Hello. Looks like the proper forum of experts to help me authenticate a bag.
My wife won a
Coach purse a while back from an online contest, I don't remember what. She doesn't like it - was entering for something else - and wanted to sell it. I tried on eBay last winter, even knocked the price to half the value she was told, but no interest. I then found out that lots of the Coach bags there are fakes. So, in the closet it went. I came across it the other day during a late start to spring cleaning, and want to try selling it again, but when I put the serial number into Google it came up with posts from 2009 in this forum for a purse with the exact same serial number. Not sure if it was determined a fake or not. Some said it could be a prototype or sample.
So, if any of you kind and diligent folks who know could help me, that would be great!
Thanks in advance.
http://home.comcast.net/~chilliwilly/coach03.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~chilliwilly/coach02.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~chilliwilly/coach01.jpg
The "-99999" part of the serial number usually means it's a sample bag, and unless it was actually put into production there's no way to authenticate it.
Unfortunately in the last 10 or 15 years some fakes manufacturers learned about that quirk in Coach's numbering system and used the Sample style number codes -99999 or -00000 in some of their fakes since that made it virtually impossible to prove that their counterfeits actually
were fake. We've seen several of those here and there's quite a few posts on the subject.
We've seen legitimate samples from the classic and vintage era, meaning before production switched to China around 2000, but those usually have the design and construction details we expect from genuine Coaches. No so much for the China-made bags, they always seem to have a problem of some kind.
I'm also concerned that the stamping of the serial number is sloppy especially the "No" in front of the number, and the creed wording doesn't match other bags from the same year and plant even though according to the codes they were made only 5 or 6 months apart, like this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Coach-Purse...753?pt=US_CSA_WH_Handbags&hash=item4d1d357a39
Do you remember the website that the bag came from? That can sometimes be a much better indicator of a fake item than the bag itself.
Here are a few other series of posts where those numbers were discussed, you may have to skim through one or two pages to find all the related replies:
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-shopping/authenticate-this-coach-818914-536.html#post25735015
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-shopping/authenticate-this-coach-763164-224.html#post23146782
and a BUNCH of posts about one seller in particular who had an endless supply of "samples" as well as bags with serious mistakes in the serial numbers and production codes:
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-shopping/authenticate-this-coach-763164-300.html#post23469812
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-shopping/authenticate-this-coach-763164-300.html#post23470425
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-sh...enticity-questions-94198-50.html#post23720513
I strongly urge you NOT to even try to list it on Ebay, there's a very good chance it would be reported as a fake. The style itself doesn't look like anything I remember Coach making, although maybe someone else might remember it. The problem from a seller's point of view is that there'as NO way to prove it's authentic, which means it's against Ebay Rules to even list it. If a buyer filed a SNAD claim against you, you would lose.
Just as an FYI, Sample bags were NOT meant to be sold retail. If they were sold at all it was usually to employees who I think were told thet the samples couldn't be sold. I don't know if that policy is still in effect though.
