tag

last week haley and i were at our favorite thrift store - or one of them, at least - in search of a christmas tree stand for the second tree. after locating the only tree stand in the mega-size thrift store, and pleading with the barely-articulate-employee to replace the price tag and forgo the 24-hour hold for 'missing price stickers', my zeal for the deal led me to the handbag section.

i sorted through a couple of functional purses for excellent prices and then caught glimpse of a gucci stamped on a purse behind the counter. it was brown leather and hidden by several other bags, but i asked to take a closer look.

when they pulled it off the rack it proved to be a very cool, cylindrical leather gucci bag. and the most amazing part - only $8.96. vision blurred by the score on the tree stand, i could still make out the imprint on the side of the bag.

stamped 'gucci' and underneath: 'made in italy'

sold!

i proudly marched out of the goodwill, immediately transferred my wallet, camera and phone and marveled at my good luck. i mean - this purse was the bomb. and to find it for less than nine dollars - wow. i mean, how often does this happen??

the next day haley and i had the idea to check ebay and see if we could identify its 'true market value'. we searched through hundreds of brown gucci bags.. and didn't see anything remotely similar. though that didn't raise any flags - because it could very well have been in a closet for years before finding its way to the goodwill shelf - i did see some purse descriptions that made me take a closer look.

imagine my surprise when i opened it up to check the signature inner label and instead of finding the gucci name imprinted there, i saw a white paper tag in the seam instead.

hmm.

the next day i found myself wandering into the handbag section of some retail stores where i was christmas shopping. looking at bags with labels. expensive labels.

i fell in love with two... a lucky bag and a joe's jeans bag. the latter made its way home with me, because i could hardly get my head out of it, deeply inhaling the delicious scent of real italian leather.

today luke said, "you got another new purse, mommy?" and i said, "yes, but this one is real. it came with tags."

and todd chimed in, "the gucci had a tag too. it said, 'made in china.'"

d: watching and waiting the ebay auction i found on the lucky bag.
b: i have a fabulous new handbag: christmas present to myself.
g: i know my geography and italy is not located in china.