Cupid's arrow must have really struck the maker of this charming reticule!
This purse is very early, dating between 1820 and 1840. It is a beaded reticule with a darling winged cupid holding a boquet of flowers. You can see it is riddled with holes and is missing the original lining and drawstring. Someone actually began to restore this purse many years ago by sewing in the back-patches needed to fill in the missing beadwork. Of course, they never got to replacing the beads. There were several of these patches all over the purse that had been meticulously stitched down, making their removal quite difficult. The patches were of a very white canvas fabric that showed through the original beadwork, and many of them were sewn on crooked, pulling the original beadwork our of alignment.
All in all, I repaired a total of 25 holes throughout this purse.
