La Marey Python Handbag - what am I not getting here?

[PuppiesProzacProsecco]

Ok so I received this bag for Christmas from my MIL - immediately hated it and was shocked to see how much it cost when I looked it up online (though, TBF, she is normally a generous gifter but I just thought this was so ugly, it had to be cheap 🙈).

https://www.tjc.co.uk/storefront-catalog-tjc/genuine-python-leather-with-synthetic-swede-fabric.-handmade-with-skilled-artisans-1-zipper-pocket-2-pen-holder-1-key-chain-holder-1-slip-pocket-1-detachable-adjustable-python-leather-belt-1628548702.html#q=Python%2B&start=1

Mine is actually uglier than the web page shows - it's a rainbow effect colour that was on there around Christmas but now seems to be sold out.

I was going to stick it on Vinted but the few I see on there are listed at under a fiver. eBay is better with some listed around the £100 mark but when I filter for completed listings, they're not selling at that price.

So what am I missing here? Why are these bags so expensive new but with zero resale value? Has my poor MIL in fact been scammed?

I'll give you £20 if you make it go away

@floppybit it's so hard isn't it? It's DDs room and she's only here once a month. She picked it so she can live with it! I much prefer my 1 billion thread count cotton sateen.

It is horrible but not as bad as I was expecting after the build up. The one with the colours is spectacularly vile though

Sorry! If it's any consolation, so am I!! Along with bloody QVC ads - blaming @SaintGermain for those 😂

😂😂😂

https://www.tjc.co.uk/la-marey-genuine-leather-snakeskin-crossbody-bag-size-30x16x22-cm---white-pink-7890955.html?

Your's looks a bit more like this design, so a little less £££, if that makes you feel any better about giving away

Like any industry where animal skin is involved there's a lot of cruelty.
I'm sure I saw a video of a snake being stripped of it's skin in a oner whilst it was alive.
The skin looks better on the python.

Don’t believe it’s real snakeskin especially as inside is faux ‘swede’ but that aside someone somewhere will love it!

I think she only paid £58 for it. Thats still £58 too much!

I must be tired. I wondered what sort of lining synthetic swede is, without realising it was a misprint 🤦‍♀️

🤣 that is an ugly handbag 🤣 definitely take it to a charity shop many many miles away

I thought it might be a posh scandi version of a plastic scouser.

Just curious who "the older generation" is.

It's hideous and if it is real snakeskin then it's absolutely disgusting. I would bin it.

"Genuine python leather"!! 😱 Just so gross.

wtf has some unsuspecting charity shop done to her to deserve that monstrosity?
(Seriously, animal charities and some others might not want it if it is real python skin. The chances of a tastelessly coloured ripoff handbag using illegally sourced skins seems low).

@IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle , our parents' generation 20 years ago.

I like it! I think it's probably just as genuine python leather as the synthetic swede lining.

Why is python leather worse than cow leather? It's normally harvested from animals that are eaten.

Not a chance that it's real python skin for that price, though it's grotesque enough without having snakes involved.

I think that you have to use it at least once OP and make sure that MIL sees you using it. It will make her happy and then you can get rid! Otherwise she might ask you about it…

Because the degree of cruelty is horrific - the snakes are often skinned alive - and many of the skins are traded illegally using wild-caught animals, which can decimate populations.

That being the case, it’s usually expensive, so I can’t imagine a swede-lined 58 quid handbag is actually made of snakeskin.

Are there an excess of farmed pythons in the same way there are farmed cows?

Is the skin removed after the animal is dead?

Well, after glancing at title, I came on all excited to see the Monty Python handbag, and must say, am leaving quite disappointed🤣.

ETA - this will probably be my only post in Style and Beauty this year, or indeed decade😁.

Am I weird? Because I actually really like the grey snakeskin one! Not keen on the rainbow one, but even so, I’d be upset to give it away as I’d feel terrible for MIL. Can’t you wrap it up and put it in the loft to deal with at another time?

Made of real snake??

Jeez, I thought we, as humans, knew better than that now…

When Mrs Beckham was parading her “real crocodile / alligator” handbags round, I used to think “ you want that so much, go and kill the beast yourself, until then, leave the bloody animals alone!”

All so unnecessary, with the excellent copies around these days. Yuk.