 20 to 90cms.

Details

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-78-VC2000.327

Width

55 mm

Height or length

320 mm

Last modified

Monday, 18 August, 2025

Completeness

61

Embroiderers' Guild of WA Textile Museum

Embroiderers' Guild of WA Textile Museum

Other items from Embroiderers' Guild of WA Textile Museum

Knitted misers purse

Knitted misers purse

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