TOKEN OF LOVE
Purses used for carrying coins used in Ottoman times were in the form of pouches closed by drawstrings. Even tinier ones were also made for holding seals and circular ones for watches, so forming sets set of three. Likewise a tobacco pouch was made for cigarette smokers. Men always carried these pouches about with them. The money and tobacco pouches were usually carried under the sash they tied around their waists or in their pockets. Slender young men tied the strings of their leather tobacco pouches around their wrists, and their seal pouches around their necks on a thin cord. The watch pouch was hung on a metal chain around the neck and placed in the pocket or in the sash. This silver or gold chain and the watch in the pouch constituted a man’s jewellery. This way purses and pouches with a functional role were at the same time ornamental. These beautifully crafted ornaments were like tokens of a woman’s skill, belief, tradition and the love she felt for her man. It was as if these tiny purses embellished with colourful patterns stressed the importance of the artistic and spiritual as opposed to the material wealth and power represented by money, seal and