I have this bag and love it! It actually fits a lot more than you would think it does - not a full size coin purse obviously, but I have a BV coinpurse and can fit that, my phone, compact, tissues, and lipstick without a problem, and sometimes for going out that's all I really want to take. The outside leather is beautifully thick, and like
papertiger said, its lined in suede.
There are a couple of threads in the Gucci subforum about this:
http://forum.purseblog.com/gucci/gucci-1973-crossbody-quality-776222-2.html