A GROUP OF SEVENTEEN FRENCH VELVET AND METAL-THREAD GAMING PURSES

The seventeenth century saw the increasing popularity of card games all over Europe. Card games were common in all social classes, but gambling with cards, or gaming, was particularly fashionable in aristocratic circles where it quickly became an addictive past-time for both men and women. Gaming had its own fashionable accouterments with the most iconic of them all being the gaming purse, which was essentially a small bag to hold one’s coins or counters won in games such as "Put" or "La Bête." Made of luxurious fabrics like velvet or brocade, and often richly decorated, these purses not only had a practical role at the games table but were also indicators of their owners’ wealth, class and personal style.