Alligator crocodile bag w strange pattern of pits??

[Antiguamarie]

 

[Antiguamarie]

I just started buying vintage croc and alligator purses on eBay and know nothing about them but have fallen in love. When I got this one, I hadn’t noticed from the pics that it’s covered with a pattern of ...pits? Indentations? I don’t know how to describe it but the pictures show them well.

Is anyone familiar with this? I wondered if it could be a design stamped into the skin? On the other side of the possibility spectrum, could it be a flaw of some kind? I read about bacterial and fungal attacks while the skins are being processed.
Can someone enlighten me? Thank you!
PS - this is my first post here and I think I messed up - pics are posted before this post, hope u can find them...

 

[wyogems]

That is strange. Are they consistent on front and back . If so they were most likely there on manufacture.

 

[Antiguamarie]

They’re on almost all segments except the top of the bag where the handle is.
The back has three panels of skin sewn together and all have some degree of the marks.
The front flap has it on the top half but very little on the bottom half.

 

[wyogems]

It almost seems it might be a part of the skin that was bumpy? and perhaps they shaved the bumps off. This is probably silly but I don't remember seeing one that had a pattern like that.

 

[Antiguamarie]

Thanks! One day I’ll find out for sure when I bump into a reptile expert. Meantime I appreciate the theory!!

 

[vivavintageclothing]

I had this circa 1940s-50s handbag a while ago that had similar pits on the surface of the skin--you can see that they are only on the larger scales of the front/pocket section. It is stamped inside as "Genuine Alligator", if that helps?

I feel like I have seen this on a few other vintage alligator bags as well, but not sure how to describe the pits, or why they occurred.

 

[wyogems]

maybe it is just a reaction to the dye where the natural mottled nature of the skin has innerplay
Are they indented at all?

 

[furwise]

Hi there,

Pretty bag. I don’t think it’s alligator or crocodile though.
The scales are too uniform to be alligator and I don’t see an umbilical scar which looks like an unevenly shaped star that is usually present and the scales look too large or long to be crocodile.

Off the top of my head I don’t know what other type of exotic skin it might be but if I happen to find something like it I’ll chime back in.

 

[Sharon Rose]

Perhaps it is Caiman? Those look like osteoderms.