How to Identify an Antique Purse

Latch on to a bit of handbag history. The 19th-Century reticule wasn't the earliest version of the purse -- just the first one ladies carried rather than hiding money bags in their clothing. Early purses were small: Ladies didn't need to carry money, or much else. In the 1920s, as women's independence grew, so did their handbags. Some 1940s wartime handbags were fabric, with cardboard backing -- sometimes even hand-sewn -- to save metal. In the 1950s, bright colors and new materials blossomed. The 1970s and 1980s brought new shades, shapes and attitudes, and an emphasis on designer names.

Size up your vintage handbag -- or purse or pocketbook, if you'd rather. Assess its condition, fabric, shape, size and decoration. Is it Bakelite? That's the 1930s. Clear Lucite in a birdcage shape is 1950s. (Women carried scarves in them to hide what was inside -- a way, also, to change up the purse and match it to their ensembles.) Designer styles and logos began to take hold in the 1960s. "Handbags are like mini-sculptures ̵2; they are true works of art," collector Abigail Rutherford told Collectors Weekly. What is it that distinguishes yours?

Cart home some reference books from the library -- use a tote if your handbag is too delicate. Study up and look at photos. While you're at it, log on to the Internet and check out a few handbag museums. Tassen Museum of Bags and Purses is in Amsterdam; its timeline includes a 1420 Flemish handbag clasp, and continues through a 2007 "Miami flamingo" bag with Swarovski crystals. The Sackrider Museum of Handbags, as of time of publication, is online only. Its collection begins with an Edwardian beaded black moire hanging belt and continues through to a 2008 Dooney & Bourke. Designer Judith Leiber, whose handbags have been carried by first ladies from Mamie Eisenhower to Hillary Clinton, shows 200 of her creations at the Leiber Museum in East Hampton, New York. Leiber's handbags also have been in exhibits at the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Connect with other collectors. One group is the Antique Purse Collector's Society; its website charges an annual fee for members to trade information and share stories about their vintage finds.