Many assume that the only place to get well-maintained, highly desirable vintage handbags is at a local boutique. Although most vintage dealers tend to specialize in créme of the crop merchandise, they also charge a hefty premium.

Often the owners of these shops find hidden gems on eBay, jack up the price and resell the items. If you like the thrill of bargain hunting, bypass the markup and get the authentic handbag of your dreams online.

This site makes the hunt as easy as possible. You can browse vintage auctions by brand, style, and color. So get to it, check out the menu above and see what you can dig up!

Auctions Closing Soon on eBay

Handmade Women Leather Handbag Vintage Shirring Shoulder Bag Beige US

0 Bid

US $105.84

14m

Fashion Vintage Women PU Leather messenger Purse Handbag Shoulder Bag Tote Brown

0 Bid

US $9.99

16m

Vintage Burberry Burberrys Thick Wool Leather Pochette Small Tote Hand Bag

US $199.00

20m

New Designer Vintage Larger Clutch Bag Satchel Black Handbag Hobo Pu Leather 64

0 Bid

US $19.98

21m

VINTAGE TWEED LEATHER HANDBAG W 5 COMPARTMENTS

US $65.00

26m

1

Born: Portsmouth, Virginia, USA, 1940
Died: New York, New York, USA, 1986

Perry Ellis designed sportswear in the true sense of the word. Clean lines, crisp fabrics – clothes that crossed the border between lounging and activity. Ellis knew all about the ins and outs of sportswear, having started his career as a sportswear buyer for Miller & Rhoads, a Virginian department store, later taking up a position of designer.

Born: Casablanca, Morocco, 1961

The first designer to direct Yves Saint Laurent's Rive Gauche line, Alber Elbaz is an Israeli-American with a fantastic sense of proportion and healthy sense of humour. Elbaz trained with America's foremost minimalist, Geoffrey Beene, for seven years before being offered an opportunity he couldn't refuse. He first designed at Guy Laroche and presented his first collection at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris on 13 March 1991. On 2 November 1998 Alber Elbaz joined Yves Saint Laurent as artistic director for women's ready to wear, presenting his last collection for Rive Gauche in Spring 2000.

Born: London, England, 1947

`She likes body-conscious clothes, and why not? She's got a fabulous figure,' said British couturier Victor Edelstein of his most famous client in 1987. Edelstein will forever be associated with the bare-shouldered velvet dress he made for Diana, Princess of Wales, which she wore while dancing with John Travolta at President Reagan's White House State Dinner in 1985. At the Christie's auction in 1997 it eclipsed every other gown, selling at the record price of $222,500. Descended from a line of dressmakers - both his father and grandfather were in the business - Edelstein trained at Alexon and a Paris couture boutique. In 1967, after several dismissals for being too dreamy, he worked for Barbara Hulanicki at Biba for three years. Then, after a period of self-employment, he became assistant designer at the London couture branch of Christian Dior. He married art dealer Annamaria in 1973 and started his own ready-to-wear business in 1978. In 1982 he decided to concentrate solely on couture.

Born: London, England, 1862
Died: London, England, 1935

A single mother in an era when divorce was associated with disgrace, Lucile Duff Gordon had a colourful personal life, a high profile and a 21-inch waist in 1899. Married at 18, she was divorced by her mid-twenties with a 5-year-old daughter, Esme. In 1900 she met and married Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, whose social connections invariably helped her client list.

Founded by Georges Douillet in 1900

One of the most-featured labels in Vogue's early years, the house of Douillet was known for its attention to detail, rather than for directional design.

Born: Paris, France, 1853
Died: Paris, France, 1929

`Next to Poiret, Doucet is the most amazing personality among the men in the dressmaking world of Paris,' commented Vogue in 1914. `He is often called the most elegant man in Paris.' The celebrated house of Doucet was established in 1816 by the grandmother of Jacques Doucet. The building - a house already renowned for making fine lingerie - was situated on boulevard Saint-Martin. Maison Doucet later relocated to rue de la Paix. In 1877 it began making gowns and costumes.

Founded by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in 1985

Dolce & Gabbana put sex into Sicily. They swept away the preconceived ideas of widows and vendettas and reinvented it with seduction and shades of Sophia Loren. Dolce & Gabbana are experts in mixed metaphors of flyaway beading, corsetry and cleavage, often accessorized by curled locks and a sweep of 1950s-style eyeliner.

Born: Granville, France, 1905
Died: Montecatini, Italy, 1957

Christian Dior was responsible for the pivotal point in twentieth-century fashion. His New Look shook the world, brought women back to life and became fashion's most powerful political statement. Dior studied political science at École des Sciences Politiques in Paris from 1920-25. He served in the French army and worked as an art dealer, illustrator and designer at Piguet and Lelong before launching his curvaceous controversy on an unsuspecting world in December 1946. Heralded an overnight sensation, Dior was, in fact, 41 years old.

Born: Alexandria, Egypt, 1904
Died: Athens, Greece, 1970

In 1950 Vogue described Jean Dessès, an Egyptian-born Greek, as daring and influential. ‘Dessès creates with a hand that is dashing and unafraid. The inspired results: flattering décolletages; clothes with easy and young movement of line.’ A couturier who came to prominence in post-war Paris, Dessès had become so famous by the turn of the 1950s that he created the ‘Jean Dessès American Collection’, a range that was designed and sold directly through wholesalers. He was acclaimed as one of Vogue’s ‘Names in the News’, ‘hailed and applauded by American store buyers, recognised and respected by your customers.’

Born: Kortrijk, Belgium, 1959

Ann Demeulemeester is a member of a group of experimental designers who emerged from Belgium in the mid-1980s. Termed deconstructivists, they achieved recognition by creating raw, elemental, non-traditional clothes. Demeulemeester designs with a close attention to detail and prefers to concentrate on pairing unusual fabrics, rather than focusing on colour and ornament. Although she is a meticulous planner, her clothes always look uncontrived. Her style is a melting pot of punk, gothic and Japanese; long coats and dresses in draped fabrics have become her signature, together with halter-neck vests and trousers and skirts which expose the hip bone. Often contradictory, Demeulemeester combines unconventional cutting and tailoring with distressed fabrics and crucifixes, and always mixes the austere with the avant-garde.