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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#3,573
#3,583
Hi there! Need a little help. Found the gorgeous British Tan gem. Is approx. 11.5w x 7.5h x 4d

Could use some help with name and age too if you know.
Thank you so much!
 

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#3,584
bigal said:
Hi there! Need a little help. Found the gorgeous British Tan gem. Is approx. 11.5w x 7.5h x 4d

Could use some help with name and age too if you know.
Thank you so much!
Click to expand...

It's a genuine Swagger, style 9820 and probably made in 1988
 

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#3,585
Hyacinth said:
Welcome to tPF! :smile1:

Just a warning about self-authenticating - we DON'T recommend it, because fakes of older or vintage bags were very common and just having the "right" serial number can NEVER prove a bag is authentic. The only way to really be sure is by posting photos. I strongly recommend you take the time and do that here with each bag just for your own peace of mind and to protect her or yourself from the chance of unknowingly selling a fake in the future. Consignment shops have sold plenty of fake "Coaches" without realizing it. One a bag is authenticated and identified, write the information on a slip of paper and tuck in an inside pocket.

We don't usually need as many as you posted for the first one - just front, back, one side showing how the strap is mounted, and most importantly one of the inside stamp showing the creed and serial number. Don't spend time photographing things like zippers, in most cases they don't tell us much. If we need more photos, we can ask. Also measurements are VERY important with older and vintage bags so please post them too.

Another problem with older Coaches is that not all the serial numbers can be searched or Googled! If they're older than 20 years they won't include a searchable style number, just a completly random all-number serial that was unique to each bag and can't be searched. Remember that most classic and vintage Coaches are much older than Google (which only started in 1999) and it's very possible that there's no valid searchable history of those styles.

Googling for information on Coaches can be dangerous. Most "authenticity guides" are completely useless and filled with misinformation and outright lies. Read my "signature" in purple at the bottom of each one of my posts to find out what almost ten years of experience with authenticating Coaches has taught me about those guides. That's why I researched and helped write a set of six Coach guides that's accurate:
http://search.reviews.ebay.com/members/salearea_W0QQcpnameZmembersQQprZsaleareaQQuqtZg

The bag you posted has a different problem, a simple if unusual mistake by the factory. They simply stamped it with the wrong style number. I think it should have said A5E-4413, not 4403, depending on the bag's measurements. If you ever end up selling it you need to tell potential buyers about the stamping mistake up front. You didn't post measurements which would have been a big help but the style was called a Madison Gracie bag if it's very small, only about 7x6 inches. It's from what was at the time Coach's top line, the Madisons, made mostly in Italy of special leather and hardware found only in that line. They were made between 1993 and 1997, the year code in yours shows a date of January 1995. The set of six Salearea Coach guides that I posted a link to in the previous paragraph has a Guide specifically on the Italian styles like the Madisons.

Here's Coach's catalog photo from 1995:
Click to expand...

First off, thank you SO much for your reply and the info. I've read about 3 of those guides! Thank you! I wasn't sure how many pics to include because I just wanted to make sure I got everything yall would need to authenticate. Lol haha but thank you so much because posting more pics will be so much easier now. Okay, so I measured this bag and I'm not sure if I did it right because there are SO many different guides on how to measure bags online. I measured and got:

Height: 6 in. Length: 8in. Depth: 3in.

You said it would have been made in 1995. That makes sense because my mom said she got it when I was little and I was born in 1991. (I'm getting old. Lol) Based off the measurements, would you say it's real? And the number being stamped wrong. That's crazy. But I did read that Coaches DO sometimes have small mistakes like that. I will post some of the other bags as well because you're right, self aunthenticating could be problematic because it seems like you never know. Once again, thank you for the welcome!!
 
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