A purse pretending to be a pineapple.
An English reticule dated around 1800 is knitted in yellow and green silk, with silver beads and tassels.
Source: Kyoto Costume Institute: Reticule, c.1800 ↗The cabinet of curious carryOdd bags.
Odd bags.
True stories.
Ten small discoveries, each with a museum source. More interesting than another “world’s most expensive bag” list.
Yes, there was a frog purse.
A seventeenth-century frog-shaped purse featured in the V&A’s Bags: Inside Out exhibition. Novelty accessories have a long past.
Source: V&A: About Bags: Inside Out ↗From fire hose to handbag.
The same exhibition included a bag made by Elvis & Kresse from decommissioned fire hoses.
Source: V&A: About Bags: Inside Out ↗Royal protection, in velvet.
Elizabeth I’s Great Seal burse protected the silver device that created wax seal impressions. It did not hold a crown.
Source: V&A: Elizabeth I’s Great Seal burse ↗A pocket could leave the outfit behind.
Tie-on pockets were independent of the clothing. You could take one off without removing the whole garment.
Source: V&A: Women’s tie-on pockets ↗Some old pockets were rather large.
The V&A describes many surviving examples measuring roughly 40 cm by 30 cm. Not every historical pocket was tiny.
Source: V&A: Women’s tie-on pockets ↗Travel labels become a biography.
Labels on Emilie Grigsby’s trunk record ocean travel and even a later journey to Japan by air.
Source: V&A: Trunks and travelling ↗A flat top solves a practical problem.
Flat-topped trunks can be stacked. The V&A credits Louis Vuitton’s introduction of this form to the French market in 1858.
Source: V&A: Trunks and travelling ↗A chestnut with a smaller chestnut inside.
Emily Jo Gibbs’s 1996 horse-chestnut bag is paired with a conker purse. Both appear in the V&A collection feature.
Source: V&A: What’s in the bag? ↗A message you could carry in 1825.
The V&A exhibition included an anti-slavery reticule from 1825, long before today’s slogan totes.
Source: V&A: About Bags: Inside Out ↗