Leather bag with tools, whistles, and shells

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

The object consists of a dark brown tooled leather bag with attachments of iron tools, wooden whistles, and cowrie shells. The bag is made from two pieces of leather. A large piece forms the front and back of the bag, and a narrow strip (about 2 cm. in width) is stitched between the front and back to create the bag’s thickness, as well as serving as a portion of the bag’s strap. Leather fringe with cowrie shells knotted onto some fringe ends is sewn into the front seam along the bottom. The narrow strip of leather extends above the bag about 20 cm. on each side. On the proper left side it is looped back on itself with a fringed leather strip attached to the end. Each element of the fringe ends in a cowrie shell, secured with a knot near the bottom.

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