This is a rectangular shaped evening purse made from small circular glass beads by Tilly Aston, at some time during the 1920s. The purse is made up of an open weave pattern of milky white beads threaded onto wire. The three flowers are made from green and pink glass beads that have been attached to the front.
Tilly Aston’s achievements are formidable. In 1894 she founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers, which became the Victorian Braille Library. In 1895, she co-founded the Association for the Advancement of the Blind, which in became Vision Australia. As well as being the first woman who was blind to be admitted to an Australian university and Australia's first blind teacher, Tilly was a distinguished and critically acclaimed writer, producing seven books of verse. Tilly received a Commonwealth grant for her writing in 1935, and the King’s Medal for Distinguished Citizenry twice.