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!

 

[RL Bernstein]

Exactly! "M" seems to be the champ when it comes to miles traveled, that code has even been spotted more than once in 2 different countries within the same calendar month.

It seems likely that many of those plants that can't be pinned down weren't owned by Coach. They probably were local manufacturers who Coach contracted to produce a few lines or x number of bags as the need arose. Even Coach wouldn't have been able to afford actually owning and running all those plants. They also liked to use craftspeople from Central and South America and a few Caribbean countries when possible, many of their original handbag workers at the NYC plant were from Argentina and other Western Hemisphere countries with a strong tradition of leather crafting.

I'm not sure if all the offshore plants (we're talking pre-China of course) were all in "hard" locations or if maybe the country's plant codes were passed around to whatever production partner in that country had the experience and production capability to meet Coach's requirements at the time. The Italy bags may have been the same plant all the way through and they definitely were the only one using the "E" plant code. Coach never really divulged where any of the plants were located other than the country, and they even included the Puerto Rico plant as one of the US code numbers, possibly C or D. "B" may have originally been Miami since that's the first plant I've seen mentioned after NYC.

The J plant AFAIK only did clothing, below is one of the jackets from 1996, D6J-0964 from that plant. There's NO way that plant would have been making leather coats AND leather bags in the same month. Handbags with D6J- prefixes usually have other problems too.

ETA - I've been trying to post a pic of the creed and serial from the jacket, but the photo updownloader here is throwing hissy fits and telling me I already posted it. It did the same thing with an earlier post and the only other time I'd posted that photo was TWO years ago in a different forum! Off to post a bug report...

Thanks for the quick primer. More helpful info to store away for later recall.

 

[RL Bernstein]

We've seen a few business items, such as briefcases, with F plant codes.

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

 

[BeenBurned]

That's certainly interesting. And sometimes I wonder exactly where the G-L "plants" exactly were. You're probably correct in identifying them as possible floater plates. After all, didn't the commonly seen codes like A, B, C, D, E, N, P, U, Z (not to mention the Turkish 2 and I) all have physical locations? As for the country hopping M plant, well I'm confident that's a story in and of itself. And was the F plant a garment-making facility?

We've seen a few business items, such as briefcases, with F plant codes.

And don't forget the X plant code. (ETA: And isn't there a W too?)

 

[BeenBurned]

Exactly! "M" seems to be the champ when it comes to miles traveled, that code has even been spotted more than once in 2 different countries within the same calendar month.

It seems likely that many of those plants that can't be pinned down weren't owned by Coach. They probably were local manufacturers who Coach contracted to produce a few lines or x number of bags as the need arose. Even Coach wouldn't have been able to afford actually owning and running all those plants. They also liked to use craftspeople from Central and South America and a few Caribbean countries when possible, many of their original handbag workers at the NYC plant were from Argentina and other Western Hemisphere countries with a strong tradition of leather crafting.

I'm not sure if all the offshore plants (we're talking pre-China of course) were all in "hard" locations or if maybe the country's plant codes were passed around to whatever production partner in that country had the experience and production capability to meet Coach's requirements at the time. The Italy bags may have been the same plant all the way through and they definitely were the only one using the "E" plant code. Coach never really divulged where any of the plants were located other than the country, and they even included the Puerto Rico plant as one of the US code numbers, possibly C or D. "B" may have originally been Miami since that's the first plant I've seen mentioned after NYC.

The J plant AFAIK only did clothing, below is one of the jackets from 1996, D6J-0964 from that plant. There's NO way that plant would have been making leather coats AND leather bags in the same month. Handbags with D6J- prefixes usually have other problems too.

ETA - I've been trying to post a pic of the creed and serial from the jacket, but the photo updownloader here is throwing hissy fits and telling me I already posted it. It did the same thing with an earlier post and the only other time I'd posted that photo was TWO years ago in a different forum! Off to post a bug report...

I'd like to add another comment.

Although there's no authentic Coach bag that was made in Korea, some of their softlines items (leather coats, scarves, hats) ARE made in Korea.

A couple of labels are shown below.

I did find a leather jacket, this one made in Portugal, K plant:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-NO-C5...230566?hash=item2ca8d71b66:g:oigAAOSwL7VWoAuN








http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-NO-C5...230566?hash=item2ca8d71b66:g:oigAAOSwL7VWoAuN

 

[BeenBurned]

And I found another oddball. Now that we're discussing clothing -- well at least I am, I would be interested in other opinions on this one. The wording is strange, the serial number is stranger and the tagging is different from any clothing item I've seen.

Bomber jacket
seller jcsmit7
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-Mens-...882877?hash=item2a61f21a7d:g:9CcAAOSwll1WyiXx
item 182031882877

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-Mens-...882877?hash=item2a61f21a7d:g:9CcAAOSwll1WyiXx

 

[Hyacinth]

I'd like to add another comment.

Although there's no authentic Coach bag that was made in Korea, some of their softlines items (leather coats, scarves, hats) ARE made in Korea.

A couple of labels are shown below.

I did find a leather jacket, this one made in Portugal, K plant:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-NO-C5...230566?hash=item2ca8d71b66:g:oigAAOSwL7VWoAuN

View attachment 3282861

View attachment 3282862

View attachment 3282863

View attachment 3282864
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-NO-C5...230566?hash=item2ca8d71b66:g:oigAAOSwL7VWoAuN

Goody! More pictures!

And you'll notice that the Guides I've posted say - at least I HOPE they do! - that Coach has never made BAGS in Korea. I never said nuthin' about clothing.

 

[BeenBurned]

Goody! More pictures!

And you'll notice that the Guides I've posted say - at least I HOPE they do! - that Coach has never made BAGS in Korea. I never said nuthin' about clothing.

Yes, you've definitely said it in YOUR guides. But they're so chock full of other information that I was just repeating it to reinforce.

 

[Hyacinth]

And I found another oddball. Now that we're discussing clothing -- well at least I am, I would be interested in other opinions on this one. The wording is strange, the serial number is stranger and the tagging is different from any clothing item I've seen.

Bomber jacket
seller jcsmit7
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-Mens-...882877?hash=item2a61f21a7d:g:9CcAAOSwll1WyiXx
item 182031882877

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-Mens-...882877?hash=item2a61f21a7d:g:9CcAAOSwll1WyiXx

My guess is some kind of sample. It sure looks like a genuine Coach serial stamping, they probably couldn't figure out what numbers to use and just set it for zeros. I don't know nuthin' about mens' jackets either, at least not in Coach's price range.

 

[Hyacinth]

Yes, you've definitely said it in YOUR guides. But they're so chock full of other information that I was just repeating it to reinforce.

Thank you!

 

[whateve]

And I found another oddball. Now that we're discussing clothing -- well at least I am, I would be interested in other opinions on this one. The wording is strange, the serial number is stranger and the tagging is different from any clothing item I've seen.

Bomber jacket
seller jcsmit7
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-Mens-...882877?hash=item2a61f21a7d:g:9CcAAOSwll1WyiXx
item 182031882877

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-Mens-...882877?hash=item2a61f21a7d:g:9CcAAOSwll1WyiXx

Interesting! Can you read the entire text? I can only see parts of it.

 

[BeenBurned]

And I found another oddball. Now that we're discussing clothing -- well at least I am, I would be interested in other opinions on this one. The wording is strange, the serial number is stranger and the tagging is different from any clothing item I've seen.

Bomber jacket
seller jcsmit7
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-Mens-...882877?hash=item2a61f21a7d:g:9CcAAOSwll1WyiXx
item 182031882877

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-Mens-...882877?hash=item2a61f21a7d:g:9CcAAOSwll1WyiXx

Interesting! Can you read the entire text? I can only see parts of it.

I can't read the whole thing. This is as much as I can get.

This garment is made from
suede.

The subtle (something) which
may be visible are charac-
teristic of (something) leather
and (something)
beauty.

 

[BeenBurned]

Well, while searching for another more legible creed for a suede jacket, I came across another "discovery," an observation that I don't think we've made before!!

I thought the J plant was only a Chinese plant, and certainly hadn't seen a US-made J plant item from 1995.

But apparently, there was a US J plant in the 90s!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-Men-L...115363?hash=item542aab31e3:g:vyMAAOSwFGNWSLAb

 

[TotalBagLady]

Hello,

Can tell me with identifying this type of NYC era Coach bag and if it's authentic? It's 11x7x2.5" with 42.5" removable strap. The leather doesn't feel quite as stiff as I expected.

 

[TotalBagLady]

Apologies. I'm having a tough time uploading photos here.

 

[whateve]

Hello,

Can tell me with identifying this type of NYC era Coach bag and if it's authentic? It's 11x7x2.5" with 42.5" removable strap. The leather doesn't feel quite as stiff as I expected.

Apologies. I'm having a tough time uploading photos here.

We need a creed picture and a description of the pockets. It's probably a convertible clutch 9635.