I went over to my neighbours the other day and I noticed a absolutely beautiful piece of gold silk she had over her banister...I assume it was silk..the sari was embroidered beautifully along the bottom edge and down the front where it would show when worn.   The colours were fantastic. Still fresh, bright and clear....  Absolutely stunning.  It had been wrapped and put away for all her mother's adult life   She told me this story....

".My grandmother, Elizabeth MacRae, was born in Scotland and was the youngest of several girls. Her father died soon after she was born and her mother was having a hard time coping.  So Elizabeth went to live with the local doctor, his wife, and their only daughter, as a sort of adopted sister.  At some point in her teens, the doctor and his family spent some time in Kenya and Betty brought the sari back from there.  That would have been sometime between 1910 and 1914, I figure.

She subsequently married a WWI veteran and moved to Argentina with him, where he raised polo ponies.  She eventually started a boarding school for English children in the foothills of Cordoba, away from the unhealthy summer climate in Buenos Aires.  My father and mother were both born in Argentina and emigrated to Canada in 1952.  My grandmother gave me the sari on one of her trips to Canada."

As you can see, the colours are fabulous, even after 100 years.   The camera  washed out the gold colour, it's vibrant in person .