Judith Lieber purse question.

[lulu348]

I just found and purchased a vintage Judith Lieber Burgundy Snakeskin purse for $175, it was 50% off. It has its dust bag, coin purse and little comb. I don’t really know much about this designer, but would like to find out the age of the purse and it’s approx. Cost. How do I go about doing that, or is it even possible. I’m not sure whether I should keep or resell. Thanks for your help.

 

[Christofle]

Judith Leiber is known for her ornate bedazzled clutches so your bag isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when someone pictures the brand.

As for valuation your best bet is to look up completed online sales listings to see what people are paying for them.

 

[lulu348]

Thank you for your response. I have been looking and these small snakeskins of various shapes and sizes are selling between about $150 to $450. When I was searching at the store the latter is what I was coming up with. Some people were saying they originally retailed for $1209-$1300, but who knows. That’s what I was hoping to find out, too.

 

[Tartlet]

I’m curious. Did you buy it because you love it and intend to use it? Or did you buy it thinking it was potentially underpriced and you could flip it for a profit?

If it’s the former, does the resale value even matter?

if it’s the later, I’d encourage you to do your own research and educate yourself before asking others to do it for you. Check eBay, TheRealReal, Fashionphile, Yoogi’s and good old Google (and Google images) for Judith Lieber or Judith Lieber snakeskin. It will take you a little bit of research and you’ll find there’s a lot of variables and factors unique to each designer.

If you’re looking at bag flipping as a hobby or side job it’s best to do your own homework. Resale is a moving target and depends on many things. That being said, there’s not much interest in this label outside of the miniaudieres.

With such a limited posting history, it’s a bit off putting to jump right in asking others to help you put a value on a bag which seems to be purchased solely to try and make a profit from rather than as an afficinado of the brand.

 

[lulu348]

what a nasty post. moving on.

 

[Christofle]

Thank you for your response. I have been looking and these small snakeskins of various shapes and sizes are selling between about $150 to $450. When I was searching at the store the latter is what I was coming up with. Some people were saying they originally retailed for $1209-$1300, but who knows. That’s what I was hoping to find out, too.

Unfortunately for most vintage bags conserving even 10% of original MSRP would be impressive. (Most go for pennies on the dollar especially obscure models that are unknown)

 

[jellyv]

You bought at the resale price for a bag like this already, so it's not going to be a moneymaker. It's very cute and I bet you'd enjoy using it.

 

[Tartlet]

Perhaps I could have been kinder in my response. I’ll try to offer some gentler advice.

This particular bag was priced at its current value when you bought it. It’s not a popular label, nor is it what the label is best known for. It’s very off brand for Judith Lieber.

Being an exotic skin material is another factor that limits its value and popularity. Exotic skin bags depreciate very quickly (excluding perhaps Hermes or Chanel) due to lack of demand and have only a small audience of aficionados. There’s a pretty large market of purse buyers that will not go near anything exotic for ethical reasons. So unfortunately this bag has a more limited target market from the start.

I’m not being purposefully negative, I’m giving information to keep in mind about this particular brand.

Now that you’ve purchased it, it is considered used. It may be “new with tags”, but it’s still used. That caps the “value” of this particular purse below what you paid for it. I’d guess no more than $100.00 if you were to try and sell it on your own. If you go with the consignment option, they might price it at $200 or $250, but they’ll take their cut if it sells and you’ll either break even or come out at a “loss”.

Ultimately, it’s a cute shape that reminds me of the Bottega Veneta pouches that were popular last year. That could work in your favour if looking to sell it

But on the whole, I think the most likely scenario is you won’t find a buyer interested in paying more than what you purchased it for.

If you’re unsure in the future, a good rule of thumb to remember is that pretty much nothing other than Hermes or Chanel has a chance of being resold for anything close to the last known retail sale price.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[lulu348]

I actually purchased this at a thrift store. I thought it was darling, and I loved the color, it’s in near perfect condition. i was researching very quickly before I purchased, to see if it was worth what I was paying. I saw someone on eBay selling for $450 so decided if I didn’t want to keep it, I could resell it. I learned it was vintage from that research. It looks like I have pretty much full retail price, as Christofle pointed out. Perhaps I could make a little, but probably not much.

in my original question, I mentioned I’d love to find out what the original price of these purses are. I did google and try to find that out but came up with nothing, so put my question here.

I‘m going to keep, it’s a cute little bag to go out at night with. However, I’m not crazy about the Uber thin strap. I might swap it out for a thin gold chain, but the original strap is not detachable. So, I’d be altering the original vintage of it, so not sure I should do that.