SPECIAL POST: The History of Royal London Handbags

1969 Royal London wooden bag with flocked red box and Florentine-style painted embellishments. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.

The History of Royal London, Ltd. and Its Handbags

Royal London and Lady London fashionable hippie-era wooden handbags were imported to the US in the late 1960s to early 1970s by Royal London, Ltd., a company run by brothers Arthur (1923-2006), Irwin (1928-2016), and Robert (1939-) Ginsberg.

We currently have seven Royal London handbags in our collection, and like to think they tell a story as much about themselves as they do the wearer. 

The following information was culled from the newspaper archive and genealogy website to which we subscribe, as well as information found within Google Books, a resource we use primarily for trade publications and other verified historical documents. (We reached out to the Ginsberg family for assistance with this article, but were unable to connect. We will update this post if we receive additional information.)

1970 Lady London handbag, painted to give it a three-dimensional effect. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.

Label on bottom of bag above.

Ginsberg (and its alternate spelling, "Ginsburg") is a somewhat common name, which made it a little difficult to get through genealogy records, but we are certain that the three brothers were born in New York to Philip and Helen Ginsberg. According to the 1950 US Census, Philip was proprietor of a “menswear jobber” establishment. All three children lived with their parents at the time the census was taken. The census-taker's writing is not entirely legible, but it appears that Arthur was a retail manufacturer, and Irwin was a menswear salesman at a store. 

July 19, 1971, The Town Talk, clipped via Newspapers.com.

Lady London box bag with a design featuring books by famous authors. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum,

Labels on the bottom of the bag above.

Works of Shakespeare wooden bag, from the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. The label is missing, but it is more than likely attributable to Royal London.

The Vintage Purse Museum found a 1946 business name filing for Royal London, Ltd., which started out as Globe Novelty House, and became Royal London, Ltd. in 1966. Despite this finding, a 1970 newspaper article about the company said that Royal London was in its “45th year,” which would mean it was established in 1925. We also found a 1963 ad for Royal London in a trade publication that indicates it was initially a menswear company, which would align with Philip’s line of work, so it appears that the brothers were counting their father's business in the 45-year timeline. 

The US Patent and Trademark Office lists several companies that had "Royal London" as their trademarks. Of these, two were filed by Globe Novelty House in 1943. One was for pocketbooks, wallets, and other leather goods; the other was for buckles, collar clasps, and related items. The other Royal London marks were much more recent, with parent companies that appear to be unrelated to the Ginsbergs.

We found a 1947 ad (pictured below) saying that Globe Novelty House was carrying Royal London belts, as well as a 1951 classified "help wanted" ad for  Globe Novelty House at 1150 Broadway in New York City. The classified ad stated that it was a commission job for a salesman with a haberdashery following to sell "Anson jewelry, Craftsman billfolds, London belts and other items." We can conclude from this that "Royal London" was initially a brand name before it became a business name. As we've learned from prior research, an official business entity or corporation filing date does not mean a trade or business name was not used earlier in a company's history.

June 8, 1947, Democrat and Chronicle, clipped via Newspapers.com.

Royal London Florentine-style bag in an interesting shape. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.

May 3, 1970, The Paducah Sun, clipped via Newspapers.com.

Records indicate that eldest brother Arthur was president and spokesperson of Royal London, Ltd. The 1970 newspaper article says that the company was one of the nation’s largest importers of general giftware and specialized gift items for men, as well as Lady London handbags and Royal London belts. According to the same article, the brothers had built a 50,000 square-foot plant on Garfield Ave. in Jersey City, New Jersey, but were keeping their showroom at 16 W. 33rd St. in Manhattan, where Royal London previously had several smaller production facilities.

December 17, 1971, The Springfield News-Leader, clipped via Newspapers.com.

Among the other products they imported were games, barware, and men's valets (to hold cufflinks, coins, etc.), with many of these items made of wood. We discovered a number of patents for some of these novelty items (not the handbags) under Arthur's name with Royal London as the patent assignee. A 1966 patent had Arthur Ginsberg and Atsumu Hirata as co-inventors. We couldn't locate Mr. Hirata, and can only speculate as to his connection, but perhaps he was the Ginsberg brothers' representative in Japan.

We were unable to verify whether the handbags were imported undecorated from Japan to the US, and then embellished with paint and other details at the Royal London factory by employees. It seems possible that US craftspeople did the artwork and added the velvet linings. The label on the 1970 Lady London turtle-motif bag below also says "hand made in Japan," which could indicate that the decoration was added prior to importation, or it may only be referencing the construction of the handbag itself. If we receive proper documentation regarding the process of applying the art to these bags, we'll update this post.

1970 Lady London bag, from the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.

Royal London and Lady London handbags appear to have been sold in stores from about 1968 to 1971. These bags had model names, per the newspaper ad directly below. Among the designs was a wooden "treasure chest," which is a style we've seen with other makers' labels. This is because many handbag companies of the era sourced their bags from the same factories. That said, we have several Royal London bags that we have not seen with other maker labels, including the "Shakespeare Library." What's also quite nice about Royal London/Lady London bags is that many of them have the year they were made on the labels, something one rarely sees on vintage bags in general. Unfortunately, some labels were removed by the bags' owners or simply lost to time, as in the case of our Shakespeare bag.

February 25, 1970, the North Adams Transcript, clipped via Newspapers.com.

It is unclear when Royal London, Ltd. closed its doors, but it appeared to have merged with a realty company associated with the Ginsbergs in 1974. The last advertisement we could find for a Royal London product was from 1984. The company was officially dissolved in 1987.

 

According to Arthur Ginsberg's 2006 obituary, he worked in the ceramics industry after the closure of Royal London. He was also a music lover, and enjoyed golf, tennis, skiing, philosophy, and "dedicated much of his time to reading, writing, and discussion." Perhaps this is why so many of his company's products were true conversation pieces.

1968 Royal London bag, from the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.

This article c2026 by Wendy Dager/The Vintage Purse Museum. Please do not use information or photos from this article or any of our other posts without requesting permission at vintagepursemuseum@gmail.com. Resources used were Newspapers.com and Myheritage.com, to which we have paid subscriptions, and Google.