I’ve collected a number of miser’s purses and sold quite a few over the years. I’ve read 19th century ladies’ magazines with descriptions of miser’s purses and knitting and crocheting instructions. But I’ve never come across a purse like this one.
This is a magnificent miser purse. It is huge. I was told it was called a “dancer’s purse” but I don’t know why it would be called such.
The color is dark or Navy blue and cut steel beads decorate it throughout. Both ends are shaped the same. The fringe is formed of strung steel beads looped at two different lengths.
The purse is formed of crochet stitches with the same size thread and needle that would be used in the usual size purse but is enormous in comparison. The purse, when laid out straight measures about 36” long PLUS 1 ½” of fringe at each edge. The opening is 16” long and the center section measures about 3 ½” wide. (I tried to keep it from stretching, as is the nature of crochet.) The two sliding rings are much larger than the usual, and this leads me to believe that maybe purses of this size were more common that I think.
Condition issues are few and minor. On one end, one of the longer loops of steel beads is missing from the fringe. I’m not sure but it looks like the thread the beads were on remains and is tied here. There is a small hole that I tried to photograph and a couple of loose threads but no apparent damage. This might be where a new thread was joined. There is rust on one of the rings that might be able to be removed with fine steel wool, but this will be left to the discretion of the purchaser. There are some areas of rust on some of the steel beads in the rows near the center, probably where the rings were left over the past few decades of storage.
Overall, the condition is excellent and sturdy.
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