Hammer falls on ‘the most famous bag in the world’
ALADIES handbag that had been sitting unused in a wardrobe for years provided quite a surprise when it went for more than double the most optimistic predictions in a recent auction at the Old Wool Mart.
It was of course a rather special handbag, indeed it has been described as ‘the most famous bag in the world’: A Chanel Classic Double Flap, created in 1983 by Karl Lagerfeld, the legendary designer who had been brought in to revive the fortunes of the then ailing fashion house. The diamond-quilted bag was made with Chanel’s socalled ‘caviar’ leather, grained calfskin, said to be particularly resistant to staining, marks or r scratches, and it was also amongst the first bags to feature the distinctive distin intertwined twin CC turnlock fastening.
The T example that tha we put under the hammer not only on came with a Chanel Ch authentic- ity card but also a great gre provenance. e. Our Ou vendor r bought bo it – brand new - when she sh was living in London back in the in the 1980s. Now resident de in our area she had been doing d some spring sorting out and an decided to part with the bag that had not been used for some years.
Current interest in vintage and classic designer bags is really strong and so it went into i the auction with what seemed s a robust pre-sale esti
mate of £800 - £1,200. On the day that turned out to be a conservative valuation, soon passed as bidders in the room and on the Internet got involved in the action. The hammer finally went down at £2,600 – and the Classic Double Flap was on its way back to London.
And that result was not just a flash in the pan. A later Chanel bag, a Triple CC Logo handbag dating from the early 2000s, made another £600, snapped up by a local bidder present in the room. Meanwhile, a 1984
Chanel CC triple strand leather and chain belt, another Lagerfeld-inspired fashion accessory, is on its way to the North East after a lady living in the Middlesborough area bid £660 for it, again more than double top pre-sale estimate.
As these results indicate, there is phenomenal saleroom interest – and serious money to be made - in luxury designer products and when these things do come up for auction they are attracting bidding from a wide audience that not only includes people who want to use or wear these things but also collectors of various kinds, private individuals and specialist traders, both in this country and abroad.
Of course, luxury design goes way beyond Chanel and handbags. Column readers will be aware of the astonishing results that are being achieved in the saleroom for top name timepieces.
Rolex and other watches that were bought for hundreds back in the day are now selling for thousands. The recent auction meanwhile saw a retractable nib Montblanc fountain pen, with its leather case, make £520, and several Hermes ladies scarves each achieve results ranging from £95 to £130.
The various sections of the antiques and collectors market change with the fashions and interests of the day but quality always sells. Mind you few people would have imagined that a handbag costing £300 back in the 1980s would be worth almost ten times as much forty years later.
Believe it or not there are some enthusiasts who say now remains a good time to buy. From what we’ve seen in the last few weeks, now is surely a pretty good time to sell!