Featured Vermeil Wallet/Clutch Hardcase 935

I purchased this today, but I'm not sure what it is and I can't find the maker. It's marked 935 and has a maker's mark with o.s inside a diamond. Any thoughts on maker or age?

Edit: I forgot to add, the stone changes color with the light. It looks purple inside and blue outside.

It has a mirror on the inside lid.

 

It's a minaudière. (I know. I know. It's not a true minaudière but I'm not the one who decided to call metal clutch evening bags by that name.) Invented in the 1930s but -- to my eye -- yours is more likely to be from the 1960s. Here's a (quite chic) version done by Gucci in the 1970s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minaudière

Debora

 

Fantastic! Thank you! I thought it must be a bag of some sort, but I had no idea what it was actually called and I would have never been able to figure it out on my own.

 

I forgot to add, the stone looks purple inside and blue when exposed to daylight. Could it be an alexandrite?

 

The "stone" is likely to be glass.

Debora

 

Looking at the velvet inside, but without the view of the inside, is it not a glasses box ?

 

This doesn't have velvet inside. That's what I first thought though.

 

Did I miss the size?
With a mirror, it might only be for lipstick and comb.

 

Sorry, I forgot to add it. It's 5.5 inches long, 3 inches tall, with an average depth of 1.5 inches.

 

Okay so more of a small evening clutch.

Not a word I would know. But seems to be correct.

 

That's a bit small for an evening bag. Sure it's not for reading glasses? What does the interior look like?

Debora

 

It might be. The interior is the same mesh as the exterior, with no sign that it was ever padded. I feel like if it was for reading glasses, there'd be something to prevent them from getting scratched.

 

Neodymium glass. Spectacle case wouldn't have a mirror, and would be lined. It's a little evening bag.

Austrian, German or Swiss and with that mesh, I'm betting Swiss. The mark is annoyingly familiar.

 

"Annoyingly familiar." Perfect description for some of my old boyfriends.

And, agree. As unlined, a small evening bag.

Debora

 

Thanks! I'm in Germany, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's any of those. I hope you remember the mark; I've been searching for it for the last hour, to no avail.

 

Small Clutch
Lipstick, comb, small cigarette case, couple nickels for the phone.

 

Yeah, the pre iPhone days!

 

Plus hankie, a tip for the ladies room attendant and taxi fare jic.

Debora

 

What they said, but..... Given that it's a silver purse, that might be a synthetic/lab sapphire. Alexandrite/neodynium glass is purple in daylight and blue in fluorescent lighting and your stone is reversed. IIRC the sapphires are blue in daylight and purple in artificial lighting.

 

It is .935 silver so most likely German. It is a beauty.