Judith Leiber (1921-2018) Hungarian/American, Leather Handbag. Metal plaque inside, and metal chain for carrying, with a blue and white beaded peacock design on the front. 

Size: 7 x 5 x 2 1/2 in. 

Judith Leiber was born Judit Pető on January 11th, 1921 in Budapest, Hungary, and was sent to King’s College London in 1938 to study chemistry for the cosmetics industry and to keep her safe in case of war. Returning to Hungary for a traineeship at a handbag company, where she learned how to cut and mold leather, make patterns, and frame and stitch bags, she became the first master craftswoman to join the Hungarian Handbag Guild, and survived the Holocaust with a forged Swiss passport before marrying a United States Army Sergeant named Gerson “Gus” Leiber in 1946, moving to New York City the following year. Gus became an abstract expressionist painter, while Judith worked as a handbag designer for several companies until finally founding her own business in 1963. She is known for her crystal minaudières, evening purses made of a metal shell often encrusted with Swarovski crystals, plated with silver or gold and with various forms, such as baby pigs, slices of watermelon, cupcakes, peacocks, penguins, and snakes, many of which cost thousands of dollars and were considered status symbols by Presidential First Ladies from Mamie Eisenhower to Barbara Bush. Leiber received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers in 1994 before retiring four years later, but in 2008 her line was still rated the most prestigious luxury handbag brand by the New York-based Luxury Institute. In 2010 Leiber received a Visionary Woman Award from Moore College of Art & Design, with examples of her work found in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and although she passed away on April 28th, 2018, there are still four exclusive boutiques bearing her name around the world. 

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