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

[Vlad]

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!

 

[missbaltimore]

Greetings! It's taken me forever but I am back! I have a recent thrift store find that I would like to have authenticated. Also I would appreciate any info about the style name and number. Thanks!

 

[whateve]

Greetings! It's taken me forever but I am back! I have a recent thrift store find that I would like to have authenticated. Also I would appreciate any info about the style name and number. Thanks!View attachment 3899678View attachment 3899679View attachment 3899680View attachment 3899681View attachment 3899682

It's authentic. Remember, for bags with all numeric creeds we need measurements to ID. It could be a compartment bag #9850 if it is about 9 1/2 by 6 inches.

 

[Lake Effect]

You can hang around here and read every post on this thread and on the Answers to Authenticity thread, and save notes and photos on every fake being discussed. After about ten or twelve years you may have caught up to us.

Hey, we never said it was easy. It's almost impossible for experts in any field that requires hands-on knowledge to be able to learn everything in a year or two. Look at the Keno Brothers on PBS's Antiques Roadshow. Those (40-something?) guys have been collecting and studying antiques since they were in grade school. That's why they can look at the stringing on an antique card table and know if it's wrong or right.

10 to 12 years? Hot damn!
Side note - if you go to the AR and try to get too close to the Keno’s, um, security runs interference. FYI.

 

[missbaltimore]

It's authentic. Remember, for bags with all numeric creeds we need measurements to ID. It could be a compartment bag #9850 if it is about 9 1/2 by 6 inches.

Hi--yes!!--I measured and then forgot to include. Yes the dimensions are 9 1/2" x 6"x 2 1/2" or so. Thanks so much!

 

[eurekavintage]

Thank you so much!

It's fine.

 

[Hyacinth]

Does Coach provide training to the Coach authentication experts who post on the purse forum? If so, is such training available to others?

Sorry, but you've kind of got it backwards. It should be the other way round if there was any justice in this world.

The authenticators here not only have a lifetime more experience, but have access to literally several hundred thousand photo and text files NOT available to Coach because we had the dedication, foresight and time and out-of-pocket cash to buy things like catalogs and actual bags, wallets, etc for comparison purposes because we know those pics and details are CRUCIALLY important and the employees of Coach in 99.9 percent of cases do NOT, nor do they care. We've seen at least a hundred cases here and at other forums when Coach's so-called "authenticating" whether by phone or by a store employee has been 100 percent WRONG. What are THEY going to be able to teach US? Coach has NO authentication experts and provides NO training to employees regarding authentication or even how to read the production codes in a serial number!

Read my comments in one of the Salearea Coach Guides about Authenticity Myths and WHY so many of those myths including "ask Coach" are wrong:

"THE "YOU CAN VERIFY IT'S REAL BY CALLING COACH OR TAKING IT TO A COACH STORE" RULE
"OK, this is a tough one.
Coach's employees especially the SA's and store managers are lovely, hardworking people - but they shouldn't be trying to authenticate what they've never been trained to analyze. They have no training from Coach about even the most basic signs of fakes unless they're items currently on their shelves, they don't have the time to spend 4 to 8 hours a day studying photos, comparing details between multiple photos of the same style bag, keeping files of each and every style number and factory and manufacturing code they can find on Ebay, saving literally thousands of photos and tens of thousands of lines of text posted by Coach experts and poring over photos with a magnifying glass to spot discrepancies and incorrect details, and spending a small fortune on back issues of catalogs that tell them when something was made (their computer files don't go much past 2000) and what details a potential fake might be missing.

"And to make it worse, the info on their computers is very limited - they can look up a style number of most recent full-price items and tell you when they were made and what colors were available. But the full-price stores' computers don't have records of the Made-For-Factory items at all, so any item made for and bought from the outlet won't even be in their system. When told that they can't find it on their computers, the person who brought the item in naturally assumes it must be fake.

"And if it has a legit style number - let's use the Big Daddy of Fakes, NT-4903 as an example. If someone brings a fake with that number into a store and the personnel punch in the style number it comes up as a Sonoma Flap bag. So the number's in the system and it must be real? But the store personnel may have never seen that style bag since it's 15 years old and they don't realize that it isn't a Sonoma Flap and doesn't look anything like one. The computer has no information at all on the prefix, which can't be looked up for any item (the prefix is where all the factory codes are). The fact that N isn't a valid month code, T isn't a valid plant code, and there's no year code at all between the two letters means absolutely nothing to their computer.

"So because of no training and no effective computer records, my estimate would be that from what I've seen or read in these forums by posters who have already gone through this kind of experience, at least 80 percent of items taken to a Coach store are misidentified, and almost always it's genuine bags especially older classic leather bags or bags from the outlet stores being ID'd as fakes. So buyers unfairly accuse sellers of selling fakes, honest sellers get claims filed against them for refunds, maybe receive negative Feedback, dinged stars, and may lose some of their discounts or have their fees raised and even get put on listing restrictions. And many of them did nothing wrong.

"It's even worse by phone. If the store employees can at least see the bag, how is someone at the other end of a blind phone line supposed to be any more accurate? Even if she knew as much as some of our Ebay Coachies, she's still literally working blind without being able to examine the item. What's even more disturbing is that employees who are unable to effectively authenticate anything still keep doing it, especially when Coach's website clearly says "Coach DOES NOT authenticate merchandise or determine whether serial numbers match actual Coach items" So why doesn't Coach enforce that rule?

"I'm sorry to have to say it, but one of the worst places anyone should ever have any Coach authenticated is a Coach store. And thinking that a style name given over the phone by an employee who just punches 4 or 5 numbers into a computer is a valid authentication is just wishful thinking."

Coach Authenticity Guides - Facts and Myths
http://www.ebay.com/gds/Coach-Authenticity-Guides-Facts-and-Myths-/10000000062607882/g.html

In reality my own feelings are quite a bit stronger than what I wrote because of SO BLOODY MANY buyers (at least 80 percent of the posts that I've read showed the wrong answer from Coach and that's with a 1 out of 2 chance of being right under normal odds!) who made the fatal mistake of trusting a "Coach employee" only to be told that their fake was real or their genuine Coach was fake. There's NO excuse for allowing someone with no training to do what the authenticators here have, essentially, dedicated much of their personal time AND money to doing and doing accurately.

And no, Coach doesn't train us or pay us. They pretend we don't exist. The corporate mantra is "buy your Coach items directly from Coach and you won't have to worry about fakes". They don't CARE if a Coach lover or potential lover gets ripped off and is stuck with a fake. We DO, because it's happened to all of us. That's one of the risks you take when you buy from the secondary market..

 

[Hyacinth]

10 to 12 years? Hot damn!
Side note - if you go to the AR and try to get too close to the Keno’s, um, security runs interference. FYI.

I'm not surprised, they're kind of adorkable, aren't they?

 

[Hyacinth]

Greetings! It's taken me forever but I am back! I have a recent thrift store find that I would like to have authenticated. Also I would appreciate any info about the style name and number. Thanks!View attachment 3899678View attachment 3899679View attachment 3899680View attachment 3899681View attachment 3899682

Hi--yes!!--I measured and then forgot to include. Yes the dimensions are 9 1/2" x 6"x 2 1/2" or so. Thanks so much!

It looks like a Compartment Bag, style 9850 made in late 1990.

 

[Lake Effect]

I'm not surprised, they're kind of adorkable, aren't they?

Even cuter up close, well as close as I could get without being escorted out.

 

[AMom2Two]

Can anyone tell me if coach attaché bag is authentic?

 

[whateve]

Can anyone tell me if coach attaché bag is authentic?

I'm afraid it can't be authenticated. Any bag with a 99999 style number could be a pilot bag or it could be counterfeit. If it is a pilot bag, it could have details that don't match the production style that could be explained away by calling it a pilot bag. That is why counterfeiters often use this style number, so if it doesn't match an authentic bag exactly, they have an excuse. The price tag looks fake.

 

[Hyacinth]

I'm afraid it can't be authenticated. Any bag with a 99999 style number could be a pilot bag or it could be counterfeit. If it is a pilot bag, it could have details that don't match the production style that could be explained away by calling it a pilot bag. That is why counterfeiters often use this style number, so if it doesn't match an authentic bag exactly, they have an excuse. The price tag looks fake.

I agree with all of Whateve's comments. The close-ups of much of the stitching also look like a mess.

ETA - And is it my imagination, but are there 2 different colors of hardware? The turnlocks look silver in 2 photos but all the other hardware is brass-colored. It might just be a reflection but I've seen other pictures of brass hardware photographed in an all-white photography box and the hardware will still look brass-colored.

AMom2Two - please supply the information mentioned in Post number One of this thread - do you have the bag in your possession, and where did you buy it? We need the URL of the site that sold it if it was bought online.

 

[AMom2Two]

The bag is in my possession. I purchased it from poshmark. You are correct. The hardware is two different colors.

This is Off topic but I have a store on Ebay where I sell mostly Coach products. Can I post a link to have my items reviewed?

 

[BeenBurned]

Can anyone tell me if coach attaché bag is authentic?

I'm afraid it can't be authenticated. Any bag with a 99999 style number could be a pilot bag or it could be counterfeit. If it is a pilot bag, it could have details that don't match the production style that could be explained away by calling it a pilot bag. That is why counterfeiters often use this style number, so if it doesn't match an authentic bag exactly, they have an excuse. The price tag looks fake.

I agree with all of Whateve's comments. The close-ups of much of the stitching also look like a mess.

ETA - And is it my imagination, but are there 2 different colors of hardware? The turnlocks look silver in 2 photos but all the other hardware is brass-colored. It might just be a reflection but I've seen other pictures of brass hardware photographed in an all-white photography box and the hardware will still look brass-colored.

AMom2Two - please supply the information mentioned in Post number One of this thread - do you have the bag in your possession, and where did you buy it? We need the URL of the site that sold it if it was bought online.

Although there's never been any proof that they exist, if there exist "sample" bags, it's possible
that they might have different creeds and formats than what would normally be used at that time, however since the existence of samples has never been confirmed nor proven, I would never recommend trying to resell.

I'm not comfortable with your bag either. The creed has the wrong text, wrong format and is puffier than others from the same time period. I don't believe the bag is authentic.

As shown in the following comparison, I've shown 2 creeds from the same year and plant, one from the month PRIOR to yours and one from the month AFTER yours. Since those on both sides of yours have the same layout, yours should match. (In fact, the centered and unjustified text shown on your creed wasn't seen on bags until about 3 years later. Also later in 2011, Coach added the horse and carriage logo to the creed but in the months in question, it hadn't been added yet.)

 

[BeenBurned]

The bag is in my possession. I purchased it from poshmark. You are correct. The hardware is two different colors.

This is Off topic but I have a store on Ebay where I sell mostly Coach products. Can I post a link to have my items reviewed?

You aren't allowed to post links to your listings as that is considered to be promotion and you can't do that.

Additionally, as a seller, you're supposed to know items are authentic before listing them. If you have items that you didn't personally purchase from a legitimate retailer or Coach, unless you're expert, it's a good idea to verify authenticity of those items.

Here on Coach, we are usually willing to help sellers stay honest so we'll authenticate items that may have been bought from the secondary market. But again, it should be before listing!