Our week of handbags continues, in chronological order. Yesterday was all 1940s, all the time so if you know your decades, you realize that today we’re focusing on the 1950s. Clicking on any image will bring up a somewhat larger view for detail study.
I am intrigued by the shape of the bucket bag shown here, and found two online (here and here) at very reasonable prices.
The brass frame bag by Toro isn’t identified as such by the museum, but I’ve seen a few (very few) of these bags, one with the Toro hallmark, and the style, clasp, and handle are so unique that I think it’s a safe bet they’re all Toro bags. You can look for them, but you’ll be lucky to come across one. I found one of these “butterfly” models today in a store’s Sold archive, it went for $260. (Disclosure: I have a Toro of this shape in my unlisted inventory. I’ve had it for a while, actually. It would seem that I’m having a hard time parting with it.)
The Chanel bag is one you may recognize, because it’s still in production today as the Classic Flap Bag.
The telephone cord tote took me by surprise. Red and black phone cords? Without seeing the construction in person, I had this pegged as an ’80s creation. But no! To celebrate Western Electric’s then-new spiral telephone cord invention, some creative manufacturer used the all-new cords in an all-new way. Well done, anonymous artist!
CREDITS: Photography by Jenna Bascom and Ken Music Photography. All handbags shown here are from the collection of Tassenmuseum Hendrikje/Museum of Bags and Purses, Amsterdam except for the Chanel bag, from the vast collection of Sandy Schreier.
shoes and pie 
Do you suppose to the untrained eye, the bucket purses are being displayed in antique shops as… wait for it… ice buckets? That’s the first thing I thought of when I saw them. :)