Hi, Joyce,
Stupid-question time, but for the sake of clarity: your "little piece
of silk Chantilly" is actually made by you? --- Not an antique, or a
gift, or machine-made copy, or ..... :-D
Next question: if the piece was made by you, how big is it, and how
many hours did it take to make it? Count ALL the hours, including
bobbin-winding time, time/petrol/postage/etc. for acquiring threads,
getting to a class, class costs, cost of bobbins, pillow, pins, etc.
(although you might wish to pro-rate the costs of equipment --- and
knowledge-acquisition --- that was meant to be re-used). Figure a
going slave-labour wage of AU$10.00 or so per hour, and figure out how
much you would have to charge a buyer for this piece of lace. It
could be useful to hold this as a comparative measure for the value of
the piece, against the price-by-weight compared to gold.
Honestly, unless someone happens to remember this information and/or
quote, AND where they saw it, it'd be near-impossible to track it down
-- even if you have the time to do it!! I've got a good lace library,
but a serious case if IGA ("intermittent global amnesia" :-D ), and
it's a miracle if I even remember which book has which *kind* of quotes
in it! Usually, I find, if I *do* go looking for a particular quote,
or photo, it will have originated in a book I borrowed from someone
else. And I don't find this out until well after I've searched
"everywhere" and then given up .....!
So, in the spirit of trying to help out *anyway,* I went to a copy of
Santina Levy's "LACE: A History," and pulled a few quotes which might
give your research a bit of a kick-start. All of the quotes below
include some mention of prices for laces at different times and in
different countries. I leave it to you to investigate, if you wish,
the price of gold in the respective countries, currencies, and years,
and to approximate the kinds & weights of the laces mentioned in each
quote. Seriously digging up the answer to your question could involve
many hours at the library or on the internet.
Then again, sounds like a nice, scholarly reason not to cave in to the
h-word (silently mouthing: "housework!"). :-D
So here goes:
About cutwork "lace" and other early types: "... the marriage
agreement drawn-up in 1624 between Marie de Bourbon, daughter of the
Countess of Soissons, and Prince Thomas of Savoy, listed the linen to
be provided for the Princess; it included three-dozen day and
three-dozen night chemises and three-dozen handkerchiefs, all 'garnies
de point couppe,' a chemise 'toute baue de point couppee,' and four
sheets, twelve 'tabliers,' eight collars, six coifs, twelve cornettes
{a type of headdress}, eight toilette wraps, twelve kerchiefs and
sundry bands --- all decorated with cutwork. Her lace-trimmed linen
was valued at 27,500 livres compared to the 28,600 livres which were
spent on twenty-eight gowns and robes of silk and velvet."
**********************
In Lorraine, in February of 1632, Duke Charles IV, "... was provided
with furnishing lace including covers for the dressing table, .... ---
at 155 francs each."
**********************
"What English bobbin lace looked like is largely a matter of
conjecture although five examples of undoubtedly English manufacture
have survived attached to a letter sent by Elizabeth Isham (1608-1654)
to her father at Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire ..... The five laces,
which cost from two to ten pence a yard, are all small edging laces,
influenced perhaps by the laces of Flanders and Genoa, although of a
type made throughout Europe. More expensive English lace figured in
another letter, written around 1628 by Susanna Nicholas to her brother
in London: 'I .... could have sent you your lase for your band but
that I did see these lasees which to my thought did do a goodde deal
better then that which you did bespeake and the best of them will cost
no more than that, which is half a crone [crown] a yard and so the
uppermost will cost you and the other will cost xviii pence; I did
think you would rather staye something long for it then to paye so
deare for that which would make no better show.....'
"Unfortunately the samples are no longer attached to the
letter...."
**********************
"The relative value of lace is well illustrated by an account book
kept between 1646 and 1676 by James Master, a well-to-do English
country gentleman with aristocratic and merchant connections. During
the Commonwealth and early years of the Restoration he bought lace of
unspecified origin, but presumably English, with only the occasional
more expensive purchase, as on 7 October 1651, when he paid L-3 [3
pounds] for '1 ya 3 qu & halfe of Flanders lace to make me a band and
cuffs.' Three days later he paid 'to my man Richard for his quarters
wages, L-1 05 00.' His expenditure on lace rose after his marriage
in 1666 and Venetian lace began to replace Flemish lace:
"May 23:
" '74. Pa for a Point de Venee Gorget for my wife L-10
" 2 ya of other point .... L-3 8s.
" 1 y1/2 more for Cuffs at 10s. ye ya. 15s.
" a Cornet all lace .... L-3
" a lace'd Drowle to it .... 43s.
" makeing other things .... 4s.
"in all ..... L-20 00 00.
"This compares to L-8 10s. which he had paid for 'a gray Nag 6 yee
old' in the previous October and L-15 7s. 6d. he paid 'Ned Martin in
full for wages' (i.e. the whole year) in the following April.
"Although James Master dressed well, his expenditure came nowhere
near that of the leaders of fashion."
**********************
In a petition to the English Parliament from 1698, it was claimed, "...
that in Buckinghamshire, the highest prized lace they used to make was
about Eight Shillings per Yard, and now they make Lace there of above
Thirty shillings per Yard, and in Dorsetshire and Devonshire they now
make Lace worth Six Pound per Yard." No specification about width of
yardage, or fineness of thread.
**********************
".... an entry in the [English] Royal Wardrobe Accounts of 1710, which
noted the purchase of 26 yards of 'fine edged Brussels lace' for
L-151[pounds]."
**********************
"The English Royal Accounts, ...... record the purchase of enormous
quantities of bobbin lace in the reigns of William and Mary and of
Queen Anne; occasionally the lace was described more precisely, as in
1713, when 83 yards of Mechlin lace were bought for Queen Anne for
L-247 6s. 9d. The bills submitted by the milliner, Katherine Vezran,
in the reigns of George I and George II, were normally itemized and in
1714, for example, she provided 'For His Majesty's Royal Person, 3-1/2
yards of fine Mechlin lace for a cravat at L-5 [per yard, presumably],
L-19.5s.' George I wore the cravat at his coronation."
**********************
After a slump in the lace trade in the town of Valenciennes: "In 1723,
the capitation records included the names of 21 'maitresses de
dentelle,' by 1734 their number had risen to 125, and there were over
800 lace-makers, working mainly in charity institutions and convents.
The lace merchants also re-appeared and their numbers increased from
five in 1723 to fourteen in 1734, about which time they combined with
the linen merchants to form a corporation. This was the beginning of
the town's greatest prosperity; the lace industry was at its peak from
then until about 1780, although it was never as important as the linen
industry, which was valued at over four-million livres a year, while
the value of the lace trade never rose above nine-hundred thousand
livres, which it achieved in 1766, its best year."
**********************
If you can use any of these quotes, note which words are mine, which
are Ms. Levy's, and which belong to historic texts she used. I
haven't included page numbers or names of quoted texts or anything like
that, and I can assure you that this one book alone has much more
useful info in it, never mind other lace books out there. If you *do*
go for it, have fun! Locating the books might be the only hard part!
Hope this helps. :-D
Beth S.
--- in cold and cloudy Kambah, in Canberra, Australia
On 04/06/2006, at 11:04 AM, Barry & Joyce Moes wrote:
Greetings Gentle Spiders,
I am trying to put together some material for an Introduction to/
Demonstration of Bobbin Lace for our club.
I seem to remember from arachne several years ago the statement that
at one
stage lace was worth up to 8 times its weight in gold.
Could anyone help please with the source of this quote?
Thanks,
Joyce Moes
Lake Placid
(Cairns) Australia
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