vintage collectors and in "retro" designs. These locks are still seen on smaller coin purses. Coinage as a verb The verb "to handbag" and its humorous usage was inspired in the 1980s by UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher having “weaponized” the handbag in the opinion of British biographer and historian David Cannadine. As “her most visible symbol of her power to command” the bag became an emphatic prop that she produced at meetings to show she meant business. She would invariably bring out of the bag a crucial document from which she would quote, her speech notes often being cut to size to fit inside. Because Thatcher was Britain's first female prime minister, former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore wrote in his authorised biography of 2013, “her handbag became the sceptre of her rule”. The verb's more general meaning of "treating ruthlessly" came to symbolize Thatcher's whole style of government. Victims of her handbaggings, from political leaders to journalists, have testified to what the German chancellor Helmut Kohl perceived as her “ice-cold pursuit of her interests”. US secretary of state James Baker recalled her standby ploy: “When negotiations stall, get out the handbag! The solution is always there.” Julian Critchley, one of her biggest Tory backbench critics, once said, "Margaret Thatcher and her handbag is the same as Winston Churchill and his cigar." Thatcher's bag was almost as newsworthy an item as she was herself and on the day she died, one of her handbag-makers saw a sharp rise in sales of her favorite structured design. The original bag Thatcher asserts on a signed card was the one “used every day in my time at Downing Street” is archived at Churchill College, Cambridge. Made of dark blue leather “in mock-croc style”, it was a gift from friends on her birthday in 1984. Handbag collecting Handbag collecting has become increasingly popular in the 2000s. In 2014, the auction house Christie's started a handbag department, which now has several staff, headed by an "international head of handbags". In June 2017, Christie's had its first sale devoted exclusively to handbags. According to The Daily Telegraph, the most sought-after and valuable brand is Hermès, followed by others including Céline, Chanel and Louis Vuitton. World records In June 2015, a Christie's handbag sale in Hong Kong saw a pink crocodile skin Hermès Birkin bag made only in 2014, sell for a then world record £146,000.