Casgliadau Arlein

Collection of swatches of black silks, satins and ribbons of various widths (F78.60.239-63). Used by a travelling haberdashery salesman from Borth-y-gest, early 1900s.

This sample consists of strips of black silk ribbon, each folded in half. The raw ends are sandwiched in-between a folded strip of card and are fixed in place with five brass split pins (butterfly clips), of which the outer two survive. The two lower corners of the card have been cut off in the diagonal. A thin black line border is drawn around the edge of the card. The card has a smal rectangular paper label adhered to its centre with a crown above and the word 'Queen' printed in red, 'All Silk Faille' and leafy garland below printed in black. At either side of the label, there is a row of 11 sets of numbers, hand-inscribed with black ink. Part of the accession number (/263) has been written along the top edge of the front of the card using blue biro. The card label describes the ribbon as 'Faille' which is a soft, light-woven fabric with a ribbed texture.