Wallet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A wallet is a small (usually pocket-sized) storage device used to keep personal items such as credit cards, cash, driver's licenses for frequent quick access. Wallets are generally made of leather or fabrics such as PVC. Some people who prefer carrying cash rather than cards use money clips, which are both small and simple.
Wallets are usually associated with men, as a woman's version is usually known as a purse (this differs from the American English "purse" which is elsewhere referred to as a handbag). Men's wallets are usually sized to fit in a pocket, while most women's purses are meant to be carried in a larger bag, such as a handbag.
Contents |
[edit] History
Wallets were developed almost immediately after the introduction of paper currency to the West in the 1600s. (The first paper currency was introduced in the New World by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1690.) Prior to the introduction of paper currency, purses (resembling simple drawstring leather pouches) were used for storing coins. Early wallets were made primarily of cow or horse leather and included a small pouch for printed calling cards.
The modern bi-fold wallet with multiple "card slots" achieved its uniform standard size in the early 1950s with the introduction of the first credit cards in 1951. Wallet design remained mostly unchanged throughout most of the late 20th century, while today wallet design has exploded into myriad shapes, designs, and colors from dozens of designers.[citation needed]
Some innovations include: the introduction of the velcro wallet in the 1970s.
[edit] Varieties
The key constraints on the design of a wallet are the need to hold bills and credit cards (if it does not contain them, it's more often classed as a type of money clip), and fitting into a pocket (or handbag).
- Breast wallet: a wallet where the bills are not folded; intended for mens' breast pocket (in a jacket, not a shirt), or for a handbag. These are elegant and flat, but too large for storage in a pant pocket
- Bi-fold: bills are folded over once; "standard" wallet; credit cards may be stored horizontally or vertically
- Tri-fold: this may be a bi-fold wallet with an extra fold, or the bills may be folded over twice (and credit cards are generally stored vertically)
Some wallets, particularly in Europe (where larger denominated coins are more prevalent) contain a coin purse.
Some wallets have built-in clasps or bands to keep them closed.
As European bills (Pounds, Euros) are larger than American bills, they don't fit in some smaller American wallets.
Beyond basic design, a wide variety of materials and designs is used.
[edit] Pickpockets
Pickpockets frequently target wallets, so some wallet owners attach them to their belts with small chains or place the wallet in an inside pocket which cannot be easily reached without the owner noticing. Another anti-pickpocket strategy is to replace the traditional leather wallet with one of the newer design thin wallets, effectively concealing the wallets location from would be pickpockets. Some travelers replace wallets with money belts, to further conceal and protect their belongings.
[edit] Unusual materials
Most wallets sold in stores are made of leather or fabrics, but some individuals create their own wallets from other materials that one can easily find around the house, such as duct tape and playing cards.
Another trend popular among graduate students and indigents is to use Crown Royal or other assorted bags as wallets. The tie strings may be wrapped around the bag to secure the wallet's contents. It is believed that these wallets are an homage to Ernest Hemingway, who would use various small bags in his travels[citation needed]. This approach has notable advantages and disadvantages. For example, many people fail to recognize that the bags are actually wallets and may contain important documents or items of monetary value. The stigmatism, however, of such bags often cause people to mistake them as dime bags or other containers which hold drug paraphernalia.
[edit] Designers of Wallets
Wallets are seen as a key fashion accessory and nowadays most major designer labels including Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Armani offer seasonal collections and also perennial collections (usually black and brown leather wallets). Within the UK, the most popular wallets are made by Paul Smith, Ted Baker, and Billabong. Within the US popular designers include Guess, Burberry and Fossil.
In addition there are a number of specialist designers that have collections of unique wallets include Ducti, who create wallets made from duct tape, J Fold, that offer a large range of colourful leather wallets, and Stewart-Stand, a New York design house that design wallets made from woven stainless steel.
[edit] Trivia
In May 1931, whilst directing his latest play Cavalcade at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the English actor, playwright and composer of popular music Noel Coward, lost a black leather wallet. Coward reported the loss to the theatre manager and offered a 10-shilling reward to anybody who found it. The theatre manager noted the offer of a reward together with a description of the wallet and its contents in his appointment diary. When he lost it, Coward’s wallet contained two five-pound notes, three one-pound notes and five ten-shilling notes. In addition to the money, Coward's wallet also contained several telephone numbers jotted onto scraps of paper. In February 1981 during pre-production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, American actor Henderson Forsythe found Noel Coward’s missing wallet stuffed inside of a broken tuba that had fallen upon him whilst he had been rummaging in a storage cupboard. The wallet contained the exact amount of money reported missing. Curiously, Coward’s wallet also contained a small studio photograph of disgraced former MP Horatio Bottomley. Before his death, Noel Coward had never publicly acknowledged any connection with Bottomley. The discovery of the wallet provoked speculation that Noel Coward had been planning a dramatic performance about Bottomley’s strange life. This speculation arose because at the time that Cavalcade was playing at the Theatre Royal, Bottomley was appearing in cheap music halls nearby, performing a bizarre one-man show about himself. Horatio Bottomley died in May 1933 and no record of a Coward penned musical about his life has ever been discovered.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Oscar G. Brockett & Franklin J. Hildy, History of the Theatre (9th Edition) (Allyn & Bacon, 2002),p.193.
