Racing purses and riding crops

These purses were made to hold the prize money for horse races. Hand sewn, in a variety of materials from silk velvet and chenille to crocheted string, each is embroidered or bears a cross-stitched or painted embossed cardboard panel labelled with 'Ladies Purse', the name of the horse, the racecourse or the organisation putting up the prize money. These examples are believed to have belonged to the family of Helenus Scott and his brother Robert, who bred race horses on their property at Glendon, throughout the 1830s and 1840s.

The riding crops are made from a variety of materials including plaited leather and wood. They come from the collection of Sir William Dixson.

 
> See more of the Scott family - realia, including racing purses, ca. 1837-1920

> See also the riding whip of Lachlan Macquarie the Younger, 1838