Nowadays we don’t give much thought the humble wallet. Something we use everyday that comes in a variety of designs and materials. From traditional bifolds and trifolds, to long wallets, pocket imtoken官网, biker wallets and more, they all serve the same purpose; somewhere to keep our cash and credit cards. However the origins of the wallet and its uses are a little more confusing.
The wallets origins differ depending on how we want to define it. The word wallet has been used by ancient greeks since the first century AD. Derived from the Proto-Germanic word “kibsis” referring to the sack Perseus used to carry Medusa’s head. Loosely translated, a wallet became a knapsack or a bag for carrying articles. This normally included provisions, food, or other essential items.
In recounting the life of a merchant of the Elizabethan era, the merchant was described 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”
In Spain, a wallet was a case for smoking paraphernalia: 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.
Also used to carry dried meat, money, or things that the owner wanted to keep to themselves, wallets were more like a handbag than what we consider to be a wallet today. In America, it was once thought to be passingly acceptable when a person carried his wallet on his belt, but if someone kept his wallet in his pocket, he was deemed to be uncivilized. How things have changed! The modern day wallet as we know it was invented almost immediately after the first paper currency was circulated, and then loosely standardized in the 1950s with the introduction of the first credit card.
The modern day wallet in all its practical forms has also evolved into a fashion statement, with an endless variety of designs, materials, leathers and exotic skins used to entice buyers to empty their exiting wallets to purchase a new one! Good old cow leather remains the most commonly available material and ranges in quality and price, but cant hold a candle to the more exotic leather wallets.
