The Ciccia Aquarium bag is reminiscent of a Radley signature bag

The beautiful Ciccia aquarium bag is a very striking handbag that reminds me very much of the Radley signature bags that you tend to get in each Radley range.

Made from a very striking blue leather it has a very cute pattern of a rather ingenious cat scuba diving into an aquarium full of fish and is one of those bags that you can just fall for immediately.

I’m not sure if Ciccia are deliberately emulating the very popular Radley tradition of producing signature bags, since Ciccia seem to have a few similar bags in each range, but if they are then I’m sure that over time these earlier ones will become very collectable as Ciccia carves out a name for itself on the high street.

This Ciccia handbag is available from www.leatherhandbags.org.uk for £144.95, leatherhandbags.org.uk carry the full range of Ciccia handbags and Ciccia purses.

Very Radley!

It really is quite astounding how much choice these 3 brands together offer. When Irving, the very nice chap who represents them in the UK, brings around his 5 or 6 suitcases (& they’re big suitcases) full of samples, you need at least half a day to just look at them all, and then you have to choose which ones you want to order!

This is very difficult, especially when there are little gems like this on offer, along with a similar version in mock croc, AND a choice of colours too, not to mention the matching purses!

Gionni handbags epiromise the very values that we wanted to bring to readers of our online handbags magazine, of quality, style, fashionable designs, and great prices.

The rather eye catching and sweet little handbag shown here costs an unbelievable £28!

That really is a fantastic price for such a great little bag, and this isn’t a one off, Gionni handbags consistantly beat their rivals in terms of all of the factors mentioned above, and in general the prices are so good that you often need to double check to make sure that you haven’t misheard.

Gionni handbags are available from Behold the Bag.

The Dice bag to the right is a bigger handbag than the other Dice handbag mentioned above, allowing us girls to cram far more essential handbag goodies into it, without making it burst at the seams.

This particular style almost reminds me of a kind of medical or doctors bag, in that it looks quite professional, making it suitable for the office, but not overly so meaning that you could just as happily take it to the local.

It is made from a durable, nice looking & feeling material, and it is clearly well made. At just £50 this has to qualify as a handbag bargain, there aren’t many bags of such obvious quality at such reasonable prices – and what a fantastic Christmas present it would make too!

Available in the UK from Behold the Bag of Ilkley, West Yorkshire.

This is a real shame since Oriano are another range of handbags that meet our criteria of really nice handbags at extremely good prices, but we do note that they are starting to be stocked in some of the leading stores & websites, albeit in a rather peicemeal fashion.

The bag to the right is typically Oriano – very straightforward but quite elegantly designed, very practical in that it doesn’t just look good, it is actually useful, nice leather & metal fittings that feel like they have some substance to them, and the price is an incredible £75.

Now just think about that for a moment. If you see a leather handbag priced at around £75 you probably get the impression that it’s somewhere above the cheap tat that you find on market stalls, but not as good as the named brands that cost maybe £200-£300.

But this idea of value for money is a fallacy. The truth of the matter is that when you buy a “known” or “named” handbag you are paying at least 50% of the price for the name alone.

I think that while people have felt like they were experiencing the good times that they have forgotten how to spot quality & value for money, but I’m sure that as times get harder over the next couple of years that the desire & passion for getting more for your money will return, & we think that companies like Oriano will prosper in that kind of environment – because they are among a mere handful of handbag companies who really do produce top quality handbags at extremely reasonable prices.

Oriano handbags are available from Behold the Bag of Ilkley, West Yorkshire or from their new leather handbags website.

This Claudia Canova handbag is also £47.50

Claudia Canova handbags are a bit more on the fun & funky side than the Smith & Canova leathers, but they certainly catch peoples attention and we know that Claudia Canova are very big sellers over at Behold the Bag.

The bag pictured below is one of the current range of Claudia Canova Autumn & Winter range, and is priced at just £47.50, which is pretty good when you consider the prices that some better known names charge for thei bags.

We started this website really to try & find exceptional bags at exceptional prices, particularly since we thought that the economy looked a bit shakey & people wanted value for money, and Claudia Canova certainly tick all of the boxes for all of the criteria that we were concerned with meeting.

In fact Smith & Canova have such a good reputation & Smith & Canova handbags are such good quality that they manufacture handbags for Harrods, that exclusive London store that everyone has heard of.

The beautiful bag to the left is typical of Smith & Canova, very sensual feeling leather, very tactile and stunning looking design, and a great price too.

Imagine how much this bag would be if it were a high street named brand – it would be a couple of £Hundred I’m sure, but because you’re just paying for the bag & not the name, it comes in at an unbelievable price of just £82.50!!! – We think that amazing!

Smith & Canova handbags are available from our friends at Behold the Bag in Ilkley, West Yorkshire or from their new leather handbags website.

This sweet little handbag is made from a really nice synthetic material that looks & feels like a high quality material, and I particularly love the long looping handles that you can easily get over your shoulder.

The thing that I really love about Dice handbags is that they fill a gap between more expensive leather handbags and the more in your face fashion bags that you find out there – they have the same kind of look and feel of an expensive leather bag design, and are equally suited for the office or a night on the town, but the prices are great.

This example to the left costs just £37.50, which is hardly going to break the bank, and is great value for money. Be sure to check out the other slightly Dice handbag which is a bit more expensive at £50, but again is well worth the money.

Both of these bags are available, along with a lot of other Dice handbags, from Behold the Bag in Ilkley.

At just £50 it is very well priced for a leather clutch, you can buy this clutch bag from Behold the Bag of Ilkley or from leather handbags.

Check our other Oriano pages.