This beaded wedding coin purse shows the Peranakan love for ornamentation. The beads used are mostly very tiny pieces, some as small as 0.05mm in diameter. The purse itself is also very small and usually less than 15cm in length. It is also very flat. This purse uses raised gold and silver metallic threads in high relief and is adorned with floral motifs. Pocket shaped wedding purses were made specially to be attached to beaded or embroidered belts. A purse like this would have been part of the wedding trousseau and was usually made in advance by the bride herself. Due to its small size, the purse served little other function. However, an empty coin pouch was considered a bad omen. As such, token sums of money, usually in pairs of coins would be placed inside to prevent any misfortune from happening.
