Everything Bonecruncher says, I'll go along with (except I don't know about the knife bit) , and I'm from the opposite end of the country to (him ?)in the North East of England . Purse or wallet, always given with a small amount of money in it, and you might find it was silver threepenny-bits were given as a gift as most sixpences were " silver " in any case.
In the absence of such coinage , I generally stroke the the babys hand and ask Mum to put the money in baby's money box.
It's just a way of wishing them prosperity, ( as opposed to the more fortunate being born with a silver spoon in their mouths ).

Cheers

Betsy.