Wallet

[ralphmelton]

Yet another example of what my father calls the "Rip Van Winkle effect", in which a satisfactory product is no longer produced:

For several years now, I've been carrying a trifold wallet I bought in the mid-90's. The exterior was originally black suede, but it's been polished by years of my pockets until it's barely recognizable as such. The embossed Levi-Strauss logo is just barely visible on the surface. This wallet suits me well, and I've been happy to have it.

However, the nylon interior has been starting to rip lately. In particular, the coin pouch is starting to leak my coins. Time for a new wallet.

I went back to JCPenney's, where I'd bought the previous wallet. (I can remember buying this wallet, but I can't remember what wallet I carried before.) Penney's now carries no wallets with coin pockets.

I've been carrying my coins in my wallet all my life, and I don't intend to stop now. So I went to Kauffmann's. Nada. Nor at Wilson's Leather. Almost all the wallets I can find for sale just include credit card slots, with no consideration for coins.

Sears carries one wallet that has a coin pouch, but it's a khaki nylon that doesn't look very suave.

At the suggestion of Dani and Monica, I'm searching online, with woefully little luck.

My ideal wallet would be a black leather trifold, with a coin pouch.


I've found one after lots of searching--but I'm wary of some of the bad reviews that the page shows:
http://www.ebags.com/Buxton/Mountaineer_Zip_Coin_Pocket_Three_fold/product_detail/index.cfm?ModelID=1203&bb_id=c4482&ProductList_19_Link=Details&sub_site_id=19

This design looks reasonable, but hemp is not black leather: http://store.yahoo.com/greenfeet/hemp-tri-fold-wallet.html

This Prada one looks like a nice design, but I'm not sure I'm ready to spend $229 for a wallet: http://www.smartbargains.com/prod.asp?sourceid=00381965467598864001&prodID=1020220210&bfinfo=106858363055881590&deptId=10&catId=182

This eBay item might be cheap enough to take a flyer on: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2866261512&category=2996


Sigh. Knowing what I want is just so darn frustrating.

(And while I'm ranting about such things, why is it that all the wallets in department stores come with some foofy wooden box or collectable tin? To whom does that add value?)

Comments

[dr4b]

I got a black leather wallet from Wilson's like 4 years ago that had 2 coin pouches. Sadly the zippers died on both of them within 2 years. I'm not sure I've seen a good wallet since... which is why now I carry a $5 Hello Kitty denim wallet with a coin purse in it. But it's been fabulous. I've been debating buying a second one of them incase the design goes out of style.

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

I hear ya, brother. I too want a zippered coin pouch, and had a nice wallet from Lazarus in Monroeville mall years back. When it died, I tried to get a replacement while in another mall, and failed miserably. Finally I was at Monroeville and found they still had that same wallet for sale.

I bought two.

If I'm lucky, I'll even be able to find the second one when this one dies - it's already been put away someplace safe (which means I have no clue where I cleaned it up to.)

It's a snap trifold, however, with the coin pouch on the outside, but it also has the clear window pocket on the outside flap - very important since my school ID is my bus pass, and I have to whip it out everyday. Having that in the middle of a tri-fold is just asking for it.

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

I vote for the first one or the ebay item.

Poor sweetie. I know how frustrating this is.

[meska.livejournal.com]

Hubby demands coin pockets in his wallet too (with a zipper of course, but no zipper around the wallet), which causes no end of problems when the previous wallet goes kaaput.

I did find a wallet with a pocket at Cleveland Trunk (which I doubt you have there). The wallet is a Bill Bass leather wallet, but it's smaller than hubby's last one. Not as nice as a trifold would have been.