WOW! Phenomenal collection! ...and thank you I think I will take it in. I'm very excited! This is my first H bag. =D

Hi girls, I just want to share my Hermes spa experience with everyone. So, I have an about 8-9 year old Kelly. It's in great condition for its age, but I wanted to give it a "face lift" and I was curious to find out what the Hermes spa could do. I know that for a bag in great condition, stores in North America won't send it to Paris and often just comes back to the owner in much the same condition (from what I've read from TPF). So, as I moving to Paris for work, i took the Kelly with me and brought it to the Hermes store at FSH. So the nice lady at the Hermes store first remarked repeatedly in what amazing condition the bag was in and then filled out the repair request. So, the bag was sent in for nettoyage (cleaning), maquillage (make-up?) and astiquage (polishing). What I was surprised about was the price. It came up to 160EUR and it would take 5 weeks. I thought the price for this was about $125US. I'm surprised that it would cost significantly more when there would be no shipping charges involved. In any case I left the purse for its spa treatment. About two weeks later, I got a phone call from the store and they asked whether I would like to have them add the stitching/re-stitching option to the spa treatment and it would cost an additional 106EUR. I told them to go ahead with it as I wanted the bag to come back in its best condition possible. However, I'm wondering why they asked whether I wanted the bag to be stitched/re-stitched if the lady at the store (and I) thought that it is already in pretty good conditions.

Anyhow, I will update everyone on the outcome in a few weeks time. I have one question for you all. Does anyone know whether it is possible to ask for a new box when receiving the bag back from its spa treatment? I have the old one, but it would be wonderful to get a brand new one to store a re-juvenated Kelly!

Originally Posted by Jgirl81

Hi girls, I just want to share my Hermes spa experience with everyone. So, I have an about 8-9 year old Kelly. It's in great condition for its age, but I wanted to give it a "face lift" and I was curious to find out what the Hermes spa could do. I know that for a bag in great condition, stores in North America won't send it to Paris and often just comes back to the owner in much the same condition (from what I've read from TPF). So, as I moving to Paris for work, i took the Kelly with me and brought it to the Hermes store at FSH. So the nice lady at the Hermes store first remarked repeatedly in what amazing condition the bag was in and then filled out the repair request. So, the bag was sent in for nettoyage (cleaning), maquillage (make-up?) and astiquage (polishing). What I was surprised about was the price. It came up to 160EUR and it would take 5 weeks. I thought the price for this was about $125US. I'm surprised that it would cost significantly more when there would be no shipping charges involved. In any case I left the purse for its spa treatment. About two weeks later, I got a phone call from the store and they asked whether I would like to have them add the stitching/re-stitching option to the spa treatment and it would cost an additional 106EUR. I told them to go ahead with it as I wanted the bag to come back in its best condition possible. However, I'm wondering why they asked whether I wanted the bag to be stitched/re-stitched if the lady at the store (and I) thought that it is already in pretty good conditions. Anyhow, I will update everyone on the outcome in a few weeks time. I have one question for you all. Does anyone know whether it is possible to ask for a new box when receiving the bag back from its spa treatment? I have the old one, but it would be wonderful to get a brand new one to store a re-juvenated Kelly!

Astiquage is about renewing the resined edges of your Kelly. It is not about polishing the bag itself.
This is a very sophisticated job and it will make your bag look definitely better.
This is why the price is higher than expected.

The lady in the store was nice to YOU. The people in the repair-atelier inspected YOUR BAG, instead. They might have found some used or missing stitchings and they did not want to do the job for free, so they asked you if you would pay for it.

I doubt they will give you a new box, but it does not urt asking for it with a nice smile.

Thanks Perlerare for your insight. Now that you mentioned it, I think the lady at the store did try to show me how they would revamp the edges. It was just hard to associate the different terms with the different tasks.

I guess I made a good decision to go ahead with the stitching job. I'm sure those experts at the repair-atelier know best what my bag needs to come fresh and new =)

Do you know by any chance why the price discrepancy between the US and France? Does the $125 that other members quoted not include the "astiquage" service? Thanks in the advance!

Originally Posted by Jgirl81

Thanks Perlerare for your insight. Now that you mentioned it, I think the lady at the store did try to show me how they would revamp the edges. It was just hard to associate the different terms with the different tasks. I guess I made a good decision to go ahead with the stitching job. I'm sure those experts at the repair-atelier know best what my bag needs to come fresh and new =) Do you know by any chance why the price discrepancy between the US and France? Does the $125 that other members quoted not include the "astiquage" service? Thanks in the advance!

That's right---$125 would be just for the cleaning/polishing/touch-up sort of things, IIRC.

I just bought a Vintage Hermes Black box leather Kelly from Fashionphile and the zipper says "ECLAIR" and doesn't have an H on it. The date code is R (T), and i don't know what year that comes from. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by lilmonkey

I just bought a Vintage Hermes Black box leather Kelly from Fashionphile and the zipper says "ECLAIR" and doesn't have an H on it. The date code is R (T), and i don't know what year that comes from. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

take a peek here: Reference: Date Stamps by Year

in the reference section for hermes.

Originally Posted by Cinderlala

That's right---$125 would be just for the cleaning/polishing/touch-up sort of things, IIRC.

I was told cleaning Kelly watch would be little over $100!!! It was not for fancy work, it was just for polishing normal scratches to make it look nice (I wore it for a few years, so, I wanted to make it shiny again). Nothing was broken, no dent..etc.! Even bag cleaning is $125!!! Wow, I wonder why polishing a small Kelly watch would cost about the same as cleaning a bag....

I haven't brought a bag in yet to be cleaned, but I've brought bracelets to be fixed. They never gave me a new box.
So, I'm sure this isn't the right thread for this but does anyone know how I can get more boxes? Some of mine are in worn out shape or crushed. thanks

Originally Posted by good life

I haven't brought a bag in yet to be cleaned, but I've brought bracelets to be fixed. They never gave me a new box. So, I'm sure this isn't the right thread for this but does anyone know how I can get more boxes? Some of mine are in worn out shape or crushed. thanks

The orange boxes are part of gift wrapping / packaging for brand new items only. I don't think H would want to play a part in helping the secondary market re-package resale items, and therefore wouldn't give out new boxes and/or ribbons.

I just took my vintage Kelly in for a spa treatement. The quote for cleaning and polishing is $175. If I want new lock and keys, it would be another $200.

does Hermes offer this cleaning/rejuvenating service for wallets and accessories?

^^ Yes they do. If your wallet is missing a stitch for example, it will be re-stitched.

The only thing is with true vintage bags it is bit of a problem because they take long to provide new accessories like my clochette and new lock for my vintage black box Kelly it took ages but the box did come back looking better than ever !

Hi, I am about to buy a vintage kelly but I noticed there are some rub/scratch (not a major but you could see them) in the bottom corners of the bag.
Could someone tell me whether those rub would be improved/restored by Spa?