A New Vintage Coach Lover Needs Help...

[MadgePadge]

I'm a new vintage handbag Coach lover, mostly anything produced before 1994. Yes, I know there are a lot of beautiful bags made after the early 90's, but I think the magic started to fade after Sara Lee purchased Coach in 1985.

I understand how to read a serial number such as F4D 9085. I'd like to know how people are "dating" a vintage bag by the serial number and I'd like to know how to find out the name of a vintage bag. I've seen people dating vintage bags they're selling on ebay and I'm included to believe it's all willy nilly. Plus, the guides I've found online are filled w/ conflicting information.

So far, the urban internet myths include a "catalogue" of older handbag styles and the ability to enter a creed/serial number into a database at Coach, which brings up the name and production year of your bag. To date, I cannot find either...

What are the best sources to learn about the merchandise that was produced from the late 1960's thru the early 1990's? If anyone would be kind enough to help me, I'd be very appreciative!

Thanking all of you in advance for the best info possible info and your assistance. smile1:

 

[whateve]

There is information here: http://www.ebay.com/gds/Coach-Serial-Numbers-the-Basic-Facts-/10000000034886433/g.html

Basically, there are three types of creeds: made in New York City, made in the United States or made in U.S.A., or the format used after 1994.

Coach used the US creeds from around 1988 to 1993 so that is how you can date those bags. If you know the style and know when it was introduced, you can narrow it down further. Also they changed the format from xxx-xxxx to xxxx-xxx around 1989 -1990, so if the format is the former, you can guess it was made in 1988 or 1989; if it is the latter, then it was probably made between 1990 - 1993.

For NYC creeds, you can't really tell the difference between a mid-70s creed and a 1988 one, unless you have some other information, such as when the style was introduced or paperwork that came with the bag. The bags that have the glued-in serial number and copyright symbol can be dated to late 70s - early 80s because Coach seems to have abandoned using that around 1982 - 1983. Some people believe that Coach used the glued in serial numbers exclusively before changing to the stamped ones but that isn't proven, and it is probable that they were used at the same time, the glued-in serial numbers reducing the bottleneck at the number stamping station.

Collecting catalogs is the only way to narrow down the dates even closer. It isn't very helpful in the 70s and 80s because most styles were made for a long period of time.

Any bag made before around 1975 doesn't have a creed at all.

You can't trust more than half of the listings on ebay and other sites as far as date information. Many sellers tend to believe their bags are much older than they really are.

There is another guide here: http://www.sacsmagnifiques.com/2013/10/guide-coach-creeds-logos-hangtagsa.html?m=1

 

[MadgePadge]

There is information here: http://www.ebay.com/gds/Coach-Serial-Numbers-the-Basic-Facts-/10000000034886433/g.html

Basically, there are three types of creeds: made in New York City, made in the United States or made in U.S.A., or the format used after 1994.

Coach used the US creeds from around 1988 to 1993 so that is how you can date those bags. If you know the style and know when it was introduced, you can narrow it down further. Also they changed the format from xxx-xxxx to xxxx-xxx around 1989 -1990, so if the format is the former, you can guess it was made in 1988 or 1989; if it is the latter, then it was probably made between 1990 - 1993.

For NYC creeds, you can't really tell the difference between a mid-70s creed and a 1988 one, unless you have some other information, such as when the style was introduced or paperwork that came with the bag. The bags that have the glued-in serial number and copyright symbol can be dated to late 70s - early 80s because Coach seems to have abandoned using that around 1982 - 1983. Some people believe that Coach used the glued in serial numbers exclusively before changing to the stamped ones but that isn't proven, and it is probable that they were used at the same time, the glued-in serial numbers reducing the bottleneck at the number stamping station.

Collecting catalogs is the only way to narrow down the dates even closer. It isn't very helpful in the 70s and 80s because most styles were made for a long period of time.

Any bag made before around 1975 doesn't have a creed at all.

You can't trust more than half of the listings on ebay and other sites as far as date information. Many sellers tend to believe their bags are much older than they really are.

There is another guide here: http://www.sacsmagnifiques.com/2013/10/guide-coach-creeds-logos-hangtagsa.html?m=1

Thank you for the info. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. As I suspected, most people on ebay are making up the majority of the "dating".

Did the Coach database ever really exist or is that folklore?

 

[whateve]

Thank you for the info. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. As I suspected, most people on ebay are making up the majority of the "dating".

Did the Coach database ever really exist or is that folklore?

You're welcome. There was a database at one time, I believe. I remember seeing a listing on ebay once in which the seller said they called Coach and they told them when it was made. Back in the old days, you could register your Coach, so they probably had those records.

There isn't even any proof that the serial numbers were assigned in a sequential order.

If there is a particular bag you are interested in, we'll do our best to date it for you. You can request it when you get a bag authenticated in the authenticate thread, or you can ask in the ID thread if you don't need authentication. http://forum.purseblog.com/coach/id-coach-item-post-any-coach-item-name-355205.html