The Mystery of the Metallic Shawls

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The Mystery of the Metallic Shawls 06/03/2012 by Camille Myers Breeze Sometimes a textile can be so intriguing that it haunts you until you find the answer of its mysterious origin and use. Nearly ten years ago, I taught two workshops in Mystic, Connecticut. At those workshops, volunteers from two different Southern Connecticut historical societies brought identical shawls, the origin of which no one present could identify. When I came across the same kind of shawl for sale at a flea market in Southern New Hampshire, I had the foresight to purchase it for the MTS study collection.

Image of an Asuit shawl in an online auction. After a bit of research I learned that these lovely textiles originate in Asuit, Egypt. Machine-made net was first introduced into the town of Asiut in the 19th century where it was transformed by the addition of folded metal strips. Their primary introduction into the US came from the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where they were sold in quantity as souvenirs.


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