eBay

shoshone5 · ‎05-01-2017

I have a Leather purse very nice and large in size with goldtone accents the inside of bag is Purple silky lining and has a bow with Henri Bendel marking on the inside

Outer purse has goldtone corners with say the same Henri Bendel

I would like to list it but would like to make sure it is a REAL BENDEL being that the price may get to the Hundreds being such a nice purse.

jsales0 · ‎05-01-2017

Department store labels aren't faked. Your bag is a private label bag made by a handbag company for Bendel's.

debora_34_ · ‎05-01-2017

There's an important before and after for HENRI BENDEL though which may affect desirablity. That's 1985 when it was bought by THE LIMITED. Before then, HENRI BENDEL was a high end New York speciality store. Since then, it's been struggling as a national mall brand.

Debra

jsales0 · ‎05-01-2017

That's absolutely true as nothing was like Bendel's IMO when Bendel's was Bendel's (and they carried my jewelry in the 70s) but even then, the private label stuff, though unquestionably better product than it is today, was still the lower end stuff that they could buy on the cheap and private label for huge margins-that's where stores make their markups-there's a limit to how much they can push it on brands carried by others so either way this is not a particularly valuable piece unless it's made of an exotic or there's something else unique about it but regardless, the OP doesn't have to worry about authenticity. JMO

debora_34_ · ‎05-01-2017

JMO too. But at least the "old" HENRI BENDEL private label handbags were non-Chinese manufactured and adhered to the store's design aesthetic (to some degree.)

Debora

jsales0 · ‎05-01-2017

Agree 😁

debora_34_ · ‎05-02-2017

And clever you to have sold to BENDEL's in the 1970s. Would love to see an example of your work (if you have nothing better to do than take the time to post a photograph.)

Debora

jsales0 · ‎05-02-2017

Thanks but that's too personal for me. I was designing jewelry for a few friends in the early 70s and living in DC. I wore a piece to a party and Nina Hyde (the fashion editor of the Washington Post-she was a legend) was there and loved my work and wrote an article on me. I was way too young to deal with the response but accepted Bendel's orders. Claire Hall was the buyer-she was incredibly chic-I pretty much idolized her. Sold to them for a few years and then decided that I hated sitting home alone working all day and quit. I should have started a real business hiring people to string for me but I stupidly wanted each piece to be unique. I'll still string an occasional piece as a gift but that's it. Looking back, I was dumber than dumb but at least I can say that my work was carried by the best of the best. After I quit I went back into retail in the shoe business and then onto a wholesale career. It was a long time ago LOL.