Hi everyone, Winnie Griggs here. First an apology – I’m just off of a series of all nighters as I worked to meet my deadline on my latest work in progress (which I made by a hair) and then a weekend of fun at a family reunion. So this post will be a bit shorter than normal.

That being said, when I looked up Oct 10 on my National Day Of calendar, I noticed that in addition to it being Columbus Day this year, it is also National Handbag Day. So I thought it would be fun to share a little bit of handbag trivia with you and then share some pictures of some of my own handbags.

Handbag Fun Facts:

• In the 15th century it was traditional for a bridegroom to give his bride a purse with embroidered pictures of love stories.
• Shoulder bags first became popular during WW II
• The 1923 Hermes Bolide Bag was the first handbag to feature a zipper
• According to a 2008 study done in England, the average 30 year old woman owns 21 handbags and purchases a new one every 3 months
• The average weight of a woman’s handbag is over 5 pounds.
• A Japanese designer created a handbag in 2008 that is wort more than $2 million. It was crafted of platinum and decorated with over 2,000 diamonds.
• This was topped in 2010 by the Mouawad 1001 Nights Diamond Purse, valued at almost $4 million

And as promised, here are a few of my favorite purses from my own collection. I’m a big fan of vintage so most of those pictured here were acquired from thrift shops or estate sales

I also happen to be a Winnie The Pooh fan – here are two that reflect that, one was a gift from a good friend who knows me well, and the other was a spur of the moment purchase

So what about you? Do you have a large collection of handbags or just a few? Do you tend toward the large or the small, the designer bags or more utilitarian?