CROCHET, BAG

Misers’ purses were the most popular purse carried by Victorians, both men and women, from mid 19th century to 1910. This miser’s purse hand crocheted by the donor in Perth in 1996, was adapted from an 1887 pattern, published by the Nonotuck Silk Company.

The miser’s purse with glass seed beads is square at one end with beaded fringe and rounded at the other with a beaded tassel - different shapes for different coins gold or silver. Tubular in shape, it is 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.