The Purse Museum - Antique & Vintage Purses
BAGS, POUCHES, & HANDBAGS
whose purpose is to carry small objects
please enjoy this visual online museum
click a picture and click: read more for another section
enjoy
20th Century Beaded Bags
About Collecting Purses
inspiring designs ... what collecting is all about ... it doesn't need to be rare or expensive ... just something that you like.
collecting purses has some advantages ... one of the most important being size ... they are portable ... they are small .... they have history .
about the research -
I have co-authored research for the Antique Purse Collectors Society with Paula Higgins, a writer, collector and currently vice president of the society
Our research his included Leon Bakst and his influence on color theory,Persian textiles and embroidery, India embroidery and history, and Chinese influence and Orientalism
it is published with illustration photos on the website of the
ANTIQUE PURSE COLLECTORS SOCIETY
-
my solo research has taken me to Paris, France in 1909-1924 in an effort to see if I can identify some of the unlabeled embroidered bags in my collection.
It has been a fascinating journey
during that process, I have better understandingof how own past has helped evaluate these bags
For many years I designed and exhibited jewelry and wearable art. I used diverse metals ( gold fine silver, brass, titanium, and niobium) and went antiquing to find unusual objects. In 1998 with my husband opened an
a gallery featuring contemporary American Craft
(Details & Green Shoelaces)
This background has tought me
to see objects before ever knowing who made them
to to see how they were made and how well they perform their function
looking into early, Paris has some of the same energies as the American craft art fairs of the 70s 80s and 90s where artists were experimenting with different styles and materials
1918 Miner’s Wife’s Purse from Arizona
A Journey into Purse Collecting
before I was a collector …
While on my honeymoon in 1969, I found an interesting purse in a shop in Bisbee, Arizona, an old mining town. That was the first purse I purchased that I never intended to use.
Years later (1980's) I began going to antique shows in search of interesting objects to use in my handmade jewelry. I also found purses too nice to recycle and too inexpensive to ignore.
In 2012 I joined the Antique Purse Collectors Society, and created my first Purse Museum website.
Vicki Schwager
click on photos to enlarge - use arrows to scroll
Purses: More Than Fashion
World events, social norms, and new inventions all influence purse design
Collecting purses is a passion!
Little Girls Grow Up
Yes.. this is me with my Mom’s 1950’s lucite purse.
I didn’t know then, in my childhood dress up days, that I would grow up to collect antique purses.
