More Vintage and Antique Purses....beaded

a little french bag

One of my overwhelming passions as a collector of stuff and things is purses.  I have been collecting purses, new and vintage/antique since high school.  I don't really remember an exact reason or moment when I thought, "I'm going to collect old, tatty purses..." I just think that I have always been drawn to vintage and old stuff.  Of course, the lucite handbags are a huge part of my collection, but along the way I picked up some very pretty beaded bags too.  The thing that never fails to amaze me is that the oldest of the bags were all hand beaded, using silk thread.  I don't know about you, but I don't think I would have ever had the patience.  Also, leisure time in the late 19th/ early 20th century wasn't what it is now.  Couple that with the fact that lighting was also poor and I don't know how women found the time to make these beautiful bags.  Some are marked from France, some from Hong Kong, some from Czechoslovakia...some are unmarked.  I just think of them as eye candy.  And yes, I do use some of them occasionally. Collected at thrift shops, flea markets, antique stores, and on ebay, here are some of my beaded purses:

notice the initials carved into the front of this bag

the camera does not do this bag justice
it has bright green beads - handbeaded
on beautiful yellow silk thread

the camera kind of distorted the color
the first purse is beaded with metal beads on silk thread
the second 2 bags are jet black bead

again, color is a little off, but still pretty
the front bag is black with blue stripes
the back bag is a very pretty bronze/brown

this bag is made of velvet and silk
it has gold thread throughout
with little golden beads

how I store and display
my bags
in a glass fronted case

beautiful little bag with red beading