Umbrella handle

  • Gold plated umbrella handle with pearl inlays. Engraved on it is "J. K. Strecker, Supt. Poultry Dept., Texas Cotton Palace 1915, By Breeders & Friends."

The Cotton Palace was an exhibition ground in Waco, Texas, from 1895 to 1930. Waco stylized itself as the Cotton Capital of the South, and its leading citizens organized a weeks long exhibition intended to celebrate the end of the growing season and cotton’s central role in the state’s economy.