Textile Sample: Plain weave striped cotton, Unfinished Kikoy. Alternating vertical stripes of blue, red, yellow, and white. Large black woven band at one cut end, used to stop unraveling, with an eleven cm unwoven section below it.. Stamped: 93881 (Consular report #); Paper label: No. 1012, 73 3/20 corges, Kikoys Mascabi 47/69/77”. Probably used for shawls or covers."
An envelope found with the Mombasa textile group reads: "Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Washington. 93881 (1917), Mombasa Textiles Brit. Manuf. CR 260 1917 FTO25764" (or FTO625764?) This is the Consular Report associated with this textile sample. At the time of this correspondence, Mombasa was in British East Africa.
Consular Collection: Part of collection of samples acquired by US Consuls overseas between about 1898 and 1918, in the interests of promoting US trade and business opportunities; which was transferred by the Dept. of Commerce in the 1920s-30s.