A donated handbag has hit the shelves at the St Vincent de Paul Op Shop in Tamworth with a price tag of $2,000.
As soon as the Forest Green, hourglass crocodile embossed bag carrying the label of the luxury brand Balenciaga was put on the shelves, it sparked debate on social media over the far-from-thrifty price.
Many commenting on Tamworth community pages have questioned the amount and asked whether it was an appropriate price for a charity shop.
“I don’t think anyone who shops at Vinnies is in a situation to be able to fork out $2k for a purse,” one commenter said.
Another said St Vincent de Paul, the charity’s founder, would be rolling in his grave.
The bag is on display, under lock and key, in the Tamworth store. (ABC New England North West: Brigitte Murphy)
Vinnies North West area manager Julie Crosby said people seemed to have forgotten the purpose of selling items in a charity store.
“This is one thing that tends to get lost in the world of op shops: they’re for everybody, and we are raising funds,” she said.
“$2,000 will feed 20 people at $100, and that’s a week’s groceries for some people.
“We can spend that money on helping out homeless people, domestic violence issues where we’re relocating families.”
Julie Crosby was shocked when she realised what sort of bag they had on their hands. (ABC New England North West: Brigitte Murphy)
Ms Crosby hoped the bag would find a new home, even if the buyer was not local.
“Perhaps Tamworth isn’t the right market for it and what we’ll do is we’ll put it on our online store,” she said.
“Someone who will understand the value and want to spend the money will spend the money, and it’ll go into Vinnies for good work.
“It doesn’t necessarily need to sell in Tamworth although we get first go, which is exciting.”
Criticism expected
Store manager Megan Moffat said she expected some criticism from the public but hoped the fundraising would now take centre stage.
“We’re always prepared for backlash, but … it’s a beautiful little handbag,” she said.
“Just to get people into the store and having a look at the handbag and maybe purchase something else that is a bit more affordable.
“We can actually help so many more people with a just sale of one handbag rather than two or three days worth of sales.”
The mystery donation
Julie Crosby said a man made the donation and she did not question it.
“A gentleman brought in a large amount of donations that were his wife’s. I don’t ask any more questions than that because there’s generally a story that we don’t need to be involved in,” she said.
“I thanked him very much and we thank her also.”
Ms Crosby said she did not initially know the value of the bag.
“I thought, ‘Oh I haven’t seen a bag like this before’, and when I looked it up I was quite shocked, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is wow.'”
Ms Crosby says every effort has been made to authenticate the bag. (ABC New England North West: Brigitte Murphy)
Is it legit?
After the initial surprise and excitement of discovering the bag’s value, the Tamworth Vinnies team attempted to prove it was not a fake.
“I went to the process of elimination and making sure that it’s kosher and I think it is,” Ms Crosby said.
“We did as much investigation as we can locally [but] we don’t have anywhere we can take it so there’s no authenticity certificate, but we believe it is genuine.
“It retails at $4,000 and it’s a designer bag, so we have put a $2,000 price tag on it.”
Balenciaga is a fashion house that was founded in San Sebastian, Spain in 1917. (ABC New England North West: Brigitte Murphy)
Ms Crosby said the bag cannot be guaranteed authentic without a certificate, but every measure has been taken, including consulting online authenticator checklists.
“There are a few things that you can look at to verify the knock-offs, there are things in the logo that you need to look for,” she said.
“Things like quality of leather, the finishings, the brass fixtures, the stitching, there’s quite a range of things that you can check and then eventually it’s a process of elimination and we get lots of handbags and see good knock-offs all the time. So we’re confident that this is kosher.
“We had a huge Saturday of trade and the bag has generated lots of conversation.”
Running the numbers
Owner of Australian-based luxury brand re-seller Blue Spinach, Jane Thompson, said identifying genuine handbags can be challenging, but there are some steps shoppers can take to ensure they have the real item.
Jane Thompson says it’s rare but not unheard of for designer handbags to end up in charity shops. (Supplied: Jane Thompson)
She said, depending on age, Balenciaga bags had a code on the inside that could signify the year it was made.
Ms Thompson said Balenciaga bags also used particular types of leather.
“The old kind of city bags and the like were lamb skin and goat skin predominantly,” she said.
“The texture of the leather, the braiding of the leather, the zippers … those types of things you’d be looking for in a Balenciaga bag.”
Counting up counterfeits
Ms Thompson said improvements in technology had led to an increase in counterfeit bags.
“Particularly in today’s world with AI machinery that can literally copy items and designs perfectly, [there is] the capability to be able to produce counterfeit of so many things.”
Ms Thompson believed it was more likely for a genuine designer brand to end up in a Tamworth charity shop, than Sydney.
“The charity shops [in Sydney] are monitored more heavily in terms of the sort of the product, and the knowledge and understanding,” she said.
“If they are worth something, they will put a heftier price tag on it because charity shops have to make money as well.”
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