Over her lifetime, Martha Washington dressed her hair with a variety of ornaments ranging from highly decorative paste and garnet hair pins to fine but practical wares, such as this silver comb. Its gently curved shape enabled the comb to comfortably lie against her head, under her cap. According to family history, Mrs. Washington gave it to Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, who kept and preserved many of her grandmother's personal articles at her nearby home, Woodlawn Plantation.