Dreams Do Come True: My Gary Gail of Dallas House Purse!

Good morning!

Boy oh boy, what a weekend. Mine was split in two by Saturday off (flea markettttt....), a Sunday shift, and a Monday holiday, but as I would tell anyone that would listen, any time off of work is ok for any reason is ok with me! I'll spill the goods on the rest of the things I brought home with me tomorrow, but how about this bright, shining example of the junker's maxim: "If you look for something hard enough, you usually end up finding it" ?

Behold... A Gary Gail of Dallas House Purse! And mine, all mine:

Remember the post I did in February about my unmet need for a house-shaped purse? Well! My dad and I were seeking shelter from the sweltering conditions dehors at the fairgrounds Saturday in the Antiques building, and wasn't that a mistake? "I think it's actually hotter in here," he said, as both of us reached for our respective hankerchieves (his plain, mine floral), to dab the sweat from our faces, like the dainty 1920's Egyptian explorers we are. "Let's just do a quick run around the aisles and we'll try for the exhibition building. It's bound to be more temperature controlled, think about it, this is an arena, and the other is an exhibition hall, you know they're not sweating over quilts and pies come fair time," I posited, and he acceded. While wheeling around a corner and resisting the temptation of a 1939 Army Basic Training group photo, I ran smack into this purse in one of the regular dealer's booths. It was marked $10, and when I asked the woman running the booth if she could do any better, she knocked another three dollars off. It never ceases to thrill me when people even give me a dollar's discount on something at the flea market or an estate sale-- try that at Kroger's or Target and see where it gets you (i.e. nowhere).

Seven bucks! And it was a done deal. She grabbed a plastic bag for me to cart my wooden bag in while a man from across the way hooted of another dealer, "Look at Jerry over there! He's looking for his glasses to see what the marking on that lure is and they're on his face!" I never did get to see if poor myopic Jerry did have his glasses on his face while he was looking for them-- I only had eyes for THIS PURSE. 

I wasn't able to find any information about "Gary Gail of Dallas" besides Ebay and Etsy listings for other purses of his. From what I could cobble together from those, Gary Gail purses were inexpensive accessories made in Japan to meet the demand for wackadoodle, gaudily embellished handbags created by sainted Enid Collins of Texas. While Enid's still my girl, I am a big fan of this purse because it meets several requirements on my handbag list-- unusual, eyecatching, and not-likely-to-be-duplicated by others around the town. While it's no match for my clock purse (which, for the record, has probably drawn more attention than any actual accessory I have ever worn-- my dad's taken to whetting an imaginary pencil and marking an imaginary scoreboard every time someone says something about it while we're out and about), I love how dainty and cute this purse is...plus, do you see the little guy in the window looking out at you? I AM SLAIN BY THIS DETAIL. SLAIN.

Besides the roof and flowery front step of the house purse, each side has a window as well. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be what we see outside the window or inside, but if it's inside, you've got a strange, Surrealist living room, little disproportionate stick figure tenant of this house purse. I love the little shingles on the roof. While, technically, yes, maybe this is something I could make at home with determination and materials, isn't it more fun to just grab one up for less than the price of an Indian lunch buffet? (I have chana masala on the brain, it's almost lunch time for me)

Do YOU have an insatiable hunger for Indian buffet Gary Gail purses? Well then, it's high time you check out what kind of purse real estate there is out there on the world wide web. I found several copies of the house above on Ebay (though none as inexpensive, she gloats quietly) and a couple other models on Etsy. Take a look, and marvel at how tempting it is to build a whole subdivision of purses in your closet:

Vintage Gary Gail Dallas Wooden Purse Cottage House White

Vintage Gary Gail Dallas Wooden Purse Cottage/House

How about you? Do you know any more about this mysterious Gary Gail? Which of these houses is the cutest (YOU KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT THE ANSWER IS, haha)? What's the most unusual shaped purse you have in your own collection? Let's talk!

Well, that's it for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with some various flea market finds here and there! Have a great Tuesday, and I'll see you then. Take care!