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

TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others

#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!
 
  • Like
Reactions: jenAC, joeesan, starlight1247 and 106 others
#42,811
ChaosBurger said:
Hi everyone

Would someone please authenticate this bag in my possession. It’s a Station bag with a very odd creed where I cannot find another example of the “made in the United States” storypatch on another 1997 D plant bag and the month character is missing. It also has a stamp that I believe says “Donated” to the right of the creed.

View attachment 4584303 View attachment 4584304 View attachment 4584305
here are additional photos of the creed https://imgur.com/gallery/SHp9jXi

thanks so much, authenticators.
Click to expand...
That's very interesting. The font looks fine. I've seen missing month characters before. The year is way too late for that creed wording. It would make sense if it was actually made in 1994 or so, but then that would mean they made two mistakes in setting up the stamp, leaving out the month code and setting the year code to the wrong number. I guess it could happen. But there is still another issue. All the early D creeds I have don't have the same spacing of yours. The A and B plant spacing does match your creed. That would mean they screwed up the entire prefix. I guess that could be possible with the A plant, if it was really used for training, but seems very unlikely. More opinions are welcome.
 
#42,813
whateve said:
That's very interesting. The font looks fine. I've seen missing month characters before. The year is way too late for that creed wording. It would make sense if it was actually made in 1994 or so, but then that would mean they made two mistakes in setting up the stamp, leaving out the month code and setting the year code to the wrong number. I guess it could happen. But there is still another issue. All the early D creeds I have don't have the same spacing of yours. The A and B plant spacing does match your creed. That would mean they screwed up the entire prefix. I guess that could be possible with the A plant, if it was really used for training, but seems very unlikely. More opinions are welcome.
Click to expand...


Thanks. I thought it looked very similar to the stamp posted here, an authentic A7D stamp
https://forum.purseblog.com/threads...ost-for-format.889527/page-2267#post-32850585
 
#42,814
ChaosBurger said:
Thanks. I thought it looked very similar to the stamp posted here, an authentic A7D stamp
https://forum.purseblog.com/threads...ost-for-format.889527/page-2267#post-32850585
Click to expand...
Yes, the font of the number matches but the wording doesn't. Yours has the old wording that was switched to the new wording by the D plant by mid 1995. So if it was made in 1997, it shouldn't have that wording. Additionally if it was made earlier, when the D plant was using the old wording, the spacing of the words was different from the spacing in your creed. In yours, the last line "of full grain leathers." goes from end to end, but the stamp used by the D plant when they were using that wording had that line ending about 3/4 of the way across.
I'm not saying the bag is fake. I think it could be authentic. It's just that there are mysteries as to why the creed looks the way it does.
 

Attachments

  • D plant 1994 J4D 9924 casino.jpg
    D plant 1994 J4D 9924 casino.jpg
    231.2 KB · Views: 118
#42,815
ChaosBurger said:
Hi everyone

Would someone please authenticate this bag in my possession. It’s a Station bag with a very odd creed where I cannot find another example of the “made in the United States” storypatch on another 1997 D plant bag and the month character is missing. It also has a stamp that I believe says “Donated” to the right of the creed.

View attachment 4584303 View attachment 4584304 View attachment 4584305
here are additional photos of the creed https://imgur.com/gallery/SHp9jXi

thanks so much, authenticators.
Click to expand...

whateve said:
That's very interesting. The font looks fine. I've seen missing month characters before. The year is way too late for that creed wording. It would make sense if it was actually made in 1994 or so, but then that would mean they made two mistakes in setting up the stamp, leaving out the month code and setting the year code to the wrong number. I guess it could happen. But there is still another issue. All the early D creeds I have don't have the same spacing of yours. The A and B plant spacing does match your creed. That would mean they screwed up the entire prefix. I guess that could be possible with the A plant, if it was really used for training, but seems very unlikely. More opinions are welcome.
Click to expand...

ChaosBurger said:
Thanks. I thought it looked very similar to the stamp posted here, an authentic A7D stamp
https://forum.purseblog.com/threads...ost-for-format.889527/page-2267#post-32850585
Click to expand...

Interesting, that's the same bag that was just being discussed at Ebay's Fashion Discussion Group:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Fashion/Coach-Vintage-station-bag-authenticity/td-p/30387859
WHATEVE, please check it out if you haven't already done so.

The first photo in tPF post 42812 has a detail that isn't shown in the Ebay Fashion Forum thread, the "DONATED" stamp next to the creed. It looks like Ebay poster Fashionclubgurl asked the OP to get a photo of that detail, she said:
"Do you have a wider pic of the creed? It looks like something is stamped to the right of the bottom of the Coach logo but only a tiny piece of it is in the photo. Id like to see that entire stamping if a wider-field photo is available.".
There's no additional photo of the area that Ebay poster wanted to see in the Ebay thread though. But the upside-down "ed" from the DONATED stamp is pretty clear once you know what it is and where it came from.

So although the 2 Ebay experts didn't get a better photo of that particular detail, we did, and I can see why "Fashionclubgurl" wanted to see it, she apparently knew what she was looking for, which doesn't surprise me :biggrin:. That stamp has only been found in genuine Coach items (and always or almost always upside-down like this one) and looking at the serial and creed details in both forums I agree with the 2 experts, fashionclubgurl and albertabrightalberta, that those mistakes would never have been found in a genuine Coach, I would amend that to read "a genuine PRODUCTION Coach". That Station Bag might have been used for training, that's the only conceivable way I can think of as to why or how it would have been made with those mistakes. The serial stamp actually reminds me of the C plant stamp from that period or even the B plant stamp that had been retired some time around 1996, so it might have been sent back to Coach when an updated stamp was received, and then repurposed by Coach for training new plant workers.

That would also explain the upside-down "DONATED" stamp, it was probably donated to a local auction or charity organization as many other bags were during that time. It certainly wouldn't have been meant for retail sale with those creed and serial discrepancies. So my guess is that it's probably a genuine Coach, but if I was a seller there's no way I'd put that up for sale because some other smart-arse Coachie like me would be screaming "FAKE!" at the top of her lungs as seen as she saw that totally invalid mish-mosh of a broken serial number and a creed stamp that doesn't match the year in the serial. Most of the time, bags that had minor stamping mistakes would have been sent to the Factory outlet but this one may have been considered too far from perfect to be retailed.

Just a guess, but it's the only thing that makes sense to me.

ETA - Too bad Coach never could have forseen obsessive purse junkies like us who glory in finding every lost bit of Coach history, including their dumb-arse mistakes and examples of poor judgement. :giggle:
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: AGGRAVATING CATCH, Catbird9, Princess Caroline and 4 others
#42,816
Hyacinth said:
Interesting, that's the same bag that was just being discussed at Ebay's Fashion Discussion Group:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Fashion/Coach-Vintage-station-bag-authenticity/td-p/30387859
WHATEVE, please check it out if you haven't already done so.

The first photo in tPF post 42812 has a detail that isn't shown in the Ebay Fashion Forum thread, the "DONATED" stamp next to the creed. It looks like Ebay poster Fashionclubgurl asked the OP to get a photo of that detail, she said:
"Do you have a wider pic of the creed? It looks like something is stamped to the right of the bottom of the Coach logo but only a tiny piece of it is in the photo. Id like to see that entire stamping if a wider-field photo is available.".
There's no additional photo of the area that Ebay poster wanted to see in the Ebay thread though. But the upside-down "ed" from the DONATED stamp is pretty clear once you know what it is and where it came from.

So although the 2 Ebay experts didn't get a better photo of that particular detail, we did, and I can see why "Fashionclubgurl" wanted to see it, she apparently knew what she was looking for, which doesn't surprise me :biggrin:. That stamp has only been found in genuine Coach items (and always or almost always upside-down like this one) and looking at the serial and creed details in both forums I agree with the 2 experts, fashionclubgurl and albertabrightalberta, that those mistakes would never have been found in a genuine Coach, I would amend that to read "a genuine PRODUCTION Coach". That Station Bag might have been used for training, that's the only conceivable way I can think of as to why or how it would have been made with those mistakes. The serial stamp actually reminds me of the C plant stamp from that period or even the B plant stamp that had been retired some time around 1996, so it might have been sent back to Coach when an updated stamp was received, and then repurposed by Coach for training new plant workers.

That would also explain the upside-down "DONATED" stamp, it was probably donated to a local auction or charity organization as many other bags were during that time. It certainly wouldn't have been meant for retail sale with those creed and serial discrepancies. So my guess is that it's probably a genuine Coach, but if I was a seller there's no way I'd put that up for sale because some other smart-arse Coachie like me would be screaming "FAKE!" at the top of her lungs as seen as she saw that totally invalid mish-mosh of a broken serial number and a creed stamp that doesn't match the year in the serial. Most of the time, bags that had minor stamping mistakes would have been sent to the Factory outlet but this one may have been considered too far from perfect to be retailed.

Just a guess, but it's the only thing that makes sense to me.

ETA - Too bad Coach never could have forseen obsessive purse junkies like us who glory in finding every lost bit of Coach history, including their dumb-arse mistakes and examples of poor judgement. :giggle:
Click to expand...

Thank you Hyacinth and Whatev!
 
#42,817
Hyacinth said:
Interesting, that's the same bag that was just being discussed at Ebay's Fashion Discussion Group:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Fashion/Coach-Vintage-station-bag-authenticity/td-p/30387859
WHATEVE, please check it out if you haven't already done so.

The first photo in tPF post 42812 has a detail that isn't shown in the Ebay Fashion Forum thread, the "DONATED" stamp next to the creed. It looks like Ebay poster Fashionclubgurl asked the OP to get a photo of that detail, she said:
"Do you have a wider pic of the creed? It looks like something is stamped to the right of the bottom of the Coach logo but only a tiny piece of it is in the photo. Id like to see that entire stamping if a wider-field photo is available.".
There's no additional photo of the area that Ebay poster wanted to see in the Ebay thread though. But the upside-down "ed" from the DONATED stamp is pretty clear once you know what it is and where it came from.

So although the 2 Ebay experts didn't get a better photo of that particular detail, we did, and I can see why "Fashionclubgurl" wanted to see it, she apparently knew what she was looking for, which doesn't surprise me :biggrin:. That stamp has only been found in genuine Coach items (and always or almost always upside-down like this one) and looking at the serial and creed details in both forums I agree with the 2 experts, fashionclubgurl and albertabrightalberta, that those mistakes would never have been found in a genuine Coach, I would amend that to read "a genuine PRODUCTION Coach". That Station Bag might have been used for training, that's the only conceivable way I can think of as to why or how it would have been made with those mistakes. The serial stamp actually reminds me of the C plant stamp from that period or even the B plant stamp that had been retired some time around 1996, so it might have been sent back to Coach when an updated stamp was received, and then repurposed by Coach for training new plant workers.

That would also explain the upside-down "DONATED" stamp, it was probably donated to a local auction or charity organization as many other bags were during that time. It certainly wouldn't have been meant for retail sale with those creed and serial discrepancies. So my guess is that it's probably a genuine Coach, but if I was a seller there's no way I'd put that up for sale because some other smart-arse Coachie like me would be screaming "FAKE!" at the top of her lungs as seen as she saw that totally invalid mish-mosh of a broken serial number and a creed stamp that doesn't match the year in the serial. Most of the time, bags that had minor stamping mistakes would have been sent to the Factory outlet but this one may have been considered too far from perfect to be retailed.

Just a guess, but it's the only thing that makes sense to me.

ETA - Too bad Coach never could have forseen obsessive purse junkies like us who glory in finding every lost bit of Coach history, including their dumb-arse mistakes and examples of poor judgement. :giggle:
Click to expand...
I just noticed something else odd. Doesn't it look like there is padding above the turnlock? That shouldn't be there.
 
#42,819
whateve said:
I just noticed something else odd. Doesn't it look like there is padding above the turnlock? That shouldn't be there.
Click to expand...

If it was a "practice bag" that's probably not a problem. Unless someone wants to resell it, of course.

Just to add - I've never seen that DONATED stamp in a fake. The fakers wouldn't have even known what it was or what it meant. And AFAIK that stamp probably would have been used only by Coach's corporate offices.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AGGRAVATING CATCH, whateve and houseof999
#42,820
Hyacinth said:
Just to add - I've never seen that DONATED stamp in a fake. The fakers wouldn't have even known what it was or what it meant. And AFAIK that stamp probably would have been used only by Coach's corporate offices.
Click to expand...
There's just one "unless......"

This isn't meant to imply that it's the case with this station bag but although the fakers may not know to put a donated stamp on a fake, it's a possibility that Coach might do it if someone returned a fake that Coach didn't recognize as such but did recognize "problems."

I have a couple of examples of fakes with bullets. I believe the fakers put the bullet on the first but I think Coach did it on the second one.

I can't imagine that Coach did this bullet stamp!!
susanp66 fake coach bag with fake bullet creed.png

I think Coach stamped this creed:
coach H7D prefix fake with bullet - seller bc79620p.png

(And I have one other example where the fakers did put a bullet on the made in tag on a bag that wasn't an outlet item and the fake creed didn't have an "F" style number.)
Screen Shot 2019-11-06 at 11.15.41 PM.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: whateve and houseof999
#42,821
BeenBurned said:
There's just one "unless......"

This isn't meant to imply that it's the case with this station bag but although the fakers may not know to put a donated stamp on a fake, it's a possibility that Coach might do it if someone returned a fake that Coach didn't recognize as such but did recognize "problems."

I have a couple of examples of fakes with bullets. I believe the fakers put the bullet on the first but I think Coach did it on the second one.

I can't imagine that Coach did this bullet stamp!!
View attachment 4584418

I think Coach stamped this creed:
View attachment 4584419

(And I have one other example where the fakers did put a bullet on the made in tag on a bag that wasn't an outlet item and the fake creed didn't have an "F" style number.)
View attachment 4584421
Click to expand...

I can see it happening with the outlet stamp. After all, how hard would it be to fake something like that? I'm surprised we didn't see more of them. Remember back at the old gone-but-not-forgotten Ebay Shoes and Purses Board, when it only took a few months for the "better" counterfeiters to adjust their production to change some of those glaring mistakes we would so helpfully point out to them and everybody else? All of a sudden more fakes would start appearing with the C pattern centered (almost) correctly. I know the outlet stamp was mentioned a lot so one or two of the more clever crooks could have picked up on it fairly early. The DONATED stamp, not so much, it was hardly ever mentioned. (And yep, that first bullet stamp you posted is a doozy.)

As for the other possibility you mentioned, would a questionable bag that someone returned to Coach even make its way high enough through Corporate to be added to the "donated" ledger and take the tax write-off? Coach actually had authenticators until when, maybe 10 years ago or a bit more? You would think one of them would have caught it. Would it be worth their while to risk donating a bag that was very possibly a fake just for a tax write-off? Better to just toss it and play it safe. But that's JMO. Like I said before, they probably never expected Coach-obsessed Forum junkies like us to be analyzing their every move and spotting every mistake they made 5 or 10 or 20 years after the fact. SURPRISE, COACH !!!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Princess Caroline, whateve, BeenBurned and 1 other person
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top