Thimble, silver and cornelian, England, 1780-1820

Before the advent of factory-produced clothing, sewing, knitting and other textile crafts were important skills, especially for women. Thimbles were often given to women as sentimental gifts as they symbolised female industriousness and virtue. Many simply displayed an attractive pattern, while others commemorated personal events, such as marriage, and public occasions like royal coronations.

Until 1870, married women in Britain were legally unable to own property independently of their husbands. Small, portable objects, such as those shown here, were often the only things they could call their own. Many were highly decorative and intricately made. Some had personal or romantic significance, or indicated the wealth and status of their owners.

This example is engraved with the initials NP in a crest on the side. This example has a row of flowers in sharp relief at its base similar to bright cut engraving on other larger pieces of silver. The history of home sewing ebbed and flowed with the history of manufacturing and mass production. Until the late 1600s, hand tools such as thimbles and scissors were produced by skilled artisans in small workshops.

During the eighteenth century, advances in industry encouraged the growth of larger factories that could produce these goods in greater numbers and to a more consistent standard. This brought their cost down and put them within reach of a much wider market.

Ironically, it was the efficiency and quality of mass production that would eventually decrease demand for sewing tools, as factory-made clothing and linen replaced home-sewn goods in the late nineteenth century.