Origins of Men’s wallets

“He leapt as fast as thought itself. Behind his back hanged a silver sack – a marvel to see – and inside it was the head of the Gorgon.”

Hesiodus

The silver sack that nymphs gifted Persaues with, alongside flying sandals, before he embarked on his expedition to defeat Medusa was the kibisis (κίβισις) owned by the god Hermes. This word is often used in the tales of the Ancient Greeks to refer to medium-sized sacks inside which one usually put precious objects and, sometimes, food as well. It is one of the predecessors of the wallet, term with which kibisis in often translated in modern languages.

Before it became the small handheld object containing paper money we know, the wallet had a shape more similar to that of a shoulder bag. It was around the twelfth century, when cash spread as normal currency in Europe, that the wallet took the form we are familiar with, of generally unchanged size from then to the present day.

The wallet, often produced in leather to ensure its resistance and durability over time, has almost always been an object with aesthetic ambitions, not only because of the materials used for its manufacture but also because, for a long time, it was commonly hung on one’s belt and was therefore clearly visible. Nowadays, despite small changes due to the adaptation to electronic payment methods, wallets remain an accessory crafted with expensive materials to show off.

BRUCLE wallets are produced only with the best bovine, crocodile, python, ostrich leathers, all certified, treated and colored with the utmost care by Italian master craftsmen.