Plastic Handbags: Sculpture to Wear

by Kate E. Dooner

Imagine taking a pink plastic handbag to go shopping The handbags that originated in the 1950s are recurring as popular collectibles today. Over 300 handbags in this book are displayed in color photographs to reveal the beauty of these tiny sculptures of art. The most productive manufacturers of plastic handbags are featured in separate sections, including Llewellyn, Rialto, Myles Originals, Tyrolean, Wilardy, and more. These unusual gems of wearable...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887404669
• ISBN13: 9780887404665
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

A delight to browse through and an indispensable guide for professional dealers and dedicated collec

Now in an updated second edition, Plastic Handbags: Sculpture To Wear by Kate E. Dooner is a visual guide to the handbag as an art form and as a collectible. Complete with an up-to-date price guide, this compendium of vintage plastic handbags that were originally introduced in the late 1920s and early 1930s, continued in popularity through the 1960s. The more than 300 handbags showcased are arranged by their manufactured. Plastic Handbags: Sculpture To Wear is a delight to browse through and an indispensable guide for professional dealers and dedicated collectors.

A Better Than Average Reference Book

Although it's in no way as beautiful as "A Certain Style", this is a better than average reference book on plastic handbags, particularly for beginners. There are a few huge misidentification issues (eg: inclusion of the common and dreadful 1970s Merle Norman cosmetics giveaway as a legitimate 1950s handbag.) The price guide is out of touch with the market --- but what price guide isn't? Based on the sheer number of bags shown, it's definitely a must have for any lucite purse collector.

Is is art or is it a handbag? You gotta have this book!!

The photos may not be as large as those in "A Certain Style, the Art of the Plastic Handbag" (out of print now anyway), but there are many more bags featured and they are just as magnificent. The grouping of the bags according to manufacturer is helpful, too! The price guide is not perfect, but they never are, and this one still gives a good idea of which styles and features are more valuable. No lucite purse collecter can be without this book.