Carry Off A Beaded Bag

The Saturday Early Show's Collectibles Expert Tony Hyman, author of Trash or Treasure: Guide to Buyers, takes a look at collectible purses.

Men and women have enjoyed beaded bags for a thousand years. There are a great many common beaded bags worth little. Attractively designed bags with good workmanship and interesting patterns bring from $50 to $500.

Beaded bags can be lovely, but they are very fragile. Condition, craftsmanship, pattern, design and overall aesthetic appeal all contribute to the value, with collectible purses selling between $25 and $1,000.

All beadwork is labor intensive, especially the highly prized bags with sophisticated designs made possible by using beads so small you get 18 to 22 of them in an inch.

A hundred years ago, you could buy purses made of steel rings woven into a mesh fabric but nobody really cared until the Roaring '20s when companies began to paint their purses with colorful and sometimes outrageous designs.

Today's collectors pay $50 to $150 for purses with geometric, floral or Oriental rug designs and up to $300 for purses depicting birds, animals, people, landscapes or cartoon characters, the more unusual and detailed the better. They may pay twice as much if it has a woman's compact built in.

In the 1920s the wealthy bought mesh purses in sterling or gold but lots of plain metal bags were also produced including many gold- and silver-colored ones worth almost nothing today.

Celebrities promoted purses as special gifts and keepsakes so people kept them tucked away in drawers, only to be found today - in fine condition.

Striking design and overall appeal can raise the value of painted and beaded purses up to $2,000 so it is important to get expert advice.

Find out more about mesh purses from 30-year veteran collectors Mike and Sherry Miller, at their email address miller@tuscola.net. The Millers collect high-grade enameled mesh purses in perfect condition and a narrow range of beaded purses. They will answer questions on mesh or beaded purses.

Another resource on beaded purses is Leslie Holms, a long-time collector of all types of beaded, enameled and plastic purses. She may be reached at melas@jps.net and is available to answer questions about all types of purses.

If you think you have a collectible worth a lot of cash, send an email to sat@cbsnews.com with "What's It Worth?" in the subject line. Or write to "What's It Worth?" The Saturday Early Show, 514 West 57th St., 6th floor, New York, N.Y. 1001.