Briefcase Appreciation thread

[coldinboston]

This is from Peter Nitz.
His handle is atelier Peter Nitz on IG and facebook.
Its all custom saddle stitched mens and womens bags and briefcases.
He also has Van Astyn which is his line but it is machine made and RTW.

 

[Equus Leather]



This is from Peter Nitz.
His handle is atelier Peter Nitz on IG and facebook.
Its all custom saddle stitched mens and womens bags and briefcases.
He also has Van Astyn which is his line but it is machine made and RTW.

Very good choice, Peter is great guy and an exeptional craftsman, very much world class

 

[ThinkDerm]



This is from Peter Nitz.
His handle is atelier Peter Nitz on IG and facebook.
Its all custom saddle stitched mens and womens bags and briefcases.
He also has Van Astyn which is his line but it is machine made and RTW.

pricing?

 

[coldinboston]



pricing?

Depends on exchange rate as payment is in CHF, which typically oscillates around 1:1 with USD.
Most of his custom all hand made calf/chevre briefaces/bags are around 4k CHF depending on options, less for women's clutches, more for exotics.
Pricing is similar to the prices Ortus quoted me for briefcases but without the 1yr plus wait. (About 3 mos for this briefcase)


He also has more "classic" designs
See Pic below - not mine

And also makes womens stuff if you want a unique bag for your SO.
My wife has these two from him

IMO worth every penny, but YMMV

 

[starro]

The SAB-for-BB/Peal top frame gets regular mention on this thread. So I thought I'd pool together my observations from inspecting some BB top frames of various vintages, compare them to top frames today (the Peal, SAB Whitehall, and Pend.....). Hopefully this helps organize a general body of knowledge concerning the SAB-derived top frame, as well as invites anybody with localized knowledge to fill in the gaps. So off we go.

We know BB was selling Made-in-England saddle leather cases before they applied the Peal & Co. brand to them. The addition of the Peal name does not seem to affect the case stylistically.

Pre-Peal BB top frame:



Vintage Peal top frame:




Modern Peal top frame, black and tan:






Modern SAB Whitehall:

Modern Papworth Document Case 86, in 2 colors:





...

 

[Wrenkin]

The modern ones have much nicer handles.

 

[starro]

The SAB-for-BB/Peal top frame gets regular mention on this thread. So I thought I'd pool together my observations from inspecting some BB top frames of various vintages, compare them to top frames today (the Peal, SAB Whitehall, and Pend.....). Hopefully this helps organize a general body of knowledge concerning the SAB-derived top frame, as well as invites anybody with localized knowledge to fill in the gaps. So off we go.
We know BB was selling Made-in-England saddle leather cases before they applied the Peal & Co. brand to them. The addition of the Peal name does not seem to affect the case stylistically.

Pre-Peal BB top frame:



Vintage Peal top frame:




Modern Peal top frame, black and tan:






Modern SAB Whitehall:

Modern Papworth Document Case 86, in 2 colors:





...

Here's what we can observe regarding design and construction, directly from the photographic evidence of this family of related top frames.

1. Pre-Peal and post-Peal vintage BB cases do not differ significantly in design (small matters such as number of pins visible on lock do not matter here). The only noteworthy difference is in the shape of the bottom corner pieces: Peal branded cases have "curvier" pieces; pre-Peal are more angular. (It turns out the corner pieces evolve continuously.)

2. The modern Peal differs from the vintage Peal in 2 areas: the handle and bottom corner pieces. Vintage Peals seem to have an attaché/suitcase origin, see for example an old Gladstone in chestnut:



Or a Peal trunk briefcase:

Whereas modern Peals have the machine-made handles from the Papworth briefcase line.

The modern Peal's corner pieces have quite a bit of variation. There's the modified vintage Peal shape (it has an extra twist in its curve); there's the Papworth shape that extends far towards the top; and I wouldn't be surprised to see the SAB Whitehall shape somewhere in the future. Besides aesthetic, I don't know that the shape of the corner pieces plays a functional role. (It's also quite minor to point out the variation in lock shapes among the modern Peals.)


3. Now comparing synchronously, the modern Peal top frame takes elements from both the SAB and Papworth lines. Handles, pretty much always from Papworth. Lock much closer to the Whitehall than the Papworth. Corner pieces all over the map.



Now, here's the boundary of my knowledge on these top frames:

1. Papworth was acquired by SAB in the late 90s. One would have to assume that BB started Peal branding their Made-in-England cases earlier than that. So was SAB making a diffusion line of their standard top frame for BB/Peal, or were the vintage BB top frames of the same quality as their flagship model?
2. We learn from Ray Clark, who worked at SAB in I believe 80s-90s, that SAB cases were a combination of machine and hand stitching. Handles, attachment areas, and corners (?) were hand saddle stitched, and the majority of the straight lines machine stitched. One would reasonably assume, especially in light of SAB's recent troubles, that this arrangement still largely holds, or has gotten worse since. So the question I have is, Did the vintage SABs have much more hand stitching than pictured? Maybe some experienced eyes would be able to point us which parts were hand stitched on the vintage Peals.
3. The current Peals seem to take most of their construction from Papworths, and design from both SAB and Papworth. Does the same pattern hold for vintage? If so, what stood for Papworth under SAB's umbrella at the time? If not, did the vintage Peals share more of their construction and design with the mainline SABs? And were the mainline SABs of the 50s, 60s, 70s made to a higher standard in terms of construction (hand stitching)?

 

[starro]

The modern ones have much nicer handles.

We know they are machine stitched from the Papworth line. The question I have is were the vintage handles hand- or machine-made? Another oddity is that they are handles from the hard-bodied SAB cases, where as all the modern top frames, SAB and BB, use the soft-bodied handles we are familiar with. I wonder why that is, and how/when they made the switch to soft-bodied handles. If anybody could shed light on this quirk of history that would be helpful.

 

[SimonC]

I would imagine the areas which were hand stitched varied by model, but when I purchased my Papworth attache in 2001/2, it was offered as the lower-cost machine stitched option and the Swaine, Adeney & Brigg model was said to be hand stitched at around twice the price.

Looking now, there is very little cost difference between the Papworth and SAB models but the latter (attache cases at least) are still said to be hand-sewn.

 

[Equus Leather]



Depends on exchange rate as payment is in CHF, which typically oscillates around 1:1 with USD.
Most of his custom all hand made calf/chevre briefaces/bags are around 4k CHF depending on options, less for women's clutches, more for exotics.
Pricing is similar to the prices Ortus quoted me for briefcases but without the 1yr plus wait. (About 3 mos for this briefcase)


He also has more "classic" designs
See Pic below - not mine

And also makes womens stuff if you want a unique bag for your SO.
My wife has these two from him

IMO worth every penny, but YMMV

FWIW I totally agree, Peter does great work, very few around in the same league

Charlie

 

[Solari]

Hi guys,

How does this product from Oppermann compare to the similar Linjer bag?

https://www.oppermann-london.com/pr...se-slim-leather-briefcase?variant=29827060304

 

[Jr Mouse]



Hi guys,

How does this product from Oppermann compare to the similar Linjer bag?

https://www.oppermann-london.com/pr...se-slim-leather-briefcase?variant=29827060304

I have no first hand experience with a bag from Oppermann, inquired about the brand on this forum some time ago. Was reached out to by someone who had bought one of their smaller briefcases and was unhappy. The leather in the pictures he sent me looked like a bit of a mess. It very well might have been a bag that slipped by QC and not indicative of the brand's quality as a whole, but he decided to return it and explore other brands.

On the other hand, I have heard nothing by good reports from owners of Linjer bags on this forum. They seem to be a very solid option at that price point.

 

[setherson]

I'm looking into making my own bag, but am having trouble with the necessary research. Is anyone able to point me to some good resources?

 

[SimonC]



I'm looking into making my own bag, but am having trouble with the necessary research. Is anyone able to point me to some good resources?

https://www.leathercourses.co.uk/shop/leatherworking-handbook/

 

[dieworkwear]



I'm looking into making my own bag, but am having trouble with the necessary research. Is anyone able to point me to some good resources?

I'm not a maker, but as a casual observer, I enjoy Andersen Leather's blog. Some notes about construction in there

http://andersenleather.blogspot.com/