While helping my friend Nita with her sale a few weeks ago, I ran across this purse in her stash of purses.
I don't know what attracted me to it, but I thought it might be "something". I asked if I could look it up for a possible ebay item. Of course she said yes.
After looking on ebay I found out that the wooden box purse was by Enid Collins. A Texas purse artist from the 1960's -70's. Today I was visiting Nita at her booth and saw another purse, that looked similar
Sure enough, it was another Enid Collins bag. When I got home, I began to research these bags and found out some neat stuff.
Enid Collins Handbags
by Glynis Ward
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| Collins box bag, "Flower Power", ca. late 1960s, auctioned on eBay for $102.50 in April 2000 by ascheffe@aol.com |
Collins of Texas opened its doors in Medina, Texas in 1959, producing whimsical, happy handbags. Enid Collins, owner and designer, operated the company until 1970, when it was purchased by the Tandy Leather Corporation. The Collins company primarily made two types of bags - wooden box purses, and canvas bucket style bags. Each purse was hand decorated with paint, sequins and rhinestones in themed designs. Never intended to be fad creations, Enid Collins finished all of her handbags with leather trim, mirrors, brass findings and fasteners. They were intended to be good quality, fun day bags. A bit of glitz on the way to the grocery store!
You can read more from this article here . I also found a great Flikr account with wonderful pictures of one gal's collection here
I don't know what has attracted me to these bags, Their retro graphics, the sparkly bits, the colors, the designs, Not sure, but I like them. Neither style of purse is truly functional. The boxes are hard, and awkward, the bucket bags, are also hard, not very flexible, and stiff. But the designs and graphics are wonderful. If you see one of these at a Sale, be sure to pick it up. If not for yourself, email me.
I think these bags have inspired my next project, hum???? wonder what I can come up with.
Have a great weekend.
Margo
9 comments:
FYI-The Collins of Texas bags were hugely popular when I was in high school in the 60's right up there with circle necklaces and squaw boots. They were what all the cool girls carried. I collect them also because they take me back to that time. They're great pieces of art. Lucky you! Deb
OMG!!!! You need to look on my website under "debi lynn" and see my "outside the box" design line. Where I talk about Enid, and how she was one of my all time favorite purse designers! I even use some of her stones and handles in a lot of my purses....don't ya just LOVE her! I have several of her purses....xo..deb
Oh my goodness! I just had a flashback. My own grandmother had one of those bags. The second is reminiscent, anyway. She was all into that bling, before I knew bling was bling! I have all of her old brooches, which I proudly display on a Christmas Wreath. Too bad I didn't "get" her bag, cuz I'm sure I could have claimed it! Thanks for the memories. ~Mindy
Hey Margo - glad you're feeling better! Call me when you get hungry!
I remember those purses. I had a little one with coin thingies on it and I know my mom had one of those bucket bags. I ran across a couple of those at a sale recently, just smiled at the memory, and went about my way. Now I'll have to keep my eye open for you! take care - vickie
What a lucky find! Very interesting post.
I love the Enid Collins purses:) Thanks for sharing!
What fun purses! It seems like you have had fun helping to unearth treasures for your friend. I have never seen any of these.
You know Margo,picked up two of these purses over a year ago at a Garage Sale. I kept them for a while and ended up giving them to a friend. She loves them.There fun, she uses them too..
We have a few of those at my mom's shop.There are some that are very collectable!
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