This charming fancy-dress costume was purchased from a private collector in 1974 as part of a larger group of nineteenth-century garments and accessories. At the time of acquisition, this information was recorded:

This dress was worn to a fancy dress ball at Mena House, Cairo, in 1907 by a Miss Geddes. The dress is accompanied by three photographs of the owner wearing it and a cutting from the Egyptian Gazette of February 20th 1907 describing the ball.

Today the newspaper clipping is lost and the black and white photograph bears the handwritten annotation: ‘1907, under the orange blossom, Bloemfontein (South Africa)’. Adding to the mystery, one of the watercolour music sheets also bears the stamp of Ivan H. Haarburger, a leading public figure in turn of the century Bloemfontein, violinist, pianist, conductor and music store owner.

With key missing evidence and conflicting clues there is much detective work still to do on this case.