Images(2)

Purse

Date1816

OriginEurope or Great Britain; worn in America, Virginia, Fredericksburg

MediumSilk, leather, steel, and ink

DimensionsOverall: 2 × 3in. (5.1 × 7.6cm)

Credit LineGift of the Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA

Object number2023-233

DescriptionVery small purse. Front, back, and top flap of peach or pink colored silk glued to thin leather. The front, top, and, flap edges bound in white metal band. White metal oak leaf motif applied to the front and top flap. Flap closes with a small steel clasp. The interior is divided into two pockets.
Label TextAccording to donor history, this small purse was given to Elizabeth Sedden Hazlegrove (1793-1874) by Elizabeth Brown Wallace (1795-1877). The purse was a wedding gift; Wallace was one of Hazlegrove's bridesmaids when she married Abner Roane Alcocke in Spotsylvania County, Virginia in 1816.
InscribedSigned on the interior flap "Eliza B. Wallace"
ProvenanceMay 16, 1816 given to Elizabeth Seddon Hazelgrove Alcocke [1793-1874] by Elizabeth Brown Wallce [1795-1877](Culpeper County, VA); by descent to Elizabeth Brown Wallace [1795-1877](Culpepper County, VA); probably by descent to Howson Hooe Wallace Jr [1830-1892](Culpepper County, VA); by descent to daughter Elizabeth Brown Wallace Blanton (1860-1941)[Culpepper County, VA); to descent to son Howson Wallace Blanton [1992-1958](Richmond, VA); by descent to daughter Elizabeth Wallace Blanton Starbuck [1920-1993](Richmond, VA); 1986 donated to The Valentine Museum (Richmond, VA); 2023 transferred to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation