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1971-3464,7, Sheath
Knitting Needle Sheath
1971-3464,7, Sheath

Knitting Needle Sheath

Date1800-1820
OriginEurope
MediumSilver
DimensionsOL 2 in.
Credit LineGift of Anonymous Donors
Object number1971-3464,7
DescriptionSilver knitting needle sheath in the shape of a fish. Has a hollow tube on the back and the initials "EC".
Label TextStitched in Time:
What sort of tools might a woman need in her needlework pursuits? Retail advertisements throughout the 18th and 19th centuries often group the fiber arts accoutrement, including sewing and knitting needles, scissors (both with their respective cases), buttons, awls or punches, thimbles, thread, pins, knitting sheaths, and more. Like needlework, these practical tools were often decorative.

In 1819, new mother Lucy Clark Allen bemoaned the disorganization of her own needlework tools as she started a new project. She wrote, "where is my work all this time? When I go to sit down to it, my thimble is under one chair, my scissors under another, my needle is lost or stuck into a far distant part...and by the time I have collected all my materials, down it must go again."
Markings"E.C." on back
ProvenancePrior to 1951, Gertrude Whiting (New York, NY); 1951, to Roy Everett Tomlinson and Eleanor Parsons (Montclair, NJ); 1971, given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)