What was the name of who made the wallets? Interesting facts about purses and wallets. Wallet in Ancient Rus'

As you know, for thousands of years, a variety of objects have served as money for humanity: shells, stones, knots on ropes, and God knows what else. And all this time a certain container for money was required.

Once upon a time, when neither pockets nor wallets had been invented, people carried money in the top of their boots or in their hats. Ladies hid coins in the folds of their clothes, and sometimes they made “decorations” from coins, for example, “beads” to wear around their necks...

The first wallets were more like bags, both in size and function. The Egyptians carried herbs, precious stones and other items needed in the future afterlife in such bags.

Among the Assyrians and Babylonians, the role of a wallet was played by special belt bags made of canvas. As a rule, they were not decorated in any way and were an attribute of exclusively men's costume. Later, they were adopted almost unchanged by the ancient Greeks, who tied the bags to the belt of their tunic and used them to carry coins issued in more than a thousand Greek cities.

The Romans made significant changes to the appearance of wallets. They not only used leather as a material for the first time and introduced the tradition of decorating wallets (in Rome they were often inlaid and decorated with embroidery), but also made the wallet an indispensable attribute of a woman’s costume.

But in Ancient China and Japan, wallets as such did not exist for quite a long time. The reason for this was the originality of the coins. They had holes in the center and were simply worn on a cord - leather or silk. Over time, belt pouches also began to play the role of wallets in these countries.

Often the role of a wallet was played by “through” - a thick leather travel belt with a lining, palm-wide, inside which the money was stored. It was fastened with a buckle, and sometimes also with a lock. A similar method of storing money was also known in the Middle East. There, not only money was carried in the folds of the belt, but even tobacco, small purchases and breakfast.

Among European wallets of the Middle Ages, there are many examples with a lyre-shaped frame. According to archaeologists, coins and weights for valuing precious stones were stored in them, as in Rus'. The “Saracenic pouches” brought by the crusaders from the East at the end of the 13th century were also very popular. As a rule, they were decorated with silver bells, enamel and miniature portraits.

Along with this, there were also wallets that were unusual in shape and purpose, such as an envelope-shaped wallet and an “omonier.” The first had numerous pockets sewn on the sides and was used to store whole coins, their scraps or weights, which were placed in the pocket separately from each other. The second was intended for alms. It was not customary to give alms from a regular wallet, since it was believed that otherwise the money would be transferred to the giver. However, during this period of time, the appearance of omoniers was practically no different from ordinary leather wallets for other money.

Since the 16th-17th centuries, belt wallets have become an attribute of predominantly women's fashion. They were worn under an overskirt, which had a special slit for convenience, and were intended not only for money, but for personal items: love letters, a miniature prayer book, keys, etc. In turn, the men's wallet has changed significantly after the appearance of clothes with pockets. The capacious wallets of the past have been replaced by small bags for storing round money. They just put them in their pocket. The first pockets were welted, trouser ones, but by the end of the 17th century, patch pockets also appeared, which were sewn to men's camisoles, and later to vests.

The word "wallet" appeared in the 17th century and originally meant "bag for papers." A wallet became synonymous with a wallet only in the 19th century, when paper money became widespread in Russia and Europe. Purses and wallets from the 19th century are of considerable interest. At the beginning of the century, oblong wallets with metal frames, as well as hexagonal and octagonal wallets, were in fashion. Men's wallets of that time had two compartments or pockets and a clasp. The basis of purses and wallets was thick paper or cardboard, covered with leather or white or colored satin. The outside of the wallets was decorated with beaded embroidery.

In the 1820-1830s. notebooks combined with a wallet were in fashion. These items are also found later, although much less frequently. But throughout the entire century, both in Europe and in Russia, coin wallets with a slit in the middle and two ring-clips have been used.
Alms purses continued to be used. The shapes and materials from which they were made were very diverse. There were wallets made of metal, beads, ceramics, etc., and the shape, as a rule, symbolized the intention of the giver. The heart personified sincerity and kindness, the seed - the good fruits that mercy brings. Often, moralizing inscriptions were made on wallets: “Alms are dear in times of poverty,” “The poor ask, but you give to God,” “If you want to have, give,” etc. After 1917, the tradition of making such wallets was interrupted, therefore, today omoniers can only be seen in museums and private collections.

The 20th century added a few more pages to the history of the wallet. Wallets with a button or clips, made factory-made from artificial materials or knitted and embroidered with beads with your own hands, and even coin holders, where coins of different denominations are inserted by pressing a finger. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, European and Russian designers have been offering the public a wide variety of leather models for many years, including exotic animals, often decorated with precious stones or Swarovski crystals. Styles and our preferences change, new materials appear. And it happens the other way around - the master turns to the traditions of the past and creates interesting, memorable products. Of course, this process does not imply a simple repetition of models that existed decades or centuries ago, but a creative rethinking of the experience of past masters. A similar example of a successful combination of traditions and innovations can be purses and handbags, so beloved by many.
The story of the wallet continues. Designers again and again surprise us with interesting finds, and all we have to do is choose from a huge variety of wallets the one that suits our mood, style and financial capabilities.

But there are also electronic wallets. But that is another story...

Every thing, small or large, has its own history, a long path of development and improvement. Some objects are so familiar that no one even thinks about how or who invented them. Small accessories continue to hold several thousand years of secrets and mysteries. One of the oldest objects created by man many centuries ago is an ordinary wallet.
The ancient Egyptians, very rational people by nature, used small bags to store money. In addition to coins, they contained essentials - healing herbs, oils, precious stones. Practical Babylonians sewed wallets from ordinary canvas in the form of bags and attached them to their belts. The Greeks also used fabric handbags, tightly tied to a strap on the chiton. Since money at that time was in the form of coins, the first wallets were the prototype of modern coin holders for change.

The Romans were the first to pay attention to the appearance of a wallet - the empire was a symbol of prosperity and wealth, so every attribute of clothing had to correspond to a high status. To make coin holders for coins, craftsmen decided to use leather, decorating the surface of the finished product with embroidery and precious stones. In addition, Roman women began to wear a wallet, previously considered an exclusively male accessory.
In the Land of the Rising Sun (Japan), the first money had a rather bizarre shape - coins with a hole in the center. At first, a durable leather or silk cord was used to store them, and a little later, like the Greeks, the Japanese preferred a belt pouch. At the same time, people in the Middle East hid valuables in padded travel belts. Between the folds of such a device, not only money, but also a small amount of food could easily be placed. In the 13th century, oriental belt wallets took the form of pouches decorated with bells and enamel plates.

In European countries, two types of wallets were invented - personal and for alms. There was a belief that a person who gives a coin to a poor person from his personal wallet gives away all his wealth with it. Therefore, small money was carried in an omonier - a leather bag that was attached to the belt of a 15th-century court dress. More valuable items were placed in a wallet shaped like an envelope, with a huge number of separate pockets.

In the 16th-17th centuries, belt wallets completely migrated into women's wardrobes. Tailors left a small hole in the overskirt, which was located above the hidden cache. Ladies used a handbag to store money, keys, a prayer book and other small items. Men's suits at that time for the first time acquired an important part - internal and sewn pockets; therefore, purses were significantly reduced in size and were used exclusively for louis d'or and doubloons.
In the 17th century, the term “wallet” appeared - a pocket briefcase for small documents. In 1661, when the first banknotes in Europe were issued in Stockholm (in Russia, paper money - banknotes - came into use in 1769 under Catherine II), the wallet began to be used in its modern meaning. The purse (from the French porter “to carry” and monnaie “money”) is another type of leather wallet of that time. Wallets for both men and women had two popular forms - double and triple folding.

At the beginning of the 19th century, great attention was paid to the appearance of wallets. The first to come into fashion were rectangular wallets with a metal frame, and a little later wallets with six and eight corners appeared. Basically, each wallet consisted of two compartments or pockets with a common clasp. Women's and men's purses were made of high quality leather, fitting a form made of thick cardboard. Sometimes instead of leather, craftsmen used plain or colorful satin. The surface of the product was usually embroidered with beaded patterns.
In 1820, purses combined with a notebook became popular, but only for a short decade. Due to the fact that in addition to banknotes, metal money was also present in everyday use, coin boxes were created - bags with two clip rings. Aumoniers were made from all kinds of materials - sewn from fabric, woven from beads, cast from metal. Sometimes religious inscriptions on the theme of compassion for the poor were made on the surface of such wallets. Unfortunately, the production of alms pockets stopped forever in 1917.

In the twentieth century, the wallet acquired the title of the main attribute of both men's and women's wardrobes. Nowadays, the accessory is made from more exotic types of leather - snake, ostrich, crocodile; the surface is decorated with engraving, embroidery with gold thread, crystals and rivets made of precious metals. The cost of the most expensive wallet in the world is $3.8 million. From us you can buy a high-quality purse made of genuine leather at much more reasonable prices.

The history of the birth of things is always attractive, since this history takes us to the roots of ancient artifacts, to the origins of the emergence of civilizations and material evidence of the emergence and development of human culture. It would seem that everything was always in order, as it is with you and me now. There have always been bags, and they have always been a purely feminine attribute and have always been divided clearly according to their purpose:
evening and elegant - for small items and cosmetics;
business and strict - for papers and documents;
practical, economic - for all kinds of purchases;
road ones - for everything at once.

But not everything is right that it seems to us. Bags, so necessary and familiar that “without them it’s like having no hands,” arose quite recently, about three centuries ago.

When did the modern bag appear?

The history of the modern bag began in the 17th century. But if you look deep into the centuries, you will discover an interesting fact: the bag was a purely masculine item, and not at all feminine. Especially a leather bag, an expensive, rare item, passed down from generation to generation by inheritance - from father to son. Leather has always been a rare and expensive material. Therefore, people did not always use leather bags. It would never occur to anyone to slaughter their own calf, nurse cow, or goat to make a bag or a pair of boots.

People used fabric bags, which were called differently, while remaining just shopping bags. That's what they were called - suma. But there was also a kitty, and a pocket, and a purse, and a bag, and also a katul, a purse, a knapsack, and this is not a complete list of names. It does not take into account the numerous dialectal and regional variations of the word "bag". Why are there such different names for one item?

When did the first bag appear? Bag, pouch, pouch.

The history of the birth of the bag is mysterious and not entirely clear. Its roots are lost in hoary antiquity, so distant and archaic that the myths of Ancient Greece reek of youthful naivety. What is clear is that the bag comes from one ancestor, namely the money bag. By the way, this is confirmed by linguistics. For example, in English, a handbag and a wallet are denoted by the same word - "purse".

Even before the ancient Greeks, the Assyrians and Babylonians had the custom of carrying money in specially sewn bags, tied with a strap or strong ribbon.

And this is what the magic bag of the ancient Greek hero Perseus looked like, who, judging by the surviving image on a red-figure vase, using an invisibility helmet and winged sandals, is going to escape from the persecution of Medusa’s sister Gorgon, thirsty for revenge.

This bag made of magical fabric, which took on the size and shape of the object that was in it, was given to Perseus by sea nymphs along with an invisibility helmet and sandals with wings.

Bag, kalyta, pocket, pouch, knapsack, purse, purse, bag - all these words once denoted a leather or fabric pouch or pouch in which money was stored and transported and which was hung from a belt or worn over the shoulder by a variety of people - merchants, beggar vagabonds, princes, artisans, nobles and peasants.

In search of the homeland of the bag, going on a journey through dictionaries, we learn that the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan I from the Rurik family received the nickname “Kalita”, which meant “bag of money”. The nobles who served at the court of this prince received the surname Kalitina. The word “kalita” itself is of Turkic origin, from the Turkic “kalta”, which also means “money bag, wallet”.

We learn that the word “pouch,” as a small bag for storing tobacco, tightened with a cord, is called, also came to us from the Turkic language. The name of this tobacco pouch is derived from the Turkic "kitty?" and meant "leather bag". But in Turkey, a pouch was a special, expensively made pouch for storing gold coins. Usually the Turkish Sultan presented pouches with money to his favorites. In Europe during the Crusades, it was known as the Saracen pouch.

Studying the history of such a familiar and necessary accessory in everyday life as a bag, we learn that the word “swindler” comes from the word “moshna” and meant a thief who knew how to deftly cut off a purse tied to his belt. This is what the prince's expensive purse looked like.

A purse, according to Dahl, is “a purse, a bag, a pouch, a money pouch, held or tied, private treasury, money, wealth.” In Rus', money was very heavy, and the purse had to be very durable, made of high-quality leather. The purse, which contained more than ten rubles, was quite weighty - several kilograms. The word moshna in its original meaning has survived to this day. Here are a few sayings collected by Dahl that are still relevant and used today:

Take out your purse and pay.
Take out your purse, empty your treasury!
Not in my head, not in my money.
The purse is thick, but the house is not empty.
And the money was great, and it was all gone.
It’s not tempting to pay from someone else’s money.
In someone else's purse - not in your own pot: you can't figure out where it's thick and where it's empty.
Someone else's purse, like someone else's conscience: darkness.

As already mentioned, the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians wore belt pouches for money. Only men carried them. The ancient Greeks and Romans wore such bags on the belt of their chiton. In the Ancient World, they also sewed special large bags or bags for storing large amounts of money even before our era, since the first money appeared in the form of bronze and iron coins, since a cloth or knitted bag was worn out and torn quite quickly, and this often threatened with the loss of his entire fortune. The tanned leather was soft and durable.

In medieval Europe, during the era of the Crusades, “Saracenic pouches” became widespread. And the larger and more voluminous such a money pouch was, the richer the person was. This is the origin of the expression “money bag”. At the court of the Duke of Burgundy, such a leather pouch for money was an obligatory part of the court toilet of gentlemen and ladies, and it was no longer called a Saracen pouch, but an omonier.

In late Gothic, entire collections of omoniers of various sizes appeared, which were worn at the waist. European women fastened the pouch to their belt and wore it under their overskirt, which had a special slit (the prototype of a modern pocket) to take out money. And, of course, it was the women who carried more than just money in their belt ommoniers. This fact marked the beginning of the modern bag, in which nowadays not only a wallet with money is carried, but also much more. European women carried necessary small things in Saracen bags, such as a small mirror, small keys to boxes, a comb and other small items.

Thus, we can assume that the modern bag originated from the banal Saracen pouch through the efforts of European fashionistas. In the 17th century, women began to wear embroidered, knitted, and wicker pouches, richly decorated with beads and bugles, although fashion changed quickly and radically: the bags were no longer hidden in pockets under the overskirt. Richly decorated with glass beads and beads, and for aristocrats with precious stones, they were displayed as a symbol of nobility and power. Money and other small things would still be carried in belt pouches if the great French Sun King Louis XIV had not invented the pocket. The first pocket in Europe in the modern sense appeared on His Majesty's doublet in the 17th century. Then, later, pockets appeared on vests, and then, with the advent of trousers, on trousers. And yet the bag, as we understand it, has been waiting in the wings for a long time.

So, in the 17th century, men acquired pockets and stopped wearing waist pouches. At the same time, women's bags as bags began to appear in Germany and the Scandinavian countries. It was a voluminous flat bag made of fabric or leather, attached to a metal rectangular frame. These bags were bulky, but were worn in the same way as belt bags - on the belt. In fact, it was not quite a bag yet, but a modernized belt bag. Such bags were a must for married women and housewives. They were often passed down through generations. Rich families used a silver frame and expensive fabrics; poorer houses were content with a copper or iron frame and inexpensive cloth or leather. At the same time, special women’s bags for prayer books began to appear, with which pious parishioners attended church. Men almost completely abandoned waist pouches and used exclusively pockets. Only inveterate gamblers and tobacco lovers continued to use small, beautifully decorated bags in the form of a rectangular frame. decorated, where they kept bones, card decks and snuff boxes. But these belt bags also began to look more and more like a cloth bag: expensive fabric was attached to a rectangular frame.

By the time of the French Revolution, the women's handbag appeared in the highest spheres of aristocratic circles. But there she retained the traditional shape of the ancient belt pouch. The fashion at court for an elegant women's handbag was introduced by the favorite of Louis XV, the Marquise de Pompadour. It was a handicraft bag made of velvet and lace. It had an important difference from a waist bag. It had long ribbon handles and became an accessory mandatory for every self-respecting la dame a la mode. A miniature handbag in the shape of a bag tied with a ribbon is still called a “pompadour”, although it is better known as a reticule, as this handicraft handbag in which threads and needles were stored was called by contemporaries of the marquise: reticule, from the Latin reticulum, which translates as “mesh”.

The fashion for handbags for handicrafts instantly spread from high-society salons to bourgeois living rooms. The demand for handbags has increased. But simultaneously with the massive demand, new, more democratic requirements for a tiny reticule appeared. In an environment where embroidery and sewing were considered the most decent activities for a woman, the work bag became flat and rectangular. Such bags were made of satin, richly decorated with embroidery, and decorated with glass beads, tassels and ribbons. The bag demonstrated the ingenuity and skill of the owner, since most often it was made with her own hands. Such a demonstration acquired particular importance during a wedding, for which the bride prepared a special wedding handbag. The increased demand for handicraft bags has also generated an increased supply of the market. The luxury industry began to actively develop, with numerous handicraft workshops producing fashionable reticules for sale. This is how the mass production of handbags for handicrafts appeared, although at first handicraft.

In the 19th century, due to the greater democratization of aristocratic circles, many other types of handbags arose. Bags for handicrafts faded into the background, but very miniature ones appeared, which were intended specifically for visits. They couldn't fit anything except business cards. Other types of handbags have appeared, more functional. For example, luxurious evening bags included a fan and a ball notebook (carnet de bal).

Theater bags contained a fan, lorgnette or theater binoculars. Usually evening and theater bags were also equipped with a pocket for a bottle of perfume and a tiny coin purse for change. The techniques used to make them were very diverse and often such handbags were a real work of art. The most popular handbags were made from satin, brocade or tapestry fabric. Sometimes fabric with a thematic, genre or landscape pattern was woven to special order, sometimes decorated with embroidery or beads. Among the varieties of ancient beads there were so small that even special needles with a diameter of 0.2-0.3 mm turned out to be too thick for their holes.

The handbag remained such an accessory for ladies of high society, ladies from the middle nobility and bourgeois circles until the disappearance of rigid social classes. The democratization of the masses has given rise to a massive demand for bags. In addition, the liberated masses became interested in tourism and travel, which was previously available only to the rich and aristocrats. The fashion for travel and tourism at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries gave birth to a luggage bag. This travel bag has become that integral item of European wardrobe, which we call a bag. You don't need fancy handbags to travel. The handbag remained a decorative accessory, a must, for example, for theatergoers, but it now has a dynamic clone in the form of a travel, business and functional bag. The process of women's emancipation also affected this. In 1896, the house of Louis Vuitton presented the world with its first luggage collection with its famous LV logo. From this moment on, luggage powerfully invades the sphere of fashion, and a woman's handbag constantly balances on the line between a purely secular accessory and a traveling bag. In addition to the handbag itself (purse, reticule), a more capacious variety of “handbag” has appeared in women’s everyday life.

In the modern understanding, a bag is a haberdashery product, not only functional, but also an emotionally charged, elegant, fashionable accessory. A modern bag is both something that adorns a woman along with virtue and a little black dress (as the great Coco Chanel said), and something that is pragmatic and useful for men.

What exactly do you know about your wallet?
Of course, many will answer that it is intended for storing money, where it was purchased and how old it is.

However, wallet history very long. For many centuries, a wide variety of objects served as money for people: stones, shells, beads, knots on ropes and much more. And all this needed some kind of container for storage and movement.
There was a time when a person did not have pockets on his clothes, no one had yet invented a wallet, and tailors did not sew bags. In that era, it was customary to hide money in the tops of boots and under hats.
Beads were often made from coins and simply hung around the neck, and ladies, whose clothes were already quite luxurious at that time, hid banknotes in folds between the fabric.

In Ancient Rus', a wallet was a fabric or leather bag, tied at the top with a special cord. At that time, money functioned only in the form of coins, and this form of wallet was very convenient. Rich princes and boyars wore wallets made of expensive fabrics: brocade, silk, velvet, which were decorated with embroidery, precious stones, and so on.

This irreplaceable thing has been extremely popular in Rus' since the 11th century. This is exactly the thing that archaeologists discovered in Novgorod and thanks to it this date was established. As a rule, such “wallets” contained not only money, but also special folding scales with small weights. They were intended so that the owner could accept not only money as payment, but also precious stones and metals, having previously made an assessment.

In Ancient Egypt, the wallet had a shape resembling a fabric bag that was attached to its side. Images of such wallets can be found on frescoes. Such a wallet served not only as a “house” for money, but also as a repository for precious stones and, often, herbs.

In Ancient China and Japan, a cord served as a wallet. The fact is that in those days, coins did not have a face value, but were distinguished by holes made in the center of the coin. The lace was simply passed through holes, and the value could only be determined by weight.

Only the Romans thought of using leather to make wallets. People decorated their wallets not only with embroidery, but also with stones, often precious ones. From such a wallet one could determine a person’s wealth. At this time, the wallet became an important decoration for the fair half of humanity. It was in Ancient Rome that wallets for women became not only the main decoration and fulfilled their direct function, but also served as a cosmetic bag.

In the Middle Ages, wallets began to be made in different shapes, presented in lyre-shaped frames, which were covered with all kinds of fabrics, embroidered with precious threads. Purses and wallets appeared in Rus' in the 17th century. They were designed to hold paper bills.

Today, this accessory is an integral part of every modern person. To make modern wallets, a variety of leathers are used: crocodile, snake, ostrich, stingray and many others.

By the way, the wallet is perfect as a gift. Just remember that you should never give it empty. The wallet does not tolerate emptiness, both in terms of signs and in its functionality. Here is a useful tip for purchasing a wallet: when you buy this accessory for yourself, make sure that the bills in it are located comfortably and do not wrinkle or bend. Black, brown and all shades of metals are ideal for a wallet: silver, bronze, gold, as well as all shades of yellow.

However, history does not stand still. And today a new type of wallet has appeared - an electronic wallet.

A wallet, as a thing in which we keep money, appeared a very, very long time ago - more than 1000 years ago. The word itself has a Greek root and translated means “box” or “basket”. From the very beginning of their invention, women's wallets, like men's ones, were intended for carrying valuables, coins, paper bills and everything else, since there were no bags then.

First wallets

The first prototypes of wallets were bags on special ropes that were hung on the belt. Such models were worn by everyone, regardless of gender. Later, women began to wear wallets around their necks. After this, this accessory also acquired decorative significance.

In Europe, the first wallets were called “omoniers”. They began to be used in the distant Middle Ages. In addition to storing money in them, they were also used as a bag in which one could find religious relics, various small items, jewelry and many other things.

Wallet in Ancient Rus'

The use of wallets in Ancient Rus' began at the end of the 11th century. The name itself has Old Slavic roots, because it was used for a long time in the variant “cat”. Then it was sewn from genuine animal skin or fabric and always tied with a cord at the top, so it looked like the same bag. Since in that era there was only metal money, this form was the most suitable and convenient.

The fabric from which the wallet was made always spoke of the status of the owner himself. For example, products made of velvet, brocade and silk - expensive and noble fabrics, decorated with precious stones and embroidery, could only be afforded by rich boyars and princes. Ordinary people used products made from canvas fabric. In size and purpose, such accessories were no different from their European counterparts.

Modern wallets

Today, the appearance, as well as the contents of wallets, has changed a lot in comparison with ancient times. In a modern wallet store you can see a variety of models made of leather or fabric, flat, square or rectangular, which are designed to carry paper banknotes, plastic cards, coins, SIM cards, keys and other things.

Women's wallets, in addition to functionality, should also be both a stylish accessory in the wardrobe and a complement to the overall look of a lady. The most fashionable today are, of course, wallets made of genuine leather. Manufacturers pamper women with a varied color palette and all sorts of original designs, so among the wide range, any buyer will certainly be able to find something for themselves.