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With our companyname being Texlectica, you might think we could be prone to telling tall talesin the Texas tradition. But everything I am about to tell you is absolutelytrue. This alligator handbag may be one of the rarest and most unique items ofits kind. This purse is one of only a few dozen ever made by the Wheeler BootCompany, the world-famous custom shop in Houston, Texas. And of those handbags,it is likely that only a few of were alligator leather. But this bag is moresingular yet – not one is quite like this one. We know, because we know thestory of the particular Texas alligatorwho died to make this bag.
So, yes, the alligatorhandbag is going to cost you. But its story is free. But for the fact that it’strue, this is the kind of tale you might expect to read in a novel that couldonly be set in Texas. And, if you wish to offer on the handbag, there are somethings you’ll want to know, so, please, read on.
In the early 1980’s, thewell-educated son of a Texas man with an eighth-grade education retired fromthe corporate world in Houston. We’ll call him Tex, as his friends did when he lived out-of-state. With his wife –let’s call her Mrs. Tex – he moved to a Texas town that had felt like home whenhe went to college there forty years ago, a town not that far from the tinytown he was born in. The couple, through decades of hard work, had ascendedwell into the middle class, and found their own resources supplemented through goodfortune.
In retirement, Tex settledback into his rural roots, a thing that came to include hog hunting, but his city-girlwife from Dallas was not to be countrified. Mrs. Tex preferred trips to Italy, andher collection of crystal and china. Even though Tex was a life-long hunter,his wife was a bit shocked when he announced that he was going to huntalligators in a south Texas swamp not far from the Gulf of Mexico. When Mrs.Tex asked her husband, “Why?” he said, “I’ve always wanted a pair of alligatorboots.” He bagged several of the Texas bayou-dwelling reptiles, each onecontributing to alligator gumbo and other dishes the couple made so friends couldshare in their adventure.
Tex, with the help of anexpert guide, carefully skinned each of the gators, and with the skins packedin salt, sent them away to have them tanned. A few months later, the skins cameback, and he unrolled them on the carpet in their living room. “We lucked out,”Tex explained. His gators had been between eight and nine feet – just the rightsize – big enough to offer a generous portion of leather, but not so big thatthe familiar checkered pattern we associate with fine alligator leather wascompromised.
The Wheeler Boot Company,the most famous custom boot maker in Texas and maybe the world, has suppliedboots to some of the most famous feet in the world. Remember Robert Duvall inthe Texas TV saga, “Lonesome Dove?” Those were Wheeler Boots he wore throughthe whole movie. Tex was not a big TV fan, but it just so happened that the “LonesomeDove” mini-series was his favorite TV event of all time. Tex never could resista good Texas Ranger yarn. So, naturally, Wheeler Boot is where he took hisgator skins.
At the Wheeler shop – itsmelled like a brand-new cowboy boot the size of the Astrodome – Tex had to have hisfeet measured a dozen different ways, as did his son, his son-in-law, anddaughter, when they came to visit. But Mrs. Tex did not want a pair of boots.No. She’s a city-girl, remember? Well, I bet you already know what happened.She had Wheeler make her this handbag, from the skin of an alligator herhusband had hunted on a bayou not all that far down the coast from the Wheelershop.
It was over a year’s waitfor boots and handbag, after which Mrs.Tex adorned herself with the purse onmany dress-up occasions over the years. Due to health and life situations, thehandbag has been in climate-controlled storage for over a decade. And now, itis time to pass on the purse for someone else to appreciate, for them to addtheir story to this one.
Wheeler Boots run from$2,500, for plain cowhide, to $25,000 for fancy ones with exotic leathers, ifyou are willing to wait. Dick Cheney waited for his. Arnold Schwarzeneggerwaited two-and-a-half years for a pair that were designed to his specifications.But handbags are another matter. In a conversation in 2017, Dave Wheeler toldme that they only made, “about forty-five” handbags, ever. And he does notexpect to make any more.
Wheeler Boots, one of thelast great artisanal shops of its kind, was set to close its doors in 2017. Butnow, their website says they will accept a few more orders. On boots. But ifyou want a custom-made Wheeler alligator handbag, this might be your lastchance.
Dave Wheeler suggested, “Thatpurse would sell for between $3,000 and $5,000, if I still made them, so youmight start your sale at three.” How about way less than that, Dave?
I am unclear on the exactage, but I believe the handbag was crafted in the late 1980s.
The bag is 11 ¼ by 4 ¼ inchesat the base, and the body of the bag is 9 ¼ inches tall. The outside of thebag, including the base, is 100% south Texas alligator. It is lined with smoothbrown cowhide, giving it enough structure to hold its shape, while remainingsoft and flexible. Inside, it has a leather divider, giving the bag twocompartments, each with gold-tone magnetic clasps that automatically snaptogether when the bag is closed. In addition, there is a zippered side pocket,with an unassuming 2-inch brown tag stitched to it, saying, in gold embroideredletters:
The strap, one sidealligator, the other smooth brown leather, can be worn single-strap style –over-the-shoulder, bag-at-the-hip – or doubled, in hand, or where the bag tucksunder the elbow.
The bag looks as good tothe eye as it does in the photos. The gold tone hardware shows a bit of wear ifyou look close, and in hand, the creases at the edges, probably stiff when itwas new, have relaxed a bit, making it feel broken in. When the bag came to us,it had been stored stuffed with tissue paper to hold its shape, and when weremoved it, it still had that new-leather aroma.
That’s the story so faron this Wheeler Boot Company custom-made handbag, and your name could be on thefirst page of next chapter.
