Laguna Candles is an Eco-friendly luxury line of candles, proudly manufactured in the USA.
Luxury is hard work. I once read this in a magazine, if you’re willing to put in the work I believe that luxury can be had by all. We simply have to know what to look for and where to find it! Keep your eyes peeled for vintage items this fall.
Look for quality workmanship and great materials like leather, wool tweeds, silk, cashmere, hand-blown glass, silver and more. Laguna Finds Submission #2 is yet another example of a luxury item that I found during one of my favorite past times, yard sales! Vintage Ralph Lauren hand bag. Price at yard sale $25.00 estimated value $$$$ (compare Ralph Lauren Alligator Hand Bag Circa 2011 at this link: http://tinyurl.com/4xa9s22)
Please feel free to leave a comment or question. Happy hunting!
Ralph Lauren Vintage Alligator Hand Bag Circa 1967
Laguna Candles Cafe 
Hi,
Great find!! I also think I found a vintage Ralph Lauren – at Goodwill!!
but i’m confused as to how i know it’s real. The clasp has engraved RL 67 – and the inside tag says Made in Korea. Quality of stitching and leather is great – What do you think?
Great find to you as well! Yes the clasp has engraved RL67 and yes the inside does say made in Korea. The quality of stitching is amazing and although I have had it for a few years it is beautiful. I love it, I can’t wait to show you the other bag that I found at one of the amazing Laguna garage sales that I attended a few weeks ago. Will post it shortly. Check back, and thanks.
Hello, Its my opinion that you have a genuine alligator skin bag.
First, how to tell Alligator from Crocodile:
Though alligator and crocodile at first glance may look the same, they are not and both have qualities uniquely their own. If viewing an alligator hide so that the pattern is running horizontal, look up close and you will see from each scale top and bottom extends two tiny lines vertically. Such is unique ONLY to alligators of all species. Croc will never have such features.
As such, unique to all species of crocodile is an ISO pock on each scale (integumentary sensory organ) from which grew a tiny hair used for sensory and navigation. The tanning process destroys the hair leaving a tiny hole or “scar” if you will in each individual scale.
As for the Ralph Lauren aspect:
1. In the earlier days of Ralph Lauren his emphasis on fine leather goods wasn’t at all what is it today so most if not all of his items such as this were commonly manufactured in Korea. Also back then its wasn’t legally required for imported exotic goods to be labeled accordingly like it is today.
2. The sterling hardware is also a good sign. Leather embossing technology has SIGNIFICANTLY improved by leaps and bounds at present but back then it had much to be desired. As such, RL wouldn’t use sterling silver on anything that wasn’t high end. In the late 90’s, early 2000 he did briefly use sterling on a few embossed items (much to my dismay) but you wouldn’t have seen that 30+ years ago.
3. Spray a little water on a section of it and let it sit a moment then wipe off and smell that area. The real deal whether Alligator or Crocodile will have a funky almost fishy smell to it. Embossed or stamped typically will have a chemical odor. Another good test is to use a fingernail to run through the pattern grooves. Genuine hide will have deep grooves and valleys and if you lift up on one of the scales you will be able to feel the scale plate want to separate as if it were a tile.
4. Finally, with black being the exception, genuine exotic hides will have great color depth and richness (especially so with any variant of brown, tan, honey etc) with some areas lighter and darker…also if viewed at an angle the rows of scales will appear pocked, dimpled, and inconsistent in texture. Embossed leathers from low to the highest quality will typically have a glossy, unnatural sheen to them and repetitive scale patterns. Genuine, much like a human finger print, will never be repetitive in pattern, no two scales or ridges exactly alike.
So there you have it. Genuine Alligator/Crocodile 101!
Glad to be of assistance,
Robert