Lindeisue87
Registered Guest
I am trying to identify when this bag was made. I found this beaded purse in a thrift shop. The quality is exquisite and the care of the previous owner was exemplary. The bag is clamshell shaped, blue satin with white beads. It has a metal framing on top with a simple clasp a ball on either side. There is one small pocket on the inside, inside the picket there is a tag that appears to be adhered to the satin. The tag is white with red lettering; walborg logo on the left, "WALBORG" next to it, "MADE IN CHINA" in smaller print below.
The beading was clearly hand-sewn with expert skill and the bag was clearly hand sewn to the metal framing, although the interior stitching appears to have been machine sewn. The design is made by sewing a line of white seeds up the length, and then running slightly diagonal lines of lightly translucent/iridescent seeds over it using blue thread to match the satin. On either side of these columns there are two rows of the short thin beads, also lightly translucent/iridescent with blue thread. Near the top of the bag there is a pointed down triangle line of the thin beads followed by a line of the seeds in lines of three in various direction, two lines of the thin ones, another grouping of the seeds in three, with a beaded flower that I interpret to be a rose. There are then two rows of the seeds along the edge of the framing on either side, continuing around the circumference of the bag, meaning that there are 4 rows along the bottom. This is where the hand sewing of the beads seems to be most apparent.
The chain to hold it is most exquisite. It is round, not a traditional chain link, and each of the segments moves with next. It will bend in any direction, but will not bend "in half". It reminds me of a snake. The length is such that if I put it on my shoulder the bag reats on my hip. It is affixed to the bag with S shaped links onto fasteners that are connected under the satin but do toggle side to side giving the chain optimal movability.
I have found a handful of bags very strikingly similar to this, but none of them have all of these characteristics. Some have chainlink chains, shorter chains, are missing the triangle lines on top, or missing the rose. Absolutely none of them have been blue. Some have the tag folded in the seam, some tags are red, some say other locations, none say China.
On the front of the bag, in the fourth seed column to the right, slightly less than an inch up, there is a solitary bead which is clear but silver lined, making it appear as a small silver ball. I surmise that this accidentally got worked in. I'm just wondering if small mistakes like this typically make a vintage bag worth more or less?
The beading was clearly hand-sewn with expert skill and the bag was clearly hand sewn to the metal framing, although the interior stitching appears to have been machine sewn. The design is made by sewing a line of white seeds up the length, and then running slightly diagonal lines of lightly translucent/iridescent seeds over it using blue thread to match the satin. On either side of these columns there are two rows of the short thin beads, also lightly translucent/iridescent with blue thread. Near the top of the bag there is a pointed down triangle line of the thin beads followed by a line of the seeds in lines of three in various direction, two lines of the thin ones, another grouping of the seeds in three, with a beaded flower that I interpret to be a rose. There are then two rows of the seeds along the edge of the framing on either side, continuing around the circumference of the bag, meaning that there are 4 rows along the bottom. This is where the hand sewing of the beads seems to be most apparent.
The chain to hold it is most exquisite. It is round, not a traditional chain link, and each of the segments moves with next. It will bend in any direction, but will not bend "in half". It reminds me of a snake. The length is such that if I put it on my shoulder the bag reats on my hip. It is affixed to the bag with S shaped links onto fasteners that are connected under the satin but do toggle side to side giving the chain optimal movability.
I have found a handful of bags very strikingly similar to this, but none of them have all of these characteristics. Some have chainlink chains, shorter chains, are missing the triangle lines on top, or missing the rose. Absolutely none of them have been blue. Some have the tag folded in the seam, some tags are red, some say other locations, none say China.
On the front of the bag, in the fourth seed column to the right, slightly less than an inch up, there is a solitary bead which is clear but silver lined, making it appear as a small silver ball. I surmise that this accidentally got worked in. I'm just wondering if small mistakes like this typically make a vintage bag worth more or less?
