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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   Vintage purses a sparkling obsession    List Brenda McNeilly Next   Collecting vintage purses   By Brenda McNeilly My friends joke that I’m part crow, because I’m obsessed with sparkly things. That’s not true. I’m obsessed with quite a few things, but that’s for other articles.   For me, that love of sparkly things is at its zenith in the vintage purses created by the Mandalian Company and Whiting & Davis, between the years 1900 and 1930.   For all intents and purposes, vintage purses from the art deco era are defacto jewellery for the arm. With their thrilling shapes, amazing textures, vivid colours and striking graphics, they conjure up images of the roaring twenties, as flappers and their gentlemen friends danced the night away, while gramophones played in the background.   I bought my first vintage purse, in Ponchatula, Louisiana, during their Strawberry Festival about 15 years ago. It was a Victorian micro-beaded purse with a geometric repeating design of peacock feathers. That was all it took to advance me from admirer to collector of vintage purses (the ridiculously oversized strawberry ‘Ponchatula Daquiri’ also helped!) Since that time, I’ve collected over 100 purses.   My collection breaks into three basic groups:   Mesh purses produced by Whiting and Davis Company of Massachusetts from 1900-1920;   The Mandalian Company purses, also of Massachusetts from 1910-1930;   Victorian and Edwardian glass beaded purses, from the late 1800s-1920.   Two major events happened to create the conditions for Whiting & Davis and The Mandalian Company to flourish.   The first was the invention of the mesh making machine in 1909, in Newark, New Jersey.   The second was Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of the boy king, Tutankhamen, in 1922, a tomb undisturbed for nearly 3,000 years. The discovery of the took the world by storm.   Within months, fashion, jewellery, architecture and home décor were echoing the opulent, hues and geometric precision of the sensational treasures unearthed in the Valley of the Kings.   This art deco sensibility is prevalent in the designs of both Whiting & Davis and Mandalian Company. The history of both companies is fascinating. And like a Quentin Tarantino movie, the paths of both companies were to intersect unexpectedly in the 1940s, with spectacular results.   The Whiting & Davis Company of Plainsville, Massachusetts, began as a jewellery company. It created the very first metal mesh purse in America in 1892. Hints of the company’s jewellery-making origins are evident in the earliest Whiting & Davis examples. Geometric brass frames are set with faux or semi precious stones, while mesh fringes are cut in elaborate matching patterns.   Their purses were offered in a vast array of colours and finishes, including enameled, pearlized, and silver and gold tone mesh. There was flat, armored mesh, and in contrast, baby mesh which was soft and silken to the touch with thousands miniscule links. To close ones eyes and touch baby mesh, unless the metal is cold, you could actually mistake it for fabric.   Many of the baby mesh bags made between the years 1929 and 1932 were silk-screened. These have the dreamy appearance of a Monet water-colour or a tie-dyed fabric, with their hazy, romantic graphics. Production of baby mesh, aka, Dresden mesh, ceased during WWII, and production of armored mesh alone resumed after the war.   Yet other styles of mesh are known as fish-scale, and ‘beadlite’, which features a raised dot in the centre of each armored link. All bear the name Whiting & Davis stamped into the interior of the frame.   Hallmarks of Whiting & Davis are a superb design aesthetic and attention to detail. It cannot be overstated how incredibly prolific this company was. Purses in near mint condition presently range in value at auction between $150 and $1000, conservatively.   Though the Mandalian Manufacturing Company was also known for its striking art deco designs in women’s purses, their visual sensibility was markedly different from that of Whiting & Davis and very much shaped by the heritage of its founder.   The company was founded by Sahatiel Gabrabed Mandalian, who was born in 1869 in Turkey. In 1889, Sahatiel emigrated to America, marrying and settling in Massachusetts. Initially a jeweler by trade, he began to specialize in metal mesh purses by the year 1906.   Often featuring intricately decorated frames, Mandalian Company purses are constructed using the flat style of metal plates which are joined together by circular links, resulting in a satiny smooth texture, ideal for elaborate graphical treatments.   Mandalian Company bags typically have a more slender, elongated form, and are decorated with ornate nature patterns, or patterns suggestive of Turkish carpets, harkening back to Sahatiel’s Turkish lineage. Graphics appear to be air-brushed and are complex, with an almost mystical appearance.   Sahatiel’s superb visual aesthetic was also evident in the fringes appearing at the bottom of the purses, which were precision cut in geometric patterns, and sometimes featured pearlized accent drops at the ends.   The company was only in production for a short number of years, before being acquired by Whiting & Davis.   Sadly, Mandalian died mere years later, in 1944. No doubt he would feel great pride today, in knowing that his brilliant and unique creative vision is the reason that Mandalian purses are widely considered the high watermark in art deco era mesh purses, and the ones most prized by collectors today. Near mint quality Mandalian purses easily command from $250 to $2,000 at auction.   Victorian and Edwardian purses from the late 1800s-1920 differ significantly from Whiting & Davis and Mandalian designs. They are designed with darker, and in some cases, ominous hues, which adds to their allure.   The graphics often feature nature themes, or are art nouveau in style, with sensual, flowing shapes, rendered in richly coloured glass beads. Micro-beaded purses of this era can contain up to 400 miniscule beads per square inch, and so labor was intensive. Such purses commanded a high price and distinguished the wearer as a person of means and status.   Due to their heavily beaded construction, Victorian and Edwardian purses were very vulnerable to deterioration. Few from the 1800s survived without significant condition issues, but their efficacy as period collectibles and wondrous examples of creativity are mitigating factors to the avid collector.   Purses of this era were created in many shapes: swag with beaded draping, puffy styles, half-moon, square, reticule, round or ‘piecrust’, triangular (or ‘dance’) and miser’s purses. The latter featured two clever, separate sections for different denominations of coins.   The quality and colour of radiant cut and faceted glass beads in Victorian and Edwardian purses also adds to their desirability. It is not unusual to see sterling silver frames on these purses. Still others were set with semi-precious stones, and featured pierced, open detailing. Some of my favourite frames have elaborate filigree work.   I like to hang my vintage purses in places where they will sparkle and catch the light, like the ends of curtain rods, on necklace stands, and hall trees. Some of the Victorians are too fragile and old to hang, so I display them on flat surfaces. Even handling these fragile creations is a sensory experience.   The great news for collectors is a healthy supply of excellent vintage purses can still be found at excellent prices ($65 to under $200) at antiques shows like Christie, Aberfoyle, Beaverton, or any of the excellent vintage clothing shows now promoted.   So keep your eyes peeled. There are lots of great purses waiting to be discovered and treasured once more if, like me, you're part “crow” and love beautiful, sparkling things from days gone by.     Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2011 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster