ProvenanceThis miniature fan was given to the donor as a christening present from her grandmother in 1931 in Perth W.A. Her maternal grandmother was Annie Beattie, born in Thirsk Scotland. She married Richard Beattie, a train driver from Annan, Scotland. They had three children - May (donor's mother), Violet and Richard. In 1909 they emigrated to Perth because Violet suffered from recurrent bronchitis and the family was advised to move to a warmer climate. May was nine years old. Donor was born in Perth in 1931.SignificanceAn example of a Christening present from 1931, linked to a family with an interesting reason for migration. Also a fairly unusual childhood rite of passage gift.DescriptionA cream coloured plastic fan with cream handles. Each part of splayed fan is a vague triangular shape. Each side has two indents creating three curves. On the ends of the fan triangles the flowers are painted, one flower for each splice of fan. The flowers are small pink dots surrounding a dark purple dot with smudged green dots (being the leaves) on some splices of fan. One flower will be painted closely to the curved parts of the splice while the next flower will be placed slightly above. This is followed on each splice of fan. Above the area where the flowers are painted on each splice there are three evenly spaced round holes. Above these holes are the two rectangular holes that the ribbon threads through. Above the ribbon there are three more evenly spaced holes and above these there are four evenly spaced round holes. Some splices have one more hole on the very end. These holes are close to the curved ends of the fan splices. These holes create a lace-like pattern. The fan is most likely machine and handmade.Creator (person)Creator (organisation)unknownAcknowledgementDate of Creation1931Date of UsageMaterialArt medium - paint, unspecified
|Polymer, plastic - unspecified
|Textile - unspecified
|Metal - unspecified Accession NumberHT 2002.0079