A Well-Used, Well-Repaired Hemp Bag: Beautiful Inside and Out

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
20" x 10 1/4", 51 cm x 26 cm

This is a thickly woven hemp bag that is well-worn and very repaired with cotton patches.

It is shown inside-out in the first round of photos here and the last two show the bag as it was meant to be seen. It is a toss up as to which of the two sides is more appealing to the eye.

The bag has a characteristic hemp cording attached to it and when seen as it would have been used we can notice some faint handwriting to the surface.

The original purpose of this bag is unknown however bags such as this were often used for tools or implements and by the amount of patching to the inside of the bag it would not be a surprise to learn this is true in this case.

Rough and beautiful.