Dear cottoncatHelen,
Quite frankly, I can't say that I'm an expert in this. I owned two Celine vintage bag and bought them from a reputable ebay seller from Japan. And I believe that Celine are pretty popular in Japan in the 70s and 80s. And I do not know if they have fakes back in those days.
Nevertheless, I did notice some constant details of the horse carriage box bag, but I cannot say if these are signs of authenticity.
1. The type of box bag that Esential have, the Celine logo is placed on the right hand bottom of the front clasp. There are a few bags that I saw that have the logo in the middle of the front clasp.
And in other variation, behind the clasp there is a writing "made in italy" engraved on it.
2. The zipper inside the bag have a small gold charm, with the letter C on it, shaped a bit like a heart shape. Some other bags have the charm with the Celine emblem on it.
3. The clasp on both end of the handle have the shape of two horse shoe clamping on the handle, (like what esential have)
4. The lining is the same color as the bag (full leather), some other bags have red lining on it.
I will try to upload some photos that I had saved tomorrow. Can't access my photobucket for some strange reason
Thank you so much!!! I really look forward to your photos.
By the way, are these box bags very handy? Easy to use? Do you like them more than the current box bags that are out there?
I usually prefer silver hardware with all my accessories in white gold, but I understand most vintages are in gold. Are the gold buckles not too loud? In a way, the gold could be considered more glam where silver could look more casual???
I do hear Japanese ebay sellers are rather reliable. May I ask which seller you had bought your vintage celines from?
Also, I am trying to figure out whether a Chanel 2.55 might be nicer? Any thoughts on those?
Appreciate all your insights. Thank you so much!!!
XOXOXO!!!