Authenticate This COACH - **see first post for format**

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#47,869
IMPORTANT READ-ME

Please post authenticity questions related to COACH in this thread. No PMs please.
For further information, please refer to the first post on page 1 of this thread.

Please follow the following requests:
  • Before you submit a request for authentication, please search this thread to make sure that the item has not previously been authenticated by searching the seller ID and/or item number. This is not a thread to ask general questions about COACH, please refer to our main Coach forum for such information.
  • Note that authenticators have the right to refuse any requests. This is a free service, but it is imperative that you help our authenticators by using the following format:
  • FOR ITEMS LISTED ONLINE:
    Item:
    Listing number:
    Seller and site where listed
    Link:
    Comments:

  • FOR ITEMS NOT LISTED ONLINE:
    Item:
    Where purchased or how obtained
    Comments:
BASIC PICTURES REQUIRED (but more may be requested): If necessary pictures are in the listing, it's not necessary to upload and duplicate them.
  • Front of item
  • Back of item
  • Full clear and legible creed text and serial number
  • Made in tags (when available)
  • Measurements
  • For bags with turnlock closures, show pictures of back of female side of turnlock
  • For bags with magnetic snaps, show pictures of the male part of the snap so that the numbers and letters on it can be read
  • If applicable, search interior of bag and/or pockets for small white tag with production information and include a picture of that.
Thank you and be safe!
 
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#16,456
LMichelleC said:
Item: COACH # 9953 HELENS LEGACY HANDBAG PURSE HOBO BUCKET SHOULDER LILAC LEATHER
Listing: 272340967369
Seller: 4storytownhome
Link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-9953-HELENS-LEGACY-HANDBAG-PURSE-HOBO-BUCKET-SHOULDER-LILAC-LEATHER-/272340967369?nma=true&si=0UkBEsp55L5W93er0I0PBGAPkTE%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Hi kindly authenticate! I purchased this because I've been looking for a duffle (any size) in thrift stores and flea markets for over a year to no avail. This one looks so clean, as if it's only had one owner and been stored for a while.
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BeenBurned said:
Please wait for other opinions but I have doubts about this bag. The serial font doesn't match what I believe it should look like...
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I agree with BeenBurned, the serial number font isn't correct for the year or plant. The "No" isn't right and neither is the Coach logo above the creed. The serial number font was changed shortly after that last C5B- example, probably around June at least on bags that had the creed stamped directly into the pocket rather than onto a sewn-in patch, so I'll concentrate of the direct-stamped version. The new genuine Coach logo above the creed had thicker letters and a slightly darker background, with the lettering "Coach" raised above the background, not recessed into it like in the questionable bag, which doesn't match either the old or the new fonts. (Creed stamps and serial number stamps were separate pieces and could be changed independently of each other). Here are a few more 1995 stamps, the 2nd and 3rd in the new sleeker style that came into use around July 1995 with the new font, and the first one is one of the last examples of the old to-be-discontinued font dating from June 1995 with an "F" month code. (I know it's hard to read, sorry!). Neither of them match the questionable bag.
1995_B-plant-F5B-9950-b.jpg 1995_B-plant-G5B-9950-outlet.jpg
1995_B-plant_H5B-9590-cr.jpg

(Blast! This photo posting software has a mind of its own - I HATE it!)

Just wondering - is there anything stamped on the backs of the buckles?
 
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#16,457
RL Bernstein said:
Identification: Late 1970s #9546 Skinny Tote. I believe that this particular version (with the leather wrapped kisslock frame) was the last rendition released. The Bonnie Cashin design from which this evolved was the #8605 Skinny Tote (which had a fabric lining, 6" drop rigid handles, and some variation in the stitching and construction along both the upper and lower edges).

Has anyone ever seen a fake bag with a glued-in registration number and the MADE IN NEW YORK CITY USA creed with the registration symbol attached to the word COACH?
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In answer to your last question - no. I doubt if Coach was even on the fakers' radar in the late 1970s. The Korean ripoffmeisters were probably the first ones to start counterfeiting them in any volume, and that was probably inspired by the large number of American military personnel who were stationed there throughout the 1990s and looking for them or having their own authentic bags copied. I've seen a handful of fakes of pre-1990s styles but circa 1990 seems to be a good guesstimate for the starting point. We've seen Korean fakes of Bean Bag creeds and we know Coach only made those for a very short time around late 1990-early '91, but the crooks managed to find them and copy them.

ETA - according to FundingUniverse, Coach opened their first boutique in Japan in 1988, so that would fit nicely with the brand's appearance in the workshops of the Korean fakes-makers shortly afterwards. Japan would have been a convenient place to find genuine versions to be copied..
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/coach-inc-history/
"Coach took its first steps overseas in 1988. The company had long noted that many of the customers in its New York store were foreign tourists, and Coach executives believed that this indicated that demand abroad justified international expansion. The company began by opening Coach boutiques in England and Japan, setting up one outlet in Harrod's department store in London, and five in Mitsukoshi stores in Tokyo and other Japanese locations. These stores carried a full line of Coach products, and mimicked the look of Coach stores in the United States, with mahogany and brass fixtures and marble floors. The company planned to train foreign sales staff and hoped to take advantage of the low international value of the dollar to boost sales through lower prices."
 
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#16,458
Hyacinth said:
I didn't see any guide links in the current listing. There was a mention of an Ebay Guide, but that part at least she seems to have gotten right. (COUGH) :angel: Maybe the illegally linked guide was posted somewhere else.
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Hyacinth, she referred to your guide as being dependable. But she said she couldn't link to it because eBay policy doesn't allow it.
 
#16,464
BeenBurned said:
Hyacinth, she referred to your guide as being dependable. But she said she couldn't link to it because eBay policy doesn't allow it.
Click to expand...

Sheesh. What DOES Ebay policy allow? Besides tens of thousands of Chinese fakes, and fraudulent listings where scammers from the other side of the world grab your money and then disappear? Seems that links within Ebay would be the least of their problems.
 
#16,467
 
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