How would YOU know the bag is fake?When i am the one that has bought and owned it all these years?
Serious question!The bag is over 20 plus years old and IS authentic!
Because we have years of experience. Your bag has several details that wouldn't be seen in authentic bags. There were certain ways Coach made their bags and they didn't make an exception for yours. For example, look at the zipper on the inside pocket. On vintage styles, including the style of yours, inside pocket zippers should go all the way from end to end. Yours has a frame around the zipper.
Thanks to all you ladies in responding to my request for authentication.
I will try to be brief and avoid repetition.
This post is really for the lurkers. My disclaimer is that I love vintage Coach and up until the last two years or so, had a handful. I had an introduction to fake vs. authentic serial numbers way back when in 2004,5 or so back on ebay coach discussion boards. And got serious about wanted to learn how to deeply condition my vintage bags and searching on the internet brought me to this forum about 18 months ago. And lurked for 6 months until I worked up the nerve to learn the blog thing. And I have indulged myself in many vintage purchases since.
Yes, I made a comment about the cheesy leather on the fake black bag, because yeah, the pic of the full side with seam gave me a cheap knock off leather/ vibe. But even though I made a comment to that, I asked for authentication based on production details and the font used for the serial number. I happen to have a (real) Sling Bag. I also have a different bag with the M plant code, which has a little quirk. And that is not the first wannabe sling bag I have seen.
I read this AT thread regularly for my ongoing education and passion lol for vintage. I do a lot of searches based on the discussions that ensue. I want to be an informed consumer! And I'm sorry sellers, many of you are grossly mistaken on the name, style # and production history of the bags you sell. On a regular basis sellers come here complaining that their bag has been wrongly flagged as a fake and they have been using , handling Coach bags forever, they "know it's a real Coach", it's the correct style number, here's the picture of it in a catalog, what makes you an authority, how can you tell by pictures only, my mother bought it from a store, etc, etc.
Back in the late 90's , knock off Coach hit my region of the country with a bang. I could tell stories about how and where it was being sold, but that's not the point here. Fake Coach was and still is an industry. And for 20 years I have been seeing it in consignment shops and thrift shops. And online for sale.
It's a tough blow to the ego to realize you don't know what you thought you did. But that's reality.
I can't believe my lucky stars that as a buyer I can get free authentication here (as any tPFer can) by simply giving the info asked for in the first post. And if you think I am being "the teacher's pet" ( on one blog I found complaining about tPF , people who reported fakes were referred to as the authenticators' minions, honest to God!) here with this post, guess what, my give a damn's busted. These ladies are the only thing between us buyers and sellers that are uninformed, lazy, dishonest and any combination of the former.
And for the record, I don't scroll eBay looking for fakes to flag. I am looking for a deal lol. But if I see something fake, with a known fake indicator, I will report. If it is questionable (and last night's fake was bid up to $60), I bring it here and ask for opinions. I will treat sellers with respect and will not report unless it is confirm-able here.
Okay lurkers, I am done! (Does it count as a rant if I don't use the cap lock??)
