How fabulous is this bag! Rhetorical question, it is absolutely fabulous and we love it. It is a handbag made from the finest quality skins in excellent supple condition with no cracking or drying out. It is made from the same type and quality porosus skins used by Hermes in making their very sought after handbags. It has obviously been very well cared for and is in excellent almost mint condition. The front of the handbag has the distinctive and very attractive pattern of scales usually seen on Hermes and other high end handbags. The skin has a very appealing mirror finish, with minimal loss of shine and no major abrasions to the front or back, just a slight rubbing to the surface.
The handbag closes with a silver tone clasp, in full working order. Above the clasp, as a decoration, is an elegant silver tone chain, reminiscent of a horse bit. The handle is fixed to the body of the handbag with firm, silver tone, quality mounts which are hinged. A nice feature of the handle is the ends, which flare slightly at the bottom, covering the joins to the mounts. The metal work, both on the chain and the handle mounts, is untarnished. The base of the handbag, which is seen in the photos below, is also in excellent condition with no wear. The seams around the edges of the handbag are piped, an indication of quality and finish.
The handbag lining is black soft leather which is in excellent condition and more black than the photos show. It is split into two compartments with a zipped section in between. The rear section has a small zipped pocket and a slip pocket both edged in crocodile skin. On the slip pocket in gilt is a logo with a crocodile, the initials dk and 'Made in W Germany' and 'Guaranteed reptile leather'. The front compartment is a simple open space.The leather lining has minor scuffs commensurate with light use but no stains, splits or tears. The pièce de résistance is an adorable little bevelled mirror, backed with matching crocodile skin, which extends about an inch from the mirror so that it can be held without getting fingerprints on the glass, how cool is that...
If this is anything to go by, the Germans are just as good at designing and engineering their handbags as they are their cars. The styling is gorgeous, very Jackie Kennedy and typical of early 60's handbags made in exotic skins by high end European companies such as Hermes and Gucci. Superb quality, save yourself the price of a small hatchback, send back the Birkin and buy this.
Perfect gift for her.
It is a very dainty 10" x 9" x 1.5" (4"fully expanded)