Wikipedia Additions

(Verifiable research by Braithwaite Wallets, Inc.)

2009-07-09

Wallet usage in ancient times:

The classicist, A.Y. Campbell, set out to answer the question, "What, in ancient literature, are the uses of a wallet?"  He deduced, as a Theocritean scholar, that "the wallet was the poor man's portable larder; or, poverty apart, it was a thing that you stocked with provisions."  He found that sometimes a man may be eating out of it directly but the most characteristic references allude to its being "replenished as a store".

Wallet usage in the Renaissance:

As metals became increasingly used as currencies, it seems that wallets took shape to include these coins, and in some cases, statements of accounts.

In recounting the life of the Elizabethan merchant, John Frampton, Lawrence C. Wroth describes the merchant as, "a young English-man of twenty-five years, decently dressed, ..., wearing a sword, and carrying fixed to his belt something he called a 'bowgett' [or budget], that is, a leathern pouch or wallet in which he carried his cash, his book of accounts, and small articles of daily necessity"

2009-04-19

Regarding wallet usage in the 19th century:

"Wallet" was originally a term for any sort of satchel, bag, pouch, or pocket that was used to a carry personal effects.  In addition to money or currency, they would also be used for carrying dried meat, victuals, "treasures", and "things not to be exposed".  It was considered "semi-civilized" in 19th century America to carry one's wallet on one's belt. Ironically, at this time, carrying  goods or a wallet in one's pocket was considered uncivilized and uncommon.

Native North Americans would fashion a wallet out of the contiguous skin of a small animal by cutting off its head and removing the innards from the resulting neck opening.  After tanning the inside of the animal's hide, it would result in a seamless leather pouch referred to by the jesuits as wallets.

In 19th century Spain, every man would carry a small sheaf of white paper in addition to a small leather wallet which would contain a flint and steel along with a small quantity of so-called yesca, being a dried vegetable fibre which a spark would instantly ignite.