Wishbone Thimble Holders
An Expression of Victorian Whimsy
Sometimes the purpose of an object is so…obscure, so antiquated…that it’s difficult to imagine how — or why — it exists.
Such is the case with the peculiar Victorian notion of the thimble holder. This object is made by crocheting colored thread around a turkey’s wishbone in a decorative pattern and forming a tiny cup in which the seamstress would deposit her thimble. Sometimes, these whimseys had a dual purpose as pin cushions.
The House understands that thimbles are small and easy to lose, but it does seem like an awful lot of trouble just to keep track of one’s thimble.
Perhaps, there is more to it then. Maybe the wishbone was not selected randomly for this purpose, but for its long-standing association with good luck and good fortune, the origins of which The House has recounted in detail.
Victorians were a sentimental and superstitious lot, so it stands to reason that they would not simply discard an object so imbued with meaning and magic as a turkey’s furcula.
With this understanding, it makes perfect sense that ladies with needleworking skills — and a lot of time on their hands — would devise a solution that was functional, visually appealing and a powerful amulet of good fortune.
(above) Wishbone thimble holder (red, white and blue); Collection Jim Linderman
(right) Wishbone thimble holder (pink and green), House of Good Fortune Collection.
