The countess's initials are sewn onto a corner of each pad. The size of the pads may surprise you, but it shouldn't.
Women wear smaller pads today because they are much more absorbent and better designed.
I thank the Countess and the American woman for their desire to preserve an artifact of women's history, a sorely neglected subject, and enable people around the world to see it. And I thank the Countess who wore these pads, who would probably be mortified to learn strangers were looking at them, but who might not be disappointed to know that the pads were helping people come to terms with their past - and present. Folded into thirds, as shown, is perhaps the way the countess wore it, probably pinned to a belt around her waist. Menstrual blood created the brown stains. Sewn on the corner of each pad are the owner's initials .