I was on an art market in Schleswig in February; it was in an old cloister. The building was gorgeous; it had beautiful corners, corridors and wall paintings. And the stands were spread out over the whole building. A great atmosphere ! Most of us, including me, did not sell much because this was the first time this market was organized and not many people did know about it. But it was pretty interesting and we had a lot of fun. At one moment, two older ladies came up to me and asked me if I also repaired old bags. I said that I would always do my best if I could, and they vanished again. One hour later they were there again and they opened a small paper bag with what they said was an old tobacco bag. It belonged to the grandmother of one of the ladies who got it as a wedding gift. That sounded a bit strange to me to give a tobacco pouch to a bride, so when they opened the bag, I did not see a tobacco bag, but the most gorgeous little money bag ! In english it is called a miser bag.
This type of little Victorian money bag has a curious shape and a curious name. Long and narrow, with single small pouches at either end (one for coins and one for paper money), there is a narrower neck in the middle with a slit, and two rings gathering it closed. They were often crocheted or knitted, often with tiny beads, they were carried in the hand or pinned within the garment or slung over the waistband with one pouch exposed. They are called miser bags because of the restricted way you got access to your money; you had to slide the ring away from the pouch and then get two fingers inside the slit opening; "if you were a miser you pulled out only one coin at a time".
I knew about these type of money bags, but I had never seen them in real life, and there it was laying in my hands. The most gorgous turquoise colour with black and silver beads. The fringe of one of the pouches was damaged, but that was all; the bag itself was in a tip top condition ! Not difficult for me to decide if I could repair this jewel of a bag; I took it home and repaired the fringes; they came out a bit shorter than at the other pouch, because some of the beads were missing, and I could nowhere find such tiny beads (much smaller as the normal sized rocailles or seed beads). I had to use a special very thin needle that I inherited from my mum to string these beads. The result was beautiful, and the lady was so happy, and I was happy that I was asked to do this. Can you imagine ?
Just before it left my home, I took pictures; difficult because of the silver, but you get an idea (click on the pictures to see the miser bag larger):
