posted 04-07-2008 06:55 PM            

Inspired by Scott's beautiful slide presentation of my card cases, I bought two more cases. I don't want to ask Scott to update the slide show yet, just in case my card-case-buying fit isn't over (though it had better be soon, or my bank account will really hate me). So I thought I would share these in a thread.

First, a typical bit of Japanese-inspired Aesthetic-style engraving, with a swallow flying over some bits of greenery on one side and a calling card against grains and foliage on the other. I was amused by the self-reference (a calling-card case with a picture of a calling card on it!) and by the mix of styles--dig those Classical palmiers and Egyptian lotuses (or are they papyrus?) bordering the Japanese bird and plants. It's marked simply Sterling and 7.

The other I bought after a visit to the Rococo show at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (which I highly recommend). It's unmarked, but I believe it's by Leonard & Wilson of Philadelphia in the late 1840s. (If anyone knows differently, please correct me!) It's embossed and slightly engraved, with Rococo foliage on one side and NYC's Trinity Church on the other:

posted 04-07-2008 09:49 PM            

These are wonderful...and I enjoyed your slideshow, too. Are the sizes on these standard? And would any of them accommodate modern business cards?

posted 04-08-2008 12:40 AM            

No, most of them are a few millimeters too small for modern business cards. Either they don't close properly, or they mush the card. The biggest one in my collection, the silverplate one with the birds, does fit standard cards, and credit cards too, but it's not a convenient size and weight for carrying around.

Someday I'm planning to get special cards made to match the outline of one of my scalloped cases. But I still don't see how I'll bring myself to carry it around in a bag with keys and so on.

posted 08-03-2008 10:39 PM            

First, a definite card case, my latest acquisition. Blame my parakeet and parrotlet. I saw this card case that shows Hebe feeding ambrosia to Zeus in the form of an eagle, and I had to have it:

It's unmarked, but I believe it must be by whoever made my Trinity Church case (see above), because the backs are identical, except for the monogram:

posted 08-03-2008 10:54 PM            

It's unmarked, but it came to me in a lovely fitted leather case stamped "C.H. Preusser & Bro. Jewelers Milwaukee." There's quite a bit of info about Mr. Preusser at this site: Men of Progress. Wisconsin. (pages 417-451)

It's engraved on the front, "From Will. to Hattie. Christmas 1866," and on the back, "Mrs. W. S. Bininger." I wasn't able to find anything about Will & Hattie Bininger, but I assume someone better at that kind of research probably could.

It's 3 1/4 inches wide at its widest, and about 2 inches high, but you couldn't really keep a card in it that was more than 2" x 1 1/2". That's what makes me think it really is a coin purse.

posted 08-03-2008 11:04 PM            

It's made of woven steel wire, which I believe is called Sileseian wire work. If there are any wire work experts reading this, I hope you'll chime in! This somewhat mysterious stuff was made in Germany, or France, or England, depending on who you ask, in the early-to-mid 19th century. I have a few other pieces of it, earrings and a couple of brooches. It rusts if you so much as look at it sadly, so it's rare to find it in good condition. This purse has a green paper (??) backing behind the steel wire, and its inner compartments
are made of fuschia silk.

The mark--a W or perhaps VW--is followed by the word "BREVETE," which means patent in French, I believe--so perhaps this purse is French.

It came with a little slip of paper inside it that said, "63 years old in 1927."

If anyone has any more information about this purse in particular, or Silesian wire work in general, I would be grateful to hear it.

posted 11-05-2017 05:33 PM            

I'm delighted with my latest, a figural purse by Whiting, c. 1870s I would say, in the shape of a portmanteau:

The silk moire lining is ripped and worn, but such a pretty color:

If anyone wants to see closer views of any of the others, I'll take requests!