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| Mandalian enamel metal mesh bag in colors of turquoise and purple, with gold plated frame. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
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| Original lining and Mandalian maker imprint inside bag above. |
Mandalian Mesh Bags and The Man Who Made Them
Mandalian Manufacturing, maker of 1920s-1930s metal mesh handbags, is a name often mentioned in connection with another mesh bag manufacturer, Whiting & Davis (est. 1876, still in business). Whiting & Davis was located in Plainville, Massachusetts, and its history is well documented. Mandalian Manufacturing was in North Attleboro, about fifteen minutes from Plainville. While there's some information to be found online about Mandalian handbags, there is very little about Sahatiel G. Mandalian the man.
In this article, we hope to highlight his magnificent workmanship and contributions to the world of collectible antique and vintage handbags, as well as clarify the Mandalian company’s history. We're also sharing stories of a more personal nature.
North Attleboro (also known as North Attleborough), Bristol County, Massachusetts, is sometimes referred to as “The Jewelry Capital of The World.” Indeed, its records of jewelers and craftspeople in related industries are extensive, and there was quite a lot to read through in order to cull information specific to Mr. Mandalian.
We reached out to several Mandalian relatives, and were helped immensely by Dr. Jorge Mazlumian, great-grandson of Sahatiel Mandalian’s sister Sultana (Tacoui) Mandalian Gudjemian. Dr. Mazlumian shared, via email, important information that we could not find in historical records. He also gave permission to use family photos, which were given to him by Lucille Mandalian Blocksom, daughter of Sahatiel’s nephew George Mandalian.
Sahatiel (sometimes spelled “Saghatiel”) Garabed Mandalian was of Armenian descent, born in 1869 in Constantinople, Turkey (Republic of Türkiye), Ottoman Empire, to Garabed and Hripsime Mandalian. We do not know where Mr. Mandalian learned the art of jewelry- and bag-making, but his 1949 obituary says he attended the Rhode Island School of Design. (We contacted the school for confirmation, and they very kindly checked records, but could not verify his attendance.)
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| Sahatiel Mandalian's 1916 US passport application, screenshot from Familysearch.org. |
Mr. Mandalian emigrated to the US in 1890, and became a naturalized US citizen in 1900. In the 1900 US Census, he was listed as a boarder at the home of Lyman E. Fish. The following year, he married Lillian Green Fuller (b. 1870, Maine-d. 1933, Massachusetts). They had no children, but were very close with their nephew George Mandalian (birth name Krikor Gudjemian, b. 1892-d. 1957), who lived with them as a teenager, and eventually worked for Mandalian Manufacturing.
George was the son of Sahatiel’s sister Sultana. According to Dr. Mazlumian, Sultana sent George, using his mother’s birth surname Mandalian, to live with Sahatiel and Lillian in 1906 at age 14. (Some Mandalian relatives’ first names and surnames were changed or had variations in spelling.)
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| 1907 photo of Sahatiel, Lillian and George Mandalian, courtesy of Dr. Jorge Mazlumian. |
The Vintage Purse Museum has chronicled handbag makers who experienced the tragic effects of pogroms and the Holocaust. It is equally important that we share with you that the Mandalian family was terribly affected by the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923). Dr. Mazlumian told us that two of George Mandalian’s brothers, Manoug (Manouk) and Stepan, were able to escape to Greece during the genocide. Their sister Esgouhi (b.1896-d.1958)—Dr. Mazlumian’s grandmother—was rescued by a Syrian family after losing a child to starvation. Eventually, George’s siblings and their spouses moved to Argentina, as they were unable to go to the US, which had tightened its immigration policies.
George Mandalian did not know, until five decades after he moved to the US, that two of his brothers and one sister had survived the genocide. Another brother died in infancy, and a sister, Rebecca, went to France, but the family lost contact with her. George’s brother Daniel emigrated circa 1920 to the US and passed away in 1952 in Los Angeles, California. Daniel and George were the only named survivors in Sahatiel Mandalian’s 1949 obituary, as at that point they had not learned the fate of their relatives overseas.
It is unclear why Sahatiel came to the US in 1890. His brother James (Hagop) Garabed Mandalian (b.1889-d.1973), a pharmacist, also emigrated early on, circa 1909, then later became famous in the American Armenian community as founding editor of Hairenik Weekly and The Armenian Review.
Sahatiel Mandalian cut quite a dapper figure. Mr. and Mrs. Mandalian were active in the Attleboro community, with newspaper social columns of the early 1900s announcing events and occasions that included the Mandalian family. For instance, in 1903, Mr. Mandalian was the violinist that accompanied the Trinity Church choir. In 1911, he purchased a new “Cadillac gasoline touring car, 28 horsepower, dark blue body, black gear.” When Mr. Mandalian was partnered with E.A. Hawkins, they had a company baseball team that played against other local companies’ teams. In 1927, Mandalian Manufacturing was on the “honor roll” of businesses that contributed to Attleboro’s “community field development fund.”
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| Photo of Sahatiel Mandalian screenshot from Familysearch.org. |
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| Snippet from the "Thirty-Third Annual Report of The Town Officers of North Attleborough, Massachusetts," for the year ending December 31, 1919, showing Sahatiel Mandalian's community involvement, screenshot via Google. |
Also documented in the local newspapers were Lillian Green Fuller Mandalian’s visits to her family in Maine. Mrs. Mandalian had attended Maine’s Wilton Academy (class of 1887), and was a member of The Daughters of The American Revolution, related to Captain Edward Fuller on her father’s side.
Dr. Mazlumian told us that the Mandalians’ nephew George went to business school in Providence, Rhode Island. He married his wife Miriam, and they had four children. George's family was also involved in community activities, and they were frequently mentioned in local newspapers.
A number of online sources say that Mandalian enamel mesh handbags are thought to be of better workmanship than those of Whiting & Davis bags of the same period. Many Mandalian handbags feature patterns that distinguish them from Whiting & Davis bags, with designs such as butterflies, birds, and flowers. Some are said to resemble extravagant carpets, which pay homage to Mr. Mandalian’s native Turkey. We could not find direct evidence that this was his intention, but it seems possible. Many Mandalian handbags had ornate frames, and, in our experience, the bags have more heft to them than Whiting & Davis handbags of the same era.
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| Mandalian enamel mesh bag, from the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum |
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| Mandalian Manufacturing Co. maker imprint inside bag above. |
Mandalian handbags were proudly identified by advertising terms such as “New Process,” “Color Vision,” and “Lustro Pearl,” and came with guarantees against chipping and saltwater damage.
21 Jan 1931, Wed Harrisburg Telegraph (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com.jpeg) |
| 1920s-1930s warranty card from a Mandalian handbag. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
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Unlabeled fabric drawstring and enamel metal mesh bag, likely attributable to Mandalian as one of its 1920s-1930s "Martha Washington" styles. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. 06 May 1932, Fri Groton Times (Groton, Vermont) Newspapers.com 28 Mar 1924, Fri St. Joseph News-Press (St. Joseph, Missouri) Newspapers.com |
We found a February 27, 1930 Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) student publication, “The Student Designer,” which had an article titled “Influence of Art on Jewelry Production.” This article says that Harry Davis, a former RISD student and current employee of Mandalian Manufacturing, suggested to Mr. Mandalian that he offer cash prizes for students who designed new patterns for his handbags. Nine designs were chosen and three received awards. One of the winners, Caroline Koetsch, graduated from RISD in May 1931, and became a ring designer for Uncas jewelry company (founded 1911, still in business).
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| "The Student Designer" page that references Mandalian's design contest, screenshot from RISD archives. |
Mandalian and Whiting & Davis bags were often advertised together in newspapers, and the name Mandalian was frequently misspelled. (Whiting & Davis was also occasionally misspelled.) Some ads mention that these bags were lined, but avid collectors will tell you that most Mandalian and Whiting & Davis handbags from the 1920s-1930s no longer have their original linings.
Various websites reported that Mr. Mandalian was the originator of the flat mesh machine, applied for in 1912 (patent granted in 1914), allegedly just five months before Whiting & Davis’s patent filing for a similar machine. However, the timing of—and circumstances surrounding—these inventions is a bit more complicated than that.
Charles Whiting of Whiting & Davis is said to have invented the first “ring” mesh bag in 1892. “Flat” mesh bags—which were later famously enameled by both Whiting & Davis and Mandalian—were said to have been first made circa 1900.
Many sources cite the fact that New Jersey resident Alphonso “A. C.” Pratt invented a ring mesh machine in 1909. (This was a bit difficult to find as Google patents lists his name as “Alonzo” Pratt for this invention.) After that, he had subsequent patents for several types of metal mesh machines, including one that was applied for in April 1913, which matches up with the statement that Mr. Mandalian’s patent application for the flat mesh machine was five months ahead. At the time Mr. Pratt filed his earlier patent applications, there were no listed assignees. (A patent assignee is usually an organization that employs an inventor; however, there can be other types of association between inventor and assignee.) Charles Whiting was said to have purchased Mr. Pratt’s inventions and patents, and we did find that Whiting & Davis was listed as assignee on later inventions, including four machines for “making link mesh.”
It should be noted that not all inventions are patented, and that patent dates are not necessarily indicative of when inventions first started being used to create products for businesses. This is why you’ll sometimes see the words “patent pending” or “patent applied for” on a variety of products.
Mr. Mandalian’s metal mesh machine patent was filed by inventor George Gros (whose name was signed by patent attorney Horatio E. Bellows), with Mr. Mandalian and his then-partner, Eugene A. Hawkins, as assignees. Mr. Gros held a number of other patents, including one for making “coat of mail” fabric, which also listed Mandalian and Hawkins as assignees. We believe Mr. Gros was born circa 1852 in France, became a naturalized US citizen in 1896, and, according to the 1910 US Census, lived in Providence, Rhode Island with his wife and son. The census states that he worked as a machinist in a jewelry shop (census records used “shop” as a synonym for “factory”), so it could very well be that he was employed by Mandalian and Hawkins.
Another inventor was James W. Jennings, whose patent for a handbag frame was assigned to Mr. Mandalian in 1915. According to the patent application, Mr. Jennings was a citizen of Great Britain, residing in Providence, Rhode Island. (Rhode Island is well-known for its costume jewelry industry, and Providence is about a half-hour from North Attleboro.) Per the Attleboro Sun newspaper, Mr. Jennings was foreman of Mandalian Manufacturing until 1925.
Sahatiel Mandalian had numerous patents of his own, including some for handbag components and materials in the 1920s-1930s, as well as a hatpin (1905; assignee Casper (sic) and Mandalian), lampshade (1921), a girdle (1922), sound transmitting and light reflecting screen (1932), a receptacle (1935), and a sound producing device for a tap dancing shoe (1940). The Attleboro Sun reported that his movie screen was tested at a Newark, New Jersey movie theatre in 1931.
Prior to Mr. Mandalian’s association with Eugene A. Hawkins, he owned a jewelry firm with a man named Ruben Caspar (sometimes misspelled “Casper”). Because of the “ar” spelling, we suspected that Mr. Caspar was of Armenian descent like Mr. Mandalian, and had likely Americanized his name. Upon searching through genealogy records, we believe we found the correct Mr. Caspar, born in 1866, with the birth name Rubin Casparian. We could find no direct family members of Mr. Caspar or much other information, but he did file a patent in 1898 for a “cuff holder” (similar to a cufflink).
According to a 1901 North Attleboro, Massachusetts directory, “Reuben” Caspar resided at “Draper’s Building,” and was employed at Caspar & Mandalian jewelers.
The Caspar & Mandalian jewelry factory, which made “ladies’ articles,” caught fire in 1901. In a newspaper article, Mr. Mandalian identified its cause as a young employee, Israel Fogg (b. 1885 in Rhode Island; another article mistakenly calls him “Ezra”). The article said Mr. Fogg lit a match and accidentally placed it in a can of lacquer. A number of businesses in the building suffered damage, and there were several injuries and one death. A fire inspector later cleared the teenager of blame, and said the match had not been placed in lacquer, but had ignited dried celluloid on the floor. Mr. Fogg eventually returned to his home state of Rhode Island, where he became a jeweler. (Early celluloid, which was often used in jewelry and handbag frames, is highly flammable.)
There was another fire in 1903, when an unnamed employee was in the “lacquering shed” at the back of the Totten building, used by Caspar & Mandalian. The theory was that a drying oven accidentally ignited the flammable lacquer.
Also in 1903, three young jewelers were accused of stealing jewelry from Caspar & Mandalian, after pieces were brought to the trio for coloring and not everything was returned.
We found a 1904 classified advertisement placed by Caspar & Mandalian seeking “a girl who is accustomed to making and hanging up chain purses,” as well as a 1906 classified advertisement asking for experienced employees to make “purse tops.” In 1907, Caspar & Mandalian posted a number of help wanted ads, including one for an assistant bookkeeper and a “first class bench hand who is accustomed to making fine grade purse frames,” and another ad seeking “ladies to make coat of mail purses at home.” This confirms that Mr. Mandalian was already in the bag business before partnering with Mr. Hawkins, a name often mentioned with Mr. Mandalian.
We do not know the circumstances that led Mr. Mandalian to discontinue his association with Mr. Caspar, nor how Mr. Mandalian became acquainted with Mr. Hawkins.
The surname Hawkins was used by numerous jewelers in the late 1800s to early 1900s in the Attleboro area. Mr. Mandalian’s partner was Eugene Augustus Hawkins (b.1857, Massachusetts-d.1938, Florida). In 1880, he was working as a silversmith in New York, which is where he met his wife, Mathilda. In 1900, he was a “bench hand” at a jewelry maker, which, based on his own words, was likely Whiting & Davis.
Most online sources cite Mr. Mandalian’s bag-making partnership with Mr. Hawkins as starting in 1906. This was stated by Mr. Hawkins himself in a letter, which was printed in a 1912 book called “The Story of My Life or Forty Busy Years” by evangelist Ithiel T. Johnson. However, the Caspar & Mandalian business listing was still in a 1907 address directory, and we found numerous 1907 help wanted newspaper ads for Caspar & Mandalian, and no mention in the newspapers of Hawkins & Mandalian until 1908. (Note: Two 1908 newspaper references we found were listed in that order of names, Hawkins & Mandalian, even though their maker mark was M. & H. This was either a mistake, or the pair were in the midst of settling on a business name.)
As to the 1906 Mandalian & Hawkins partnership cited in so many sources, there may have been some overlap with Mr. Mandalian’s partnerships with Caspar and Hawkins, or the timeline was misremembered. It could also be that Mr. Hawkins began working for Caspar and Mandalian in 1906, before they broke off into a separate firm.
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| Eugene A. Hawkins' letter in Ithiel T. Johnson's book, screenshot from The Internet Archive. |
Mr. Hawkins worked for Whiting & Davis before partnering with Mr. Mandalian. It is likely that Mr. Hawkins’ knowledge of mesh bags was the impetus for his collaboration with Mr. Mandalian. He was apparently well-liked at the factory, as employees of Mandalian & Hawkins gifted him with a Morris chair for his birthday in 1909. This generous gift could've been partly due to the fact that Mr. Hawkins’s son-in-law, Harry Albert Jager, was foreman of the company!
Mr. Hawkins mentions mesh bags in his letter—rather than jewelry or other items—but in a 1915 industry directory of Massachusetts manufacturers, Mandalian & Hawkins is listed as a maker of “Silverware and Plated Ware.” A 1917 book says they made “German silver vanity case shells.” Most references to Mandalian & Hawkins during this era say they were jewelers.
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| Mandalian & Hawkins maker's mark, screenshot from https://www.langantiques.com/university/mark/mandalian-hawkins/. |
Metal mesh handbags often fell under the category of jewelry, and many were sold in jewelry stores. Handbags made of ring mesh, a sort of chain link, were often unmarked, with no manufacturer's name or maker's mark, and advertised without specifying a manufacturer.
While searching through the archive of the Attleboro Public Library, we found numerous classified advertisements for Mandalian & Hawkins seeking employees to make ring mesh bags, as well as some specifically for “hanging up” and sewing linings in mesh bags. One ad says the company was searching for “25 girls” to make these bags at home.
In 1909, Mandalian & Hawkins announced they were expanding their floor space with an addition to their building.
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| This is an example of a 1900s-1910s ring mesh bag made of German silver. It has no maker imprint, so it's impossible to say who made it, but it is a common style for the era. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
On August 6, 1910, The Attleboro Sun published an extensive article about “An Industry Netting Many Dollars for Thrifty Housewives – The making of the ring mesh bag in the Attleboro with all New England helping.” This was a cottage industry, with “housewives” spread out over a large geographical area, using “plyers” (sic), “thumbscrew,” and “a clothespin” to churn out this very popular type of handbag. They made $3 to $8 dollars per week. The metal rings were furnished by the manufacturer, and workers were paid based on the size of the bag. Some bags were made of German silver, later to be gold- or silver-plated, and others had frames that were set with gems or watches. (German silver is a metal alloy with no actual silver in it.)
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| A portion of the August 6, 1910 Attleboro Sun article, screenshot from The Attleboro Public Library Archive. |
There is a list at the end of the article with “prominent manufacturers of mesh bags in Providence and the Attleboros.” They include Whiting & Davis, R. Blackinton, Paye & Baker, Mandalian & Hawkins, H.H. Curtis, Codding & Heilborn, James F. Blake, Bristol Jewelry, J.T. Inman, W.H. Saart, F.W. Bliss, G.W. Parks, N. Barstow, Louis Stern, T.W. Foster and Woolcott. The Vintage Purse Museum finds it fascinating—as we hope you do, too—that there were so many businesses producing this type of ring mesh bag using home-based laborers.
Of course, this all changed after metal mesh machines became more readily available and home-crafters were no longer needed. There was also the fact that styles are ever-changing and the ring mesh bag eventually gave way to flat mesh.
Even though Mandalian & Hawkins had its factory in Attleboro, they had a secondary location at 11 Maiden Lane, New York City, circa 1914. This was likely a showroom and/or storefront, as we found numerous references to this address for different dealers of jewelry and “novelties,” as handbags, purse accessories, and other items were called during this era. (11 Maiden Lane is now apartments and retail space.)
We learned via a 1964 Attleboro newspaper article under the column heading “Remember When,” that fifty years earlier, Mr. Mandalian’s nephew George became a partner in the S.A. Rossen Co., a North Attleboro jeweler and silversmith, located in the Totten building. (The Totten building was later home to Evans Case Company, a well known compact maker.) In 1914, George would’ve been 22 years old. We do not know how long he worked for S.A. Rossen, but we believe he may have started after he graduated from business school. The 1920 US Census says George was an assistant manager at a jewelry store. Because no company names are given in census-taking, we couldn’t determine if he still worked for S.A. Rossen in 1920, or was by then working for his uncle Sahatiel.
Some sources state that Mr. Hawkins left the partnership by 1915, but this conflicts with the 1917 mention of their jewelry business that we found in a directory. However, we did find a 1917 newspaper article about striking jewelry workers with a list of makers affected, and Mandalian is one of them, with no mention of Hawkins. (Labor disputes were common after the Industrial Revolution.)
After Mandalian and Hawkins split (some sources say Mr. Mandalian bought out Mr. Hawkins), the imprint on the frame of the mesh handbags became “Mandalian Mfg. Co,” and the maker's mark was an "M" inside a diamond.
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| Mandalian maker's mark, screenshot from https://www.silvercollection.it/AMERICANSILVERPLATEMARKSMP.html. |
The earliest newspaper ad for Mandalian handbags that we could find was from 1921, showcasing its armor mesh, silver-plated bag dubbed the “Debutante.” The name “Mandalian” is misspelled in the ad. Both Mandalian and Whiting & Davis used the term “armor mesh” in their advertising.
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| Early 1920s Mandalian "Debutante" armor mesh handbag. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.  05 Jun 1921, Sun The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) Newspapers.com |
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| Mirror inside bag above, along with Mandalian maker's mark and "armor mesh" imprint. |
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| Closeup of silver-plated top of bag above. |
In a 1927 address directory, the business was listed as Mandalian Manufacturing, and Mr. Hawkins had no profession listed. Eugene A. Hawkins would’ve been 70 years old by then, so it’s likely that he had retired.
In the 1930 publication “History of Massachusetts Industries - Their Inception, Growth and Success” By Orra L. Stone (S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 4 volumes): “…the Mandalian Mfg. Co., owned by S. G. Mandalian, employs ninety hands in the manufacture of mesh bags.”
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| From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum, an original page from an S.W. Co. catalog, featuring Mandalian handbags. The name Mandalian is misspelled; an unfortunate, but common occurrence in the advertising of his handbags. |
Sahatiel’s wife Lillian passed away in 1933. George Mandalian, identified as an “assistant manager” in a brief newspaper article, filed for bankruptcy in 1934. No employer name was given, and it may have been a personal bankruptcy rather than a business issue. However, there were a dozen names in this article under the heading “business troubles,” and each name listed an accompanying profession.
By 1934 the fancy enamel mesh bag trend was fading. You can see the difference in styles in newspaper advertisements of the mid-1930s, with all-over gold- or silver-colored mesh pouch-shaped bags gaining popularity. Mandalian’s enamel mesh bag production was likely in a decline, and it is possible that the company itself—rather than just George—had to file for bankruptcy. Perhaps Sahatiel relied on George to help Mandalian Manufacturing regroup. Unfortunately, we could not find concrete details of the circumstances surrounding the bankruptcy declaration.
Here’s where we once again take note of Mr. Mandalian’s inventions. The “sound transmitting and light reflecting screen” of 1932 makes use of the metal mesh material for “talking motion picture art” using an “articulated metal fabric.” His 1935 “receptacle” is a cosmetics pouch, meaning he was potentially venturing into the purse accessories business. And the 1940 tap for dance shoes clearly shows that he was hoping to expand their product lines.
We don’t know if these items were ever commercially made (other than the test-marketing of the screen), but it would make sense to use the Mandalian company’s machines to create products to keep the factory open. The problem is we've never seen a handbag—or other item—with the Mandalian maker’s mark after the 1930s. The most recent newspaper advertisement that we could find for Mandalian enamel metal mesh handbags was from 1938. While this does not mean there were no subsequent Mandalian advertisements, Sahatiel and/or George could’ve been making mesh purse accessories such as powder compacts—which were popular in the 1930s-1940s—or focused on jewelry or another type of product. We simply don’t know.
In 1941, there was an aluminum shortage due to this material being heavily allocated for use in the war effort. Whiting & Davis and Mandalian are identified in a 1941 newspaper article as Massachusetts jewelry companies, and both were reported to have been denied use of aluminum for their products. By then, the more delicate and elaborate 1920s-1930s enamel mesh bags made by Whiting & Davis and Mandalian were no longer in style, and Whiting & Davis was making its sensible all-white, easy to clean, everyday use “Alumesh” bags. Again, we don't know what Mandalian was making out of aluminum and can only speculate. (We will update this article if we find more information.)
Many online sources say that Whiting & Davis purchased (alternatively, “absorbed”) Mandalian in 1944. There is a 1987 newspaper profile of an avid handbag collector (The Vintage Purse Museum is redacting her name) who states, “The most important asset that Whiting and Davis has is the large inventory of machines designed for mail mesh and the fact they are the only company in the world with a capacity that comes close to necessity for modern production." The article went on to say, “(She) added that very little was learned about Mandalian Manufacturing Company other than that it was founded around 1922 and stopped production around 1935. ‘Rumor has it that Whiting and Davis owned Mandalian Manufacturing Company and that it was started to avoid a monopoly antitrust suit by the government,’ she said. In the early 1940s Whiting and Davis obtained all the Mandalian machines.”
The Vintage Purse Museum found this rumor elsewhere as well, and must reiterate that much of what is found online is often a case of copy and paste, and not necessarily accurate. While we know that Sahatiel Mandalian established his jewelry business well before 1922, and was still in business in 1935, possibly with George Mandalian at the helm, it is certainly a curious notion that Whiting and Davis secretly owned Mandalian Manufacturing. Still, we have found no evidence of this, and have serious doubts that the US government would be interested in an alleged metal mesh handbag monopoly.
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| Mandalian enamel metal mesh bag, with chatelaine-style ring. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.
 19 Dec 1926, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com |
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However, we can tell you with certainty that Sahatiel Mandalian was still listed as proprietor of Mandalian Manufacturing in a 1941 address directory. The 1942 and 1943 directories were missing from the genealogy resource we used, but the 1944 directory lists him as a private citizen, with no business affiliation. George Mandalian is listed in the same 1944 directory as a jeweler, with no business name mentioned. By the 1950 US Census, George was listed as a “jewelry jobber.” (Jobber is a synonym for wholesaler.)
It’s very reasonable to assume that Mr. Mandalian, who was 75 years old in 1944, and had lost his wife eleven years earlier, had retired. It’s also a fair assumption that Sahatiel Mandalian elected to sell Mandalian Manufacturing Co.’s equipment to Whiting & Davis, which was still making metal mesh bags, albeit styles that were entirely different from the elegant enameled pieces of the 1920s-1930s.
We found a 1946 classified ad in the Nashua (New Hampshire) Telegraph placed by The Mandalian Co. of North Attleboro, in which the company was selling 800 dozen men’s socks, and 5,000 yards of cotton herringbone twill. Once again, we can only speculate as to how and why the company had acquired such an unusual inventory. However, it indicates that George continued to run the company, meaning Mr. Mandalian had sold his machines but not his name.
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| Sahatiel Mandalian's 1949 obituary, screenshot from The Attleboro Sun, found in the archives of The Attleboro Public Library. |
Dr. Mazlumian mentioned to us in his email that Mr. Mandalian’s obituary appeared in the June 6, 1949 edition of The Attleboro Sun, which says he dissolved his partnership with Mr. Hawkins in 1915, and sold the business to Whiting & Davis in 1944. The obituary is quite lovely, speaking of him with fondness. Mr. Mandalian was interred at The Mount Hope Cemetery in North Attleboro.
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| George Mandalian, center, reuniting with long lost relatives in Argentina, 1957. Starting at left, his brother Stepan, brother Manouk, sister Esgouhi, and her husband Asadur Mazlumian. Photo courtesy of Dr. Jorge Mazlumian. |
Dr. Mazlumian told us that George Mandalian, who did not know if his siblings had survived the Armenian Genocide, was able to reconnect with them fifty years after his mother sent him to the US to live with his beloved aunt and uncle. In 1957, George visited his family in Argentina, where, sadly, he passed away from a heart attack at age 65. He was interred in Buenos Aires.
In 1967, there was an exhibit of Mandalian handbags, loaned by George’s widow, Miriam Mandalian, at the Woodcock Garrison House in North Attleboro. Miriam Grenelle Mandalian (b. 1892) passed away in 1971. She and George were predeceased by their son, George Jr. (b.1923-d.1940). Their three daughters, Ruth (b.1924-d.2011), Priscilla (b.1926-d.2019), and Lucille (b.1928-d.2016), have all passed, but their respective obituaries share stories of lives well-lived.
Our deep dive into the history of one man and his handbags led us to details we never planned to uncover, but are very glad we did. We hope this journey gives you a better picture of Sahatiel Mandalian, his family, and his everlasting art.
This article c2024 by Wendy Dager/The Vintage Purse Museum. Special thanks to Dr. Jorge Mazlumian and his son, Pablo Mazlumian, and the staff at the Rhode Island School of Design. The Attleboro Public Library’s online archive was an invaluable resource. Additional information for this article was culled from websites including The Internet Archive, Rhode Island School of Design archives, Pursecollector.com and Thevintagecompactshop.com. Other resources used were Newspapers.com and MyHeritage.com, to which we have paid subscriptions, as well as Google and Familysearch.org. Please do not use information or photos from this article or website without requesting permission, vintagepursemuseum@gmail.com.
10 Jun 1930, Tue The North Adams Transcript (North Adams, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com
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