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1940's Whiting & Davis Gold Mesh Purse
Get all the glamour in a small package!! This diminutive beauty can be attached to clothing, jewelry, belt loops or even wrapped over your finger for safety and convenience. Goes as great with an evening gown as it does with a great pair of jeans. A unique find! Mesh is in perfect condition. Kiss Lock Closure. Stamped with 'Whiting & Davis Bags'. Some minimal discolorations in the lining due to makeup. 4.5 x 4.5 inches.

• Era: 1940's

• Condition: Excellent

 
$75.00
 

The Whiting and Davis Company, located in Plainville, Massachusetts is the oldest purse company in the US and is responsible for a great variety of exceptional mesh purses as well as other accessories. Although Whiting & Davis started as a jewelry firm in 1876, they made the first mesh bag in 1892. Because of the immense popularity of the mesh handbag, other companies began manufacturing them, including the Mandalian Manufacturing Co. of  North Attleboro, Mass. By the early 1940's, Mandalian closed it's doors and Whiting & Davis acquired their mesh making machines.By the 1920's mesh bags were offered in a large spectrum of colors and fashionable designs, including enameled, Dresden and pearlized enamel finishes. Fabulous enameled flat mesh purses, known as armored mesh, were offered in varied colors and a constant parade of unusual patterns. Most of the bags made from 1929 to 1932 were patterned by silk screening where the baby ring mesh took on a soft, hazy, romantic appearance much like a blurred water color. This technique was done by hand over several days by applying one color at a time and allowing 24 hours of drying between colors.
Additional styles made popular by the Whiting & Davis Co. were the Princess Mary which had an envelope-shaped body and an interesting flap-over top, the Princess Mary Dansant with it's exterior coin purse attached to a bag with a strap



 
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