Flowers and Birds as Inspiration in Beaded Purse Collection

Those who know me know I have a fairly extensive collection of vintage and antique mesh and beaded purses, mostly dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries. I am a member of the Antique Purse Collectors Society, some of whose members' collections rival those of world museums. There are members within the society whose knowledge of purses through history have led to reference books highly regarded on the subject among collectors. We even have members who are still preserving the art of hand beading and restoring these gems today.

Capturing the essence of spring in the designs with flowers and birds, I thought I'd share a small portion of my beaded purse collection - just one type of the many purses I've collected - which reflects the skill of these little works of art. Grab a drink and get ready for lots of photos. I hope you enjoy!

Many of my purses have come directly from long-time collectors' collections (noted within this post, from the collection of), including those pictured immediately above (tulips, Czechoslovakian), and below, both from the Evelyn Haertig collection. The handbag below is featured on page 74 of her reference book titled, "Restoring and Collecting Antique Beaded Bags".

Other handbags in my collection have been scoured from online websites over the years. As is true with any collection, trying to buy nearly perfect examples is key. I am showing some of my best examples of florals and birds, but I have plenty of lesser examples from my early years of collecting.

The example pictured below (roses) has a chatelaine clip (worn on the waist), and is framed in sterling with British hallmarks, monogrammed 'Anne Vaughan Heins'. It has a push button opening. Although the bag is in very good condition, it has no beaded fringe (but probably did at one time). Replacing fringe is an acceptable restoration in the eyes of handbag experts if done professionally.

Glass beads used in antique purses were primarily manufactured in Venice, Italy, and in Czechoslovakia. Value of purses is dependent on size of beads used (smaller = generally more valuable). Most examples are either hand knitted. woven, embroidered, netted or crocheted, worked in a horizontal and vertical looping technique. Hand knitted beaded purses were mostly made in Germany, historically speaking. The purse below depicts chrysanthemums, and one notable flaw is a few missed counts in bead colors used on the yellow mum (see approximately halfway through the flower and the horizontal line).

The example below has various florals including iris, forsythia, carnations, roses and morning glories, with a twisted loop fringe. Fringe styles can often denote German makers' origin and can be determined by the trained eye (I am not that trained!). The styles of fringe include ball and tassel, plain or twisted loop, plain stick or stick and loop, basket weave, or some combination of these mentioned.

Pictured below is a primarily white glass beaded bag with roses and violets, and a unique, Italian micro mosaic frame. Desirability among collectors can be increased significantly not only by smaller beads in the bag's body, but also when frames used to attach the bags are unusual or jeweled. Jewels may be semi-precious or precious. Precious metal frames, and marked frames by noted jewelers such as Cartier or Tiffany are prized. Other frames can be made of brass, tortoise shell, bakelite or celluloid.

The bag below was machine made (roses and peacock with a celluloid, gate mouth frame), and has a basket weave fringe. The lining is cotton, but many finer purses are typically lined in silk. The bag is in good condition and has a nice, intricate fringe, but would be of lesser value than a handmade bag of similar design.

The example below is knitted columbines - a lesser common floral theme - with a twisted loop fringe, from the collection of Mary Littiken.

Elaborate tassels are part of the appeal on the reticule (drawstring) with roses bag below. It was made in France.

Many French-made beaded bags were made from cut steel beads. The handbag pictured below is one such example, with a Cupid center medallion and rose bordered design, from the collection of Shara Stewart. The fringe is stick and ball, with a push button opening. Steel beaded bags can be determined by testing with a magnet. If the magnet does not stick, the bag is likely made of aluminum beads - another, more modern bead.

The handbag below has a predominantly brown background glass bead, with roses and other florals, a jeweled frame, kisslock opening. From the collection of Lori Blaser.

The French-made handbag below has a beautifully draped knitted body with floral spray, and a coral and gilt frame, push button opening.

The frame on the bag below is 800 sterling silver, with a cherub harvest design frame and floral baskets for the chain, predominantly roses in the body (beaded tassel fringe on ball are missing).

Another example below shows beaded florals and fruits on enameled and jeweled frame, kisslock opening, and simple stick fringe, from the collection of Mary Nunn.

The bag below, while missing its fringe, is desirable because it is a Tiffany sterling frame. The lilacs are a less common floral design found, also increasing the desirability for collectors.

Some floral beaded purses take on more complex designs, such as the scenic beaded purse with garden, gates, staircase, lake and trees with jeweled frame, push button opening shown below. From the collection of Shara Stewart. The scene is repeated on the reverse, as are all of the bags in this post, unless otherwise noted.

Also from the collection of Shara Stewart (and probably a top favorite in my personal collection) is a rare example of a two-sided, beaded scenic garden and lake. Side one depicts people in boat on the lake, with jeweled fob closure.

Side 2 depicts lake with sailboats, and floral path to the water.

Detail of the jeweled fob.

Other beaded handbags appeal to me for the combination of florals with birds, as in the example of floral and macaw bird reticule below.

The beaded bluebirds and cherry blossoms, while a favorite for its design, is another example of a machine made handbag.

Lastly, another example of beaded bluebirds on branches with florals. The intricacy of the design appeals to me for its realistic capture of the birds and flowers. From the collection of Kathy Gunderson.

My first advice for any would-be purse collector would be to seek out what you love. These handbags all appealed to me for my love of gardening - florals and birds. I have several categories of the types of purses I love and have collected, most of which may be seen on my Pinterest account on separate boards by their category (such as antique beaded purses, mesh purses, children's purses, etc.).

I hope you enjoyed this portion of my purse collection, and that it has provided a bit of spring gardening inspiration for you. If you have any questions concerning this or the Antique Purse Collectors Society, I will be happy to answer or refer you to one who can if I do not have the answer. If you do not want to comment below, feel free to email me: wv.panoply@gmail.com. As always, thank you for your readership!

Rita C. at Panoply

(A special thank you to Amber of Follow the Yellow Brick Home's Celebrating the Arrival of Spring at Thursday Favorite Things and to Barbara of French Ethereal's Share Your Style #249 for featuring this post!)

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Life is but a dream

I just wanted to give pause and pay tribute with thoughts of a blog friend today. I just read Kris' blog post this morning, letting readers know of Mary Ferguson's passing away. She wrote the blog, mydogsmygardenandmary. You may recognize Mary from her profile picture below, and her lovely comments she may have left on your blog in the past.

I have a very sweet story I want to relay to my readers about Mary and my recent purge. I had a set of dishes which I had created a tablescape with back in January.

Mary wrote this comment on that post:

My aunts (3) had this pattern and when my Aunt Nell died mother got her dishes. I was living in So CA when my mother died and I had to go back to Ohio to make the funeral arrangements. MY mother was living with another lady and was in the process of moving to an apartment. Well of course when I got there the lady said she didn't know where my mother was moving to, which I didn't believe, but what could I do. So I had my mother shipped to Roanoke, VA and the funeral home came and picked her up at the C & O station. We took her home to Springwood, VA where she was buried.

Sorry to give you so much background, but I did find 2 platters and one plate of the Azalea china. I have always wanted to finish the the set, but life got into the way.

I really love this pattern, it is stunning. So I really enjoyed your tablescape of these beautiful dishes. It is certainly a wonderful table for Valentines Day.

Everytime I look at them in the hutch I have wonderful memories of times past.

I then wrote to Mary and asked her if she would like to have these dishes as part of my purge. She declined, but then wrote me back the next day, saying this:

Rita, after not sleeping all night thinking about those beautiful dishes that I have wanted all of my life since I was 21. 

That was enough for me to box them up and get them sent to Mary!

Her reply, knowing they were soon coming:

I am so excited to think that I have finally found these dishes.  You can rest assured that they will be loved very much.  I can hardly wait to tell my friend Phyllis, Around the House (blog) as we were just talking about them the other night and she was looking them up on Google as we talked,  she is going to faint.

I have treasured those 3 plates that I have since 1956 and they have traveled from Clifton Forge, VA to Jefferson, Ohio, Peoria, IL, Chicago, Il, Fresno CA, San Diego, CA, Anaheim, CA and the last 35 years here at my home in Fullerton.  I can't begin to tell you how much they will be loved and to say thank you ever so much.

After boxing them all up, and letting Mary know the cost to ship, I wanted to be sure she was willing to bear the cost of shipping. Mary's reply came swiftly:

Yes, I still want the dishes and I am so excited.  Once again thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I never dreamed in a million years that I would ever get a set of these dishes. 

On February 24, I received this email from Mary:

Dear Rita:

The dishes arrived about 4 p.. and my postman stacked them on the porch.  I got them inside but didn't have time to unpack or check anything out.

This morning I kinda slept in for me - got up made my coffee, fed the dogs had a little breakfast and I started unpacking.  You get first prize for packing - nothing was broken and everything was perfect.  I had a wonderful time unpacking all those beautiful dishes.  Oh they brought back such wonderful memories of our Sunday dinners.  I guess when I was about 9 years old I fell in love with beautiful dishes and it has continued off and on through the years.  When I quit working and retired then I started collecting again.  Not old dishes but pretty ones to do tablescapes.

These beautiful dishes are so loved and the story will continue long after I die.  I am leaving them to my granddaughter, Kelly.  I am going to write a short story about these stunning dishes for Kelly and the history of them.  I will probably do a post about them.

I am putting the check [for shipping] in the mail after I finish this email.  Off to a luncheon for a friend who's back in town for a little while.

Enjoy your weekend and thank you from the bottom of my heart - they have a good home.

Love,

Mary

Another email, reiterating her excitement, that same day:

Rita, I can't begin to thank you for this beautiful gift.  I shall treasure it for the rest of my life and plan on leaving it to my sweet beautiful granddaughter.

I can't believe that your sisters dil didn't want the dishes.  I love when there is history to them.

So sorry about your friend passing.  It's so hard to give up people that we love.

I am exhausted after the Chinese New Years party and attending a luncheon that was here from the Philippines.  I have the dishes all set out on my dining room table ready to be placed into my hutch.  Some of the pieces are stunning and I haven't seen anything like that before.  My friend Roberta picked me up to go to lunch and I showed them to her.  She was stunned and thought that they were beautiful.

So again my friend, thank you so very much.  I;m off to bed.

Have a terrific Sunday.

Love

Mary 

On March 1, we were all getting spring fever. Mary wrote this email:

My friend  came over and helped me clean out my hutch and we put the beautiful dishes in there.

Thank you again -  I love them.

Have a great warm weekend.  I worked in the yard all morning planting some foxgloves (one of my favorites).

Mary

March 19, a note from Mary:

I wanted to do a post about the beautiful dishes and I didn't want to mention your name if you did not want me to.  I can word it differently.  Just let me know what you would like me to do.

Mary

I wrote Mary back, saying sure, she could post whatever she wanted to. Mary had some health issues and was awaiting a procedure that I know she mentioned being concerned over. I don't know if she passed away before, during or after that procedure. 

Mary, I sure hope a glorious table is set for you as you envisioned it. I'm happy for you. You will be missed.

In other thoughts, my dad would have been 100 years old today! He was a good man, and I hope he's celebrating his heavenly birthday with all his family and friends who have passed from this earthly life. Life is but a dream.

Thank you all for your readership and friendship. Blogging has brought many friends into my life.

Rita C. at Panoply

Art Walk in the Garden

Hello, everyone! If you're visiting today via Amber's blog post at Follow the Yellow Brick Home, welcome! Today I'm participating with a group of fellow bloggers, taking you through my garden, sharing my touches of vintage decor interspersed throughout my landscape. A quick stroll through my Zone 7a garden is one of the things I love doing early each morning in the growing season, especially summer months. I like adding artful objects among my plants, but try to use restraint so it doesn't appear as clutter (like someone's yard sale). Let's have a walk around and I'll show you what I mean. It's an art walk in the garden!

Mixed floral wreaths are my favorite way to add color on the front porch of the house. For the adjacent landscape, I keep one large yard flag at the far back so it draws the eye from the street. I rotate my collection of flags through the monthly holidays.

Also on the porch is an antique cast iron urn in the corner, filled with either a plant or other seasonal decor. A metal orb and vintage sundial rest at the base of the urn. The urn is decorated with a couple of flags the last week of May and first week of July.

Below is my current view in late July of the East side of the garden, as seen through the garden gate. Knockout roses trained against the brick wall (L) are in their second flush. Dwarf butterfly bushes are now blooming in foreground, mounds of spirea just beyond, and butterfly bush tree forms in back. My limelight hydrangea is blooming behind the bench, and the flag is central to the landscape, with hostas at the base.

Opposite of the view captured above, another sundial sits on an antique concrete pedestal in a now open area where an azalea was previously situated (transplanted this past spring further left). The pedestal is now situated among a wood  and copper tuteur (with clematis in bloom, in the background), and a hand-blown glass orb on a copper pipe with forged leaves. 

At dusk, the orb lights up with all the other landscape lights, and gives the illusion of a low-lying moon in the front garden.

This year I added a hand-thrown pottery totem in the garden, with a single frog prince sitting on a lily pad. The artist who created it also makes other clay ornaments which can be stacked additionally on the metal stake for a true totem, but I used my "less is more" restraint here.

I like how he peers among the Otto Luykens shrubs behind my Summer and Fall seasonal cherubs.

Pictured below are the other seasons - Winter and Spring - in the summer garden. 🙂 My four seasonal cherubs were sourced from a local antique store.

Ultimately, the frog prince ended up on one side of the front annual flower beds, peering behind the boxwoods. I wanted to be able to see him as I come and go through the front door. The same is true for seeing a cast iron bunny which rests on the stoop on the other side of the front beds. Both are hardly visible to passersby, unless they're looking really closely.

My favorite little guy in the garden reads all day, every day. I received him as a gift more than 10 years ago, and I named him Augustine. He's a brut at just 3 feet tall and 250 pounds!

The art doesn't end in the garden. Even though my sunroom is architecturally enclosed, that part of my house is really an extension of the outdoors with an all-glass ceiling and French doors which open to the outdoor courtyard. I have a collection of garden items, and keep several in my sunroom on my baker's rack, some year-round. The antique seed box on the bottom shelf was an auction win/purchase several years ago. Recently harvested lavender dries from hooks on the top shelf.

The water pail on my baker's rack with a string of lights pouring from the spout is a new look this summer.

This little cast iron bird on branch has been perched in a birdbath and also used as a doorstop before, but right now it rests on a shelf with a small nesting pocket and scrabble tiles stating the obvious.

On the sunroom floor beside the baker's rack are a couple found crates, filled with random garden tools I pick up at [mostly] estate sales. At any time these tools may be placed in service. I just like collecting them for their shape, trademarks, handles, cost (cheap!) - all these reasons, as if I needed one.

Back outside, through the French doors of the sunroom, a couple more water pails are kept in the courtyard, mostly for replenishing the birdbath on hot days, and for gentle watering of transplants. The abandoned nests were extracted in early July from the courtyard roses.

The birds were smart when they built their nests against the brick wall, behind the thorny climbers. One was on the far left climbing rose in the photo below, the other on the far right. At the base of these roses (archive photo from May), you can see a few pieces of yard art (L to R): dancing frogs, my rain gauge, my Bunny Van Gogh, a small birdfeeder, and a wind chime hanging on the light fixture.

By July, most of this art at ground level can hardly be seen for the lavender growth.

Another area of knockout roses are planted in the front garden and are blooming for the second time this season.

Just behind these roses are the Lord Baltimore hibiscus plants I did not stake for the first time in this garden's history. They're still blooming, and can be seen from inside the house, but not visible from beyond the roses.

That's okay, though, because the birds still love the privacy the plants provide while bathing in their favorite birdbath of mine, just behind the roses and at the edge of the hibiscus. I caught these two robins from just inside the garden gate, taking turns jumping in.

One of my new favorite flower beds is on the west side of my landscape. Against the wall I have a large specimen plant, a Weeping Cedar Atlas (you can read more about it by clicking on the link). In front, I have (L to R) coneflowers (transplanted last year), zinnias (planted this year from seed), years old salvia and black-eyed Susans, all in repeat plantings, with barely visible sedum (Autumn Joy) as bookends in the flower bed.

A broken zinnia flower stem after a rainstorm inspired me to cut more flowers in the garden, and make the bouquet pictured below. This is one of the very best perks of having a garden, and there's no better art than God's beauty in nature!

An overhead view of the flower bouquet: a rose in bloom with bud on stem, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, the single zinnia, limelight hydrangeas, and butterfly bush stems. A virtual bouquet, from me to you!

I'll leave you with a shot of my guardian angel in the garden. He's a thumbsucking cherub, perched on one of the brick fence posts and looking west, over the landscape. In the background is an age-old, very tall sassafras on our riverbank, with the city hills beyond as its backdrop. A little slice of heaven in the city. I hope you enjoyed this little artwalk through my Zone 7a garden today.

Postscript 7-25-18:

I have added a video walk through of my garden, taken on the evening this post was published (July 23, 2018). I've added commentary, noting some of the plantings and pointing out a few of the hardscape mentioned in this post. I hope you enjoy it.

I'd like to thank Amber from Follow the Yellow Brick Home for organizing this group of bloggers with a tour of our vintage gardens, whether it be flowers, vignettes or both. I hope you enjoyed your art walk in my Panoply garden. Next on the garden tour is Laura at Decor to Adore. I know you'll want to spend time visiting her, as well as the other bloggers on the tour, and you can easily do that with by clicking on the picture links conveniently located below. Enjoy the tour!

If you're new to my blog, I hope you'll join in the conversation with a comment so I'll know you were here. If you enjoyed this art walk in the garden, you may enjoy my latest post of closeups of the plantings in my summer landscape, here. Feel free to browse my menu bar (on my main web page, just beneath my header), or use the search button on the sidebar, just below the labels, which you can also scroll through to see my main topics. Thanks for your visit!

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As always, thank you for your visit!

Rita C. at Panoply

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