the 1920s. Owned by Oonah
Kingsley Neill.
I’ll let you in on a secret – I’m a sucker for animal purses. Whether it's wicker dogs, beaded cats or celluloid animals, I love them all. So when I spotted this velvet owl purse on Etsy I knew it was destined to be mine. And that’s where this Purse Tale begins.
I bought the purse from The Plastic Age – a vintage fashion dealer from England with a shop on Etsy. I really can’t say enough positive things about this Etsy dealer. She went above and beyond researching the history of this purse and its owner. Plus she happily shared all that information with me. What a wonderful dealer to buy from.
The purse originally came from an estate sale for the Neill family in Ireland. The original owner was Oonah “Anne” Kingsley Neill. Born in 1897, Oonah was listed as Anne on the 1911 Ireland census. This was either a mistake or Anne was her birth name and she went by Oonah instead as that is the name listed on her driver’s license and other later documents. Perhaps she used Oonah instead of Anne to avoid confusion with her mother, also named Anne.
Oonah was the daughter of a Belfast jeweller/goldsmith/clockmaker named Sharman D. Neill. In the slideshow below you can see pictures of advertising ephemera for Sharman’s business that came from the same estate sale.
The quality of the ads, suggest Sharman’s shop was prosperous. Thanks to the great detective work by The Plastic Age, we know that Sharman inherited his business from his father James Neill and that the business itself lasted until 1936. In 1906, Sharman incorporated as a limited liability company, with directors Sharman D. Neill, Thomas Caldwell, Henry Hamilton and George W. Smallwood. I have visions of “The Paradise” from PBS.
We know very little about Oonah but you can see a copy of her 1920s driver’s license in the slideshow. Given that having a driver’s license in the 1920s was a privilege a limited number of women enjoyed, we can theorize that Oonah had an upscale lifestyle. Based on The Plastic Age’s research, Oonah immigrated to New Zealand in 1951 and lived the rest of her life there, dying in 1993. She was buried in the Palmerston North cemetery, New Zealand. The cemetery lists her occupation as widow, so we know at some point she married.
The Plastic Age was unable to locate a picture of Oonah carrying the purse, so where she wore this great velvet piece is unknown.
What we do know is that velvet was a popular textile choice in the 1920s. While you find it primarily used in coats, velvet dresses employing devoré (a technique where patterns are made in the velvet by “burning” out part of the velvet using chemicals) and stenciling were also popular.
So was the purse for a night on the town? Or was it instead made for a costume party? Sadly we will never know for sure, but we do know it is not a one-of-a-kind purse. The same purse, but way more worn and faded, was listed on eBay’s UK website more than a year ago.
A sad codex to Anne’s story. She had two older brothers, James and Robert. Both died in World War 1. James died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916. Robert died a year earlier in Fromelles, France.
In 1932, a French woman, Madame Le Bayon, was visiting the Thiepval Memorial dedicated to the 72,195 missing British and South African soldiers who died in battles along the Somme between 1915 and 1918 with no known grave. There she found a silver medallion in the shape of a horseshoe inscribed to "Lt J D Neill, 13th R.I.Rifles.” Madame Le Bayon was able to get details on the Neill family so she could return the medal.
Purse Tales - Velvet Owl
Purse Tales is the chance for APCS members to share the stories behind their special purses. Whether it’s the amazing bag you got for $25 that’s worth $1,000 or a purse with a unique history, we want to hear your stories. No story is too short or too long. Use this link to send us your purse tale and include a picture of your purse and anything else that relates to your story.