CRIKEY.
Here are some of the mistakes in this "guide" - the all caps lines are my comments, I'm really NOT shouting! Well, not this time, anyway!
"941- late 1960s
There was no creed or serial number on the Coach bags manufactured during this period."
THAT'S BECAUSE COACH DIDN'T EVEN START MAKING HANDBAGS UNTIL 1962 WHEN BONNIE CASHIN WAS ASKED TO BE THEIR DESIGNER. Coach only made small leather goods before 1962.
"Late 1960s – Mid 1970s
Coach introduced the creed without any serial number sometime in the late 60’s/early70s. "
NO, THE CREED STAMP WASN'T APPARENTLY INTRODUCED UNTIL THE MID-1970S, AFTER BONNIE CASHIN PARTED WAYS WITH COACH IN 1974. BEFORE THE STAMPED CREED WAS INTRODUCED, COACH USED EITHER A SIMPLE STAMPED COACH LOGO AND CARTOUCHE, OR A SMALL METAL PLAQUE WITH THE COACH LOGO.
SERIAL NUMBERS MAY HAVE BEGUN IN THE VERY LATE 1970S OR VERY EARLY 1980S, STARTING WITH THE GLUED-IN STRIPS AND PROGRESSING THROUGH VARIOUS KINDS OF STAMPINGS, NOT IN THE MID 70S.
"Mid 70s – Late 80s
Coach introduced the serial numbers on the creed patch in mid 1970s. The serial numbers were unique in the format “xxx-xxxx”. Only numbers were used with 3 digits followed by 4 digits after the hyphen, eg 103-5099. It is also around this time (mid 70s) that Coach started to manufacture bags in multiple location in U.S.A outside of just NYC."
COACH DIDN'T START MOVING PRODUCTION TO OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE US UNTIL AROUND
1987-88, STARTING WITH MIAMI, WHICH IS EXACTLY THE TIME THAT THE "MADE IN NEW YORK CITY" AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CREED WAS CHANGED TO "MADE IN THE UNITED STATES" OR "MADE IN USA".
THAT "GUIDE" IS TEN YEARS OFF ON THE DATES. I'm assuming it's the same completely inaccurate guide that was posted to various websites in the middle of the 2000 decade and also copied by at least one Ebay seller with all the incorrect information carried over and NO attempt made to verify any of the dates. That's the post mentioned as
"The above information was compiled with reference from postings by Hyacinth on the purseblog forum and Margo on thebagforum." Margo's information is almost completely wrong, and "Margo" has never been heard from again, I think her guide was posted in 2007. In fact, there should be another post in the same section of that forum where I added a post and explained why the Margo guide was inaccurate and unreliable.
The Ebay seller, whose name includes a reference to both a motorcycle brand and a model of passenger jet, copied the Margo guide almost verbatim and is probably responsible for hundreds of misleading Ebay listings with incorrect dates. To be fair, he's apparently corrected some of his mistakes in that guide but the whole thing should have simply been removed when the errors were brought to his attention. I, unfortunately for some, am still around, as are my Guides, both here at tPF and posted at Ebay with the help and encouragement of Ebay seller "Salearea" under his ID.. And my information is based not on guesswork OR ON ANYONE ELSE'S GUIDES but on what little evidence we have from verified purchases, and every date has been cross-checked with the Coach catalogs for that year. All the research is mine and was verified to the best of my ability before posting them, although sometimes new information comes to light and details have to be tweaked a bit, like with the Bean Bag creeds. But for a set of Guides posted 5 years ago, I think they hold up pretty well.
"Late 80s to 1994
In the late 80s, Coach changed the format of the serial number to xxxx-xxx, 4 digits followed by 3 digits, e.g. 1340-879. The serial numbers remain unique."
THAT CHANGE DIDN'T HAPPEN UNTIL 1990 AND ACTUALLY TOOK PLACE OVER THE COURSE OF 2 YEARS ALTHOUGH MOST OF THE CHANGE WAS COMPLETE BY THE END OF 1990. BUT A FEW OLDER SERIAL NUMBER VERSIONS STILL POPPED UP IN BAGS MADE IN 1991 AND 1992.
"2004 onwards
Several changes were made since 2004. First, double digits were used to represent the year to avoid repetition of year, so a bag manufactured in 2004 will have serial number such as K04A-6435. In 2005 some style numbers began to include letters as well as numbers until Coach decided to expand the style number to five digits. Bags made just for the Factory Stores will have the letter F before the style number. Seems like it was also around this time that Coach started to manufacture their bags in China."
COACH BEGAN LARGE-SCALE HANDBAG MANUFACTURING IN CHINA RIGHT AROUND 2000, WHICH A SIMPLE STUDY OF THE DATE CODES ON THE MADE IN CHINA CREED STAMPS WOULD HAVE SHOWN. BUT SOME BUSINESS AND TRAVEL BAGS WERE MADE IN CHINA AS EARLY AS 1995. AND
ALL SIGNATURE FABRIC BAGS, WHICH WERE INTRODUCED IN 2000, HAVE BEEN MADE IN CHINA OR OUTSIDE THE USA. ANY SIGNATURE C PATTERN BAG THAT SAYS IT WAS MADE IN THE US IS COUNTERFEIT.
And as with everything Coach gets involved with, there are exceptions to almost every statement posted here, and also to many of the statements in the Salearea Guides. "THE MOST CONSISTENT THING ABOUT COACH IS THEIR INCONSISTENCY".
) and found it.