Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

French Antique Guessing Game

Brocante-guessing-game

What are these nineteen century, hand-crocheted things with silver rings on them?

Do you know?

Guessing-game 

These "things" are hard to find (I do not like to say that expression, "hard to find", because when I do say, "Oh that is a hard to find piece," to someone who is looking for it, I usual eat my words when I find it the next day with the person standing right by me. "Corey isn't this that hard to find piece? Look here they are! Not just one but fifty thousand of them for two cents a piece!"

Hello, Ding Dong Corey, that is me with my foot in mouth gulping hard.

Guess-what 

In retrospect maybe I should say that is a "hard to find" piece towards the things I am looking for, then maybe I would find them, all fifty thousand for two cents a piece!

Anyway, What are these nineteen century, hand-crocheted things with silver rings on them?

Take a guess in the comment section.

The first person to guess correctly with the name of the object will win an antique prize from my shop, and the first person who gives the most creative answer will also win a prize from my shop.

You can answer more than once. The winners will be announced tomorrow. These nineteen century, hand-crocheted things with silver rings on them are about eight to ten inches long.

Good Luck!

Comments

43 responses to “French Antique Guessing Game”

  1. Gina

    I have been to Scotland where the people are cracking.
    I have seen Scottish men in kilts and wondered if they are chilly.
    I imagine their loving grandmama’s click-clacking.
    and knitting cosy coverings for their ….

    Reply
  2. Paulita

    Well, the obvious guess would be curtain tie-backs. But I think they would make nice French cat collars. Tighten the ring just enough so that it fits around the cat’s neck, then the rest flies back behind the cat as he scurries through the house trying to pull it off because he doesn’t want to be a fashionable French cat.

    Reply
  3. Karen

    Are they bell-pulls?

    Reply
  4. Juliette

    But Gina…The rings are to small.. (as far as I could be concerned), lol!

    Reply
  5. Lilly

    My guess is, antique knit draft guard. You put them along the bottoms of doors to keep the cold winter drafts out…

    Reply
  6. Julie M ~ The Little Red Shop

    Ding Dongs?
    : }
    Jullie M.

    Reply
  7. Linda C.

    Thanks Gina for the almighty laugh!

    Reply
  8. Carol L

    Hi Corey,
    I’m pretty sure they are called “misers purses” and carried money and then hung over your belt.

    Reply
  9. Sharon, Morrison Mercantile

    hat, some kind of cover for one’s head?

    Reply
  10. Margaret

    They do look like miser purses.
    Cheers,
    Margaret B

    Reply
  11. Jackie

    I think they look like purses, the kind that go over a belt.
    jackie
    bliss farm antiques

    Reply
  12. Natasha Burns

    I think Carol L is right!

    Reply
  13. Jennifer

    I believe they are miser purses.

    Reply
  14. jeannine

    My first thought is that they look to come from a court jester’s hat 🙂 I could use one of those today for some entertaining I must do!!
    LOVE the little Scottish ditty!!! What a hoot!!!

    Reply
  15. Cheryl ~ Casual Cottage Chic

    Late in my answer but as already guessed they are miser purses. Miser’s purses were used through most of the 19th century to hold coins. Some purses had different colored silks or beads on each end to differentiate what coins were in each pouch, others had a round pouch on one end and a square one on the other.But I love Gina’s creative answer 😉

    Reply
  16. Lorelei

    I believe these are crocheted or knitted carry-alls/totes. You would place your knitting inside or those wonderful “hard to find” items from the Brocante and tote them home. If they are longer they would hold the daily loaves of bread.

    Reply
  17. Everton Terrace

    I thought they were those old belt/sash things they used to wear just under they chests but from the photo I guess they are too small. Gina’s is a good one!

    Reply
  18. Ana María

    Oh Corey! Those are clearly miser purses – and I’ve got at least fifty thousand of them lying around my house!
    But seriously… they do look like miser purses, also called long purses, stocking purses, or ring purses. These were popular in England and France from the mid-18th century through the early 20th century and carried by both men and women.
    According to one Internet source: “Their fast and easy construction meant that they were made in the thousands, and are therefore easily available to collectors.” – Oh, oh!

    Reply
  19. Elizabeth

    They started as octopus carriers made for the royal court. Eventually the octopus trend became so popular that everyone HAD to have one, which is why there are so many. To use them you put the octopus in, and then slid the rings down over their legs to keep them from wiggling around while you were traveling to and from octopus play dates.

    Reply
  20. Julie Ann Evins

    Early Missoni headbands – 1st collection ! Jx

    Reply
  21. georgie

    Bags to put your delicate fabrics/laces in for handwashing. Or…onion keepers for the kitchen/cellar. Yet again Gina has me laughing with her poem.

    Reply
  22. Marilyn

    The rings were put on the miser purses so unwanted hands could not reach into the purse and grab the money. So I must go along with others and say a miser purse.

    Reply
  23. Merry

    Oh no … I finally KNOW something and I’m late! Yes … they are miser’s purses … but Gina is clearly on to something … Scottish willy woolies? (I’m too old for this – shame on me!)

    Reply
  24. le petit cabinet de curiosites

    I’m lucky with your last guessing games . I know the answer of this one ,too . This is a porte Louis d’or ( a kind of purse) . But I also love the answer about missoni headband
    Bisous

    Reply
  25. DanaSmith

    My dirty mind is way too late………lol

    Reply
  26. Leslie

    Maybe an old-fashion handmade fly swatter…just a funny quess at that…but I bet it would work really good…thats my creative mind working for a minute today.

    Reply
  27. Lizbeth

    Hahahaha, Gina!
    This item was used as a sling-shot for money to be sent down from an upper apartment to a waiting tradesman. It could also be used as a sling-shot for tomatoes one wished to send down on the heads of passing politicians.

    Reply
  28. DEBRA

    Curtain tie backs:)
    ~Debra
    Blog:Capers of the vintage vixens

    Reply
  29. Barb

    This was attached to a bell, to ring the servants?

    Reply
  30. Di

    A miser purse…
    Diana from San Francisco

    Reply
  31. Bramble

    I too thought it was a miser purse but never thought of the “Scottish” answer! You lasies are a saucey bunch and I think you
    are a HOOT!

    Reply
  32. Betsy

    Yup, miser’s bags. I remember making them as a Girl Scout in Western Pennsylvania in the 1960s from red bandanas and white plastic cafe curtain rings. Our shorts and trousers didn’t have big enough pockets, so we made our own. Somewhere in this house is a box that was packed by my mother (to clear my stuff out of her house) of badge sashes, brown beanie, who knows what else, and one of those red pouches.

    Reply
  33. Nancy

    Ah, as a registered nurse, I can tell you that they are penal slings. They are used primarily after prolonged periods of “enjoyment” by men who never had that “4 hour erectile problem” with Viagra. Some guys are a bit weaker than others, apparently. You do not see them used much any more since plastic ones have become more popular. 😉

    Reply
  34. mopsy

    well I was going to guess that men wrap it aroung their waist from the back to the front and secure it with the silver circle then re-dress and impress their girl friends with their new “package” …but I thought “maybe not”

    Reply
  35. Mahala

    They look like Miser bags.

    Reply
  36. Mahala

    You could probably even wrap them around your ankle to keep it warm. 🙂

    Reply
  37. Kristin

    I think it is a kerchief. Like for a group or club, boyscouts etc…

    Reply
  38. Gypsythreads.wordpress.com

    Well, it is very clear to me what these are! They are bread keepers. See, as the loaf becomes smaller you simply slide the ring down, thereby keeping the cut end of the bread fresh!

    Reply
  39. DeeDee Clark

    This is called a miser purse. It was carried over a lady’s belt. You could access the cash on each end by moving the rings to one end or the other.

    Reply
  40. Jonathan from Napa, CA

    Circus elephant dental flossers. The ring is to put over the eye tooth so the beast can’t see what you are doing.
    Jonathan from Napa, CA

    Reply
  41. Karon

    In Scotland this would be called a cheapskate purse, or in other places a Misers Purse. It hung over the belt.
    All best
    Karon

    Reply
  42. Eileen

    My internet research supports the Miser’s Purse “guesses”.

    Reply
  43. Barbara

    How about 19thc lanyards?

    Reply

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