Mary Frances Handbag

Mary Frances started out in selling commercial real estate in the California Bay area; in the nineteen eighties. She decided that just was not for her anymore. She wanted to express herself as she has always loved costume jewelry. With all that glamour and glitter she started making her own jewelry. But she did not want to be stuck just making and selling jewelry at the local craft fairs, she did find someone in the Philippines in nineteen eighty nine that would manufacture her jewelry. Then the decline of large clunky came to a halt almost and she was out of business. But she thought she could still make her jewelry, so why not put it on handbags? A very cleaver idea and it took off in nineteen ninety nine.

A Mary Frances handbag is not very expensive, of course depending on your taste. Her handbags are growing in popularity every year. They start out at around one hundred and fifty dollars and go up. Depending on what is put on the bag usually determines the price. Most women that buy A Mary Frances handbag is around the forty year age group. Her style is extremely different than most handbags maybe that is way they are such a hit.

Her orginal lines were broken down into sections as it were. The MOTIF line, (a handbag that has hard sides and is heavily beaded) the Purse Line, which some of them have the hard sides but also could be found with soft sides. And the Fabric Bag Line, these carry hand worked beads on them. The Mary Frances handbag comes in quite a few different shapes, such as a cat, a dog, shoes, butterflies, cute bunnies and she has a line for the holidays such as the snowmen, Santa and his helpers. these are such a smash; many women of all ages really get into them.

Mary Frances releases five different lines each year and with each new release, production is stopped on many styles, which will become extremely hard to come by and are collectibles. In two thousand and seven you could find a Mary Frances handbag called “Street” these were made of heavy duty shoulder strap and some have layers of material draped on them. some even have dangling strings hanging from the bottom. and of course her signature beads.

Only certain retailers have the authorization to sell a Mary Frances handbag. They purchase directly from Mary Frances herself. They are also monitored online and she will revoke their license and contract with her if there is any thing going on that is not true to her style. She has set extremely high standards and wants them to be followed through. They can only be sold as new, not used ever. They must be still in the original wrapping and they have limited warranties from Mary Frances.

Some do sneak buy and are sold as ‘new used’ in that case, be sure to really look closely for tags, some have them some do not. Some may have beads missing or damaged. Always ask a few important questions such as what is the source of the Mary Frances handbag? How has it been stored, what is the return policy, etc? Nine times out of ten the ‘new used’ Mary Frances handbag is not an original.

If buying a used Mary Frances handbag it should be labeled as such. These bags may be out of production and then they become collector’s items. One sure sign of a fake Mary Frances handbag is if it states or someone tells you “like Mary Frances” it is not one of hers and report them to the retailer.