The Purse Museum
ANTIQUE PURSES & HANDBAGS
an online visual collection
20th Century Beaded Bags
About Collecting Purses
inspiring designs ... what collecting is all about ... it doesn't need to be rare or expensive ... just something that you like.
collecting purses has some advantages ... one of the most important being size ... they are portable ... they are small .... they have history ... and they take any form you can imagine
enjoy the museum
1918 Miner’s Wife’s Purse from Arizona
My First Antique Purse
before I was a collector …
While on my honeymoon in 1969, I found an interesting purse in a shop in Bisbee, Arizona, an old mining town. That was the first purse I purchased that I never intended to use.
Years later (1980's) I began going to antique shows in search of interesting objects to use in my handmade jewelry. I also found purses too nice to recycle and too inexpensive to ignore.
In 2012 I joined the Antique Purse Collectors Society, and created my first Purse Museum website.
Vicki Schwager
click on photos to enlarge - use arrows to scroll
The purse is not just for dress up, but a small piece of history.
World events, social norms, and new inventions all influence purse design
Collecting purses is a passion!
Little Girls Grow Up
Yes.. this is me with my Mom’s 1950’s lucite purse.
I didn’t know then, in my childhood dress up days, that I would grow up to collect antique purses.
