Chandler West, a North Carolina resident with a penchant for buying vintage and antique treasures, has gone viral for her unwitting acquisition of a rather valuable Cartier handbag. The 1920s Art Deco bag, which she bought for $1 at an online estate sale, later sold at auction for $9,450.
West shared the story of her chance find with her TikTok followers in February, recounting how she came across the handbag two years ago. Initially drawn to her former appearance, she never suspected the handbag had any significant value.
Cartier handbag from the 1920s discovered at an estate sale. Courtesy of Rago Auctions.
“I just thought it looked old, like an old antique level,” she said in the short video. Still, West had a good idea about the handbag and decided to make the purchase. “I knew it was worth more than a dollar. And it’s pretty and I liked it so I bought it.
After taking the purse home, West left it “on a pile of stuff that I just needed to research and hadn’t looked through yet.” It was only recently that she enlisted the help of a Facebook group to determine the provenance of the bag.
A member of the group said that the purse—featuring an intricately printed exterior with a small blue jeweled clasp—was probably made by the French luxury brand Cartier. “It’s a 1920s Art Deco Cartier evening bag,” the member said. “The silk jacquard fabric of the bag is inspired by 17th century Safavid textiles. They were very popular for evening bags in France in the 1920s.”
Close-up of the clasp of the bag, adorned with blue lapis lazuli, 12 small diamonds and the Cartier name engraved below. Courtesy of Rago Auctions.
West then discovered, to his surprise, that “Cartier” was engraved on the underside of the bag’s clasp. “After squinting a lot and turning on the flashlight,” she said, “I knew I had a real 1920s Cartier evening bag on my hands.”
The next day, she took it to a jeweler, who confirmed that the clasp had genuine blue lapis lazuli stones, as well as 12 small diamonds. West then decided to sell it by Rago Auctionswhich listed the bag as a signed and numbered silk handbag with a one-cut lapis lazuli and diamond clasp, weighing a total of 82.5 dwt.
@ciao.chandler I AM IN SHOCK #1920svintage #vintage clothes #auction #antiques #treasure hunt #cartier #update #fyp #foryoupage #green screen ♬ original sound – Chandler 🌸
The starting bid in the online auction was $2,000, but West was stunned to see the final price soar past the $3,500 max estimate, all the way to $9,450 ( fees included). She returned to TikTok, where she recorded invaluable reactions to the final sale price. Followers of the TikTok video praised her for her smart instincts and praised her for her success.
“It’s not lucky girl syndrome, it’s smart girl syndrome,” one fan commented.
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