Mystery vintage bag

[Emmma]

Hi everyone! I was gifted a vintage purse by my late grandmother and I’m curious to know if anyone can tell me anything about it (age, brand, authenticity etc). My grandmother was well travelled and loved her designer brands but was also known to wear lots of non branded jewelry and accessories. Real or not I still love this piece but I’m curious to see if anyone can tell me anything more about it! The only branding on the bag is on the hardware that reads “AW made in West Germany”

 

[Sheila Dawson]

I'm not sure if that is snake skin, or another type of reptile. The words Made in W. Germany puts it after 1949 most likely 1950s - 60s, since snakeskin, alligator, caiman, and crocodile were very popular choices for handbags during those decades.

 

[Midge]

Lovely bag! I think 1950s. I'm not sure if the stamp on the hardware points to the maker of the bag, or may just point to the company that produced the hardware... Handbags didn't always have labels at that time, or maybe there was just a mention of the brand on the shop label - this was before labels were flashed everywhere, so it's possible we'll never know what company made this bag. There were so many companies out there too on which there aren't a lot of records to be found. But it's still a nice handbag!