Sitting on your money

Wieringen men had a suit with a secret pocket in the lining of the back panel. Jaap Fijnheer, involved with the Historische Vereniging Wieringen from the start, once put on his three-piece suit to show it. The jacket has extra-deep back panels, and in the lining there is a hole you have to search for. When the men went to market, they put their money in it. So they were literally sitting on it, and no pickpocket could get at it.

That is supposedly how the expression "op je geld zitten" (sitting on your money) came about. Whether that is really true cannot be proven, but on Wieringen they enjoy telling it. On the same visit he showed a pocket watch with a pull-cord. His mother had had it made of her own hair after her engagement. He and Nel Fijnheer said Wieringers often used to do that. Nel also showed embroidered hullen of Brussels lace. That is a different garment from the money pocket.