“A Victorian chatelaine is essentially a tool belt of a highly personal nature. Picture a Swiss Army knife crossed with a charm bracelet and you’ll start to get the idea. Nineteenth-century chatelaines are highly customized to suit the needs of their individual owners; the two elements they all share are the clip, which hangs them from their owner’s waist, and a series of chains hanging from that clip to tether various accessory tools.”
—Excerpted from This Victorian Life, by Sarah A. Chrisman, Skyhorse Publishing, 2015.
