Coin purse

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The construction of this coin purse is unusual; 19th-century coin purses were more often crocheted rather than knitted. The maker's name worked in beads and what is likely the owner's name on the frame offer a good document of Victorian craft making. The bag, which belonged to the donor's family, was probably created by a woman for a male friend. Margaret S. Bedell (1861-1932) donated, by gift or bequest, over 500 objects to the Brooklyn Museum, including furniture, quilts, samplers, costume and Native American beadwork. Her collection of American and European beaded bags includes examples from Philadelphia and the Catskill Mountain region of New York State, as well as Italy, Austria, Germany, and Holland.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art