Plastic Handbags: Sculpture to Wear

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.

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.

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.