Teeny weeny little purse - who made it, and what for?

Husband collects mail - not furtive enough. He has realized over the years that moving from a small house to a slightly larger house to a REALLY big house has only given me more space for acquisitions.

 

It does, doesn't it ?
BTW....it's the parasols that knocked me for a loop !

 

Bev, I have two pairs of red maryjane type shoes that I get out at Christmas and put on the window sill (fans of St. Nick, please copy). One pair was for a doll, but I have a feeling the other pair was for a little person.

 

Maybe a sovereign purse?

 

At first I was thinking change purse with room for a tissue or hanky but doll purse does make more sense after seeing the other doll items. It's very nice.

 

Looks like a run of the mill coin purse which would go in a lady's handbag that just happens to have been made with a handle, possibly to make it easier to fish out of the handbag or to hold it by while digging out coins.

I think the doll connection is fanciful, do remember that when this was made no great amount of money was spent on kids bits and pieces the way it is today.

 

Personally, am doubtful that it's a doll purse, though it would probably work well for large dolls - at that size and with such a small handle, suspect it's likely a 1910s-20s child's purse, though some ladies purses were not much larger (also doubt it was intended to slip into a larger bag). While the tiny little bag linked on post #12 is clearly for a doll, believe the piece on post #13 is also a child's purse.

Not where I can run through any old catalogs for similar examples at the moment, but can check later...

~Cheryl

 

My vote is that it is an especially lovely doll's purse.

 

Yikes! Can't speak for AF, but totally untrue in my case - wish I had a buck for every mistake I've made, would be a wealthy woman...

Did note the similarity of the bag in post #17 pic, but seemed just a selection of small items that could be used with dolls , not all necessarily toys - the mesh bags were a very common adult item, can even see the finger-ring on one...

~Cheryl

 

I don't know what the US practice is but British women (possibly not now but up to recent times) have a handbag which usually contains a huge amount of junk, always containing a purse which is typically the size of this object, just for money and nowadays various plastic cards.

In my opinion if this was meant to look like a miniature handbag,it would look more like a handbag of the period and less like a totally normal purse with an unusual handle. An idea that never caught on.

Just because stuff is in a doll related auction does not mean it is doll's stuff, it's just that the auctioneers thought it could be or could be passed off as such.

 

Ya well, anything could be anything.......but this gal really seems to know her stuff......so at a major auction like this , to slip in items of speculative origin in front of a room of high end collectors ....would seem to me to be counter productive......

If you like dolls , they have 2 videos of the highlights.....here's #2...

 

and it gets better.....

https://www.youtube.com/user/theriaultdollauction

 

Founded in 1970 by Florence and George Theriault, the firm has specialized exclusively in the appraisal and auction of antique dolls and childhood playthings...

I mean...what......ya want experts or what ??

Everyone has an opinion .....so take it for what it's worth.....and after much looking around...... I like their opinion !

 

And it does look like outrageous amounts for cash were spent on some of these dolls and their accessories..

 

Have to run out again now, but looked through a few retailer's catalogs, and I'm not much on dolls, but did run through some toy catalogs too - didn't find anything there, but perhaps someone might find doll purses in their references. The clips below show some similar in size and also show some small adult bags - not planning on looking any further for some that might be closer in appearance (if selling, I'd definitely suggest it might be used as a doll purse too...).

~Cheryl

Kiddies' or Misses' purses of similar size - 1920:


Children's purses and small adult purses - 1918:


Small adult bags and a little girls' - 1922:


Small adult pocket-book - 1917:


Small adult hand-bag - 1915:


Variety of sizes in mesh bags - 1912:


Tiny mesh purse with finger-ring, similar to those shown in the doll accessories photo - 1920:

 

Nantucket Baskets are high-end purses woven on the island by families who've been doing it for generations. They usually have an inset piece of scrimshaw on the lid. Older ones are worth thousands. I have a Nantucket Basket necklace. Ladies never give a purse without a penny in it for luck, so even these have a penny. Here's my favorite miniature.