‘She hath a fan with a short silver handle,
About the length of a barber’s syringe.’
The Floire, 1610.
‘All your plate, Vasco, is the silver handle of
Your old prisoner’s fan.’
Love and Honour, Sir W. Davenant, 1649.
‘Another he
Her silver handled fan would gladly be.’
In Marston, Scourge of Villainie, lib. III. sat. 8.
The above references are to fans of the ordinary sort; the cost of the more precious fans of history was considerable. Brantôme (c. 1590) refers to the fan of Queen Eleanor with its mirror all ornamented with precious stones of great value, and also to the new-year’s gift of Queen Margaret to Queen Louise of Lorraine—a jewelled fan of mother of pearl of such beauty and richness that it was valued at more than fifteen hundred crowns,[81] a sum equal to a thousand pounds of our present money.