katev said:Well, I started some new rehab projects today and they each present different challenges. But first an update on my smoke stinky navy willis! She is much better but still has a little odor! I bought 2 large mesh bags of charcoal fish tank filters from the pet store the other day and put them inside the biggest compartments in the bag and then sealed it up in 2 plastic bags and put it away for awhile to see if that helps. I haven't even thought about starting on my stinky green laurel yet!
I bought 2 of my current rehab projects at a garage sale for a total of $5 for both and Hyacinth has authenticated them as genuine, made in the USA, near-vintage bags. The authentication pics are at the links below.
The first is a periwinkle Casey bag. She is in good structural shape but the inside is a beautiful blue color and the outside is a dirty gray color. I am hoping that she is just really dirty and that I will be able to restore that gorgeous color. I also have to call Coach and ask for a gold hangtag to replace the missing tag.
Periwinkle Casey Bag, style 9923, USA from around 1993:
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-shopping/authenticate-this-coach-763164-8.html#post22428319
The second garage sale bargain bag is a black Janice's Legacy. She is very dry, worn, scuffed, faded and generally "badly beaten up" but she is my first Janice's bag - and for $2.50, why not try to fix her up?! The AT pics are below.
Black Janice’s Legacy 9950 (USA, 1996)
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-shopping/authenticate-this-coach-763164-8.html#post22428292
The last bag is also a US made vintage bag and I am rehabbing it for a friend. It is a black Collegiate bag and she bought it in 1989 and she has been carrying it almost exclusively ever since! The bags looks great, which proves that there is no need to abuse a much-used bag, the way many of our rehab projects have been treated!
I thought that this was going to be an easy rehab but when I started working on her I realized that all the hardware has verdigris! I pryed off both parts of the turnlock before bathing her and that ugly green color was everywhere, yuck! So forget about an easy rehab!
I knew that this bag was genuine but I posted the pics at the link below in the ID thead and Hyacinth kindly gave me a lot of information about her.
Collegiate Bag, style 9815, from around 1989. Listed then for around $126:
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach/id-coach-item-post-any-coach-item-name-355205-327.html#post22509497
They have all been bathed and are stuffed and drying right now. We will have to see what adventures they will each offer in the future!
Wow katev, you have some gorgeous bags! I love the before and after pictures of all your bags. What a difference!!!
I have gotten a couple from eBay to rehab, but they were all in pretty good condition so other than dunking them to clean and reshape them, not much had to be done. Of course I didn't get the fantastic price I've seen some pay either! While on vacation, I got my husband to stop at every place we passed to look for vintage bags across three states! Guess I hit all the wrong places, someone beat me to them or people kept their vintage Coach bags because I didn't find a single one!

