Decorated Leather Comb Case

This simple object is perhaps a case for a comb. It is a made of leather, a material that doesn’t often survive in archaeological contexts unless waterlogged, which was often the case during excavations at Perth High Street in the 1970s.  

The case was made by folding a piece of leather lengthways and sewing along the bottom and up one side, leaving a flap at the top that could be folded over. A little decorative motif has been added in the bottom corner, formed of tiny diagonal slits. The comb case was found in a midden dating to the late 13th century.    

Archaeological leather is very fragile and prone to shrinkage and deterioration if not properly conserved. One common treatment is to saturate the object in a polyethylene glycol (PEG) solution, a synthetic resin which is used to conserve organic materials such as wood and leather. When the comb case arrived at our lab, it bore a white bloom, probably the result of excess PEG. It is not uncommon for PEG to migrate out of the objects over time, so the case just needed a gentle clean to bring it back to its best.   

The case was fashioned from a single piece of leather

Decorative detail

Stitching at the back, perhaps for a belt loop or similar