Still working on figuring out the age indicators

I haven't found any good sources for determining the ages of vintage American Tourister suitcases so I'm just working on trying to figure it out on my own.  I believe that the Tri-Taper is the oldest, the one with this kind of latch

But, that is just my guess.  Some other differences are in the handles.  There are these kind:

but I don't see many of those around.  The one I see most often is like this:

I have Tri-Tapers, Tiaras and the one that just says "Tourister" all having this type of handle.  I only have the one with that first handle pictured above (it is a Tri-Taper) so I'm assuming it is my oldest piece.
Another difference I've found is the American Tourister metal label.  Here are the two versions I've seen

again, with the later picture being the most common.

Luggage tags on Vintage American Tourister suitcases

In my quest for information on vintage American Touristers I've found that I'm really enjoying looking at the details and the differences.  I have found very little factual information on how to date these cases so all I can do is keep collecting information.  One special little detail on the American Touristers is the cute, kitschy little tag.  The style is iconic but if you look closely, they aren't all the same. 

The above one is totally smooth and printed on the rubber or plastic or whatever these things are made of.  The one below is embossed and embossed without a color. 

The thing about these tags, is that they can't really be dated by the case that they are attached to because they are on a ball chain, which is removeable and can easily be added or moved from one case to another.  This one pictured below, came from an eBay auction and as you can see... the font is slightly different from the first picture above.  Someone could easily buy the tag and add it to any case.

To be honest, I've done it myself.  That is not the original tag for the red one at the top, it also came off of a gold Tiara overnight case that I sold a few years back.

If I were to guess, I'd say that the embossed tags were the older ones and the smaller font would be the most recent of the ones pictured.

Red Vintage American Tourister "Ladies Hat and Shoe Case" Tiara

I'm such a dork

This is a picture of me on the day I got my most favorite suitcase in my collection.  I had been drooling over a round "Ladies Hat and Shoe case" one day on eBay and I shared the auction listing for it on my facebook page hoping that one of my relatives would think it was a great idea to buy it for me for Christmas. 

 

It was such a pretty case. It was white and had never been used so the bidding went up close to two hundred dollars! I didn't get that white case, but my friend Katrina from Eclectica Miami saw my post and told me she had a red one for sale.  I immediately told her I wanted it.  Red is my favorite color!  I was vending at the Indie Craft Bazaar that weekend so Katrina said she'd deliver it to me there.
As you can see from picture one to picture two, it has gotten dark outside and here I am, still prancing around with my suitcase. 

Other things to notice in these pics.... my hand crafts behind me Kitschy Aprons and Handmade by Shelley Faye (the softies nestled in that yellow vintage American Tourister!) I know... shameless.  Shameless self-promotion.

American Tourister Ad from the 1970s

Is missing a foot really that bad?

Even though I just bought one exactly like this last week, I'm drooling over this vintage American Tourister.  It is cheap too!  If it weren't missing a foot, I'd have already bid on it.  Check out how clean the insides are!  And I am loving the original papers. 

I'm gonna need to go and measure all of my tri-tapers now to figure out what their "official" names are.  One of my goals in writing this blog is to find out more about these treasures... not just contribute to my vintage suitcase hoard.