What also worries me is that
Coach probably would have used 0520 as the style number, although they might have been as inconsistant about that as they were about everything else. Without having any photos of a genuine one to compare to, all I can go by is the creed and serial number, and I agree with Tetondeb, it's a wonky prefix and that all-around stamping impression just isn't right.
It also worries me that several style 529s from the same time period used a different creed wording but I don't know if it was because the two styles actually were made of differently-processed leathers. There's a "D8B-529A" here - and I don't remember an A at the end of a late-1990s handbag or travel bag serial before, does anyone else? - that says "...handcrafted in the United States of
lightweight and durable weather resistant glove-tanned cowhide that is specially treated to withstand the rigors of travel". The 520 on Etsy just has the "variations in the grain" creed. (It doesn't help that I don't have much confidence in the seller of the "-529A" backpack either!)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COACH-BROWN...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
I'd definitely avoid the one on Etsy just because of the creed. And the 1998 H plant creeds that seem genuine all have that slightly larger and misaligned H, not the one in the Etsy listing. But except for that it's totally understandable how anyone would think it's genuine, and I hate to report a seller for a fake when there's no way she could have known unless she's one of the hundred or so people who checks the Fakes Lists.
