Coach Rehab and Rescue Club

[Lake Effect]

My little gold bar is all finished and ready to say hi! At least her body is, the strap is a different story.
The bag was extremely dry and hiding it well under patina. See how glossy the back of the bag looks in the listing photo - no product, just patina. I think it was high time someone rescued her, another couple of months would probably have finished her off.
After her dunk, she got a gazillion coats of CPR which gave her a bit of a tan camouflage appearance that changed with every coat. As a final step, I sat my metal tin of Elephant leather preserver in the sun to soften it and basically ladled a whole glob of it onto the bag and buffed that in. Its primary job as per the label is to prevent cracking. This step made a huge difference in evening out the color and taking her a step closer to butteriness.
You can still see the ghost of the outlines of her stains, but I'm very pleased with the outcome, this is exactly the aesthetic I had in mind for her. You see she's a vintage bag but one that has been properly cared for.

The strap is another story. It cracked on me after the dunk. I debated filling the cracks with liquid leather, but don't think that would have been a permanent solution. I also debated salvaging the clips and making a colorful paracord macramé strap myself. In the end, I decided that I love the double spaghetti strap and want to have it professionally saved.
Today I took the strap to a saddlery run by a dad and his daughter. The daughter is an apprentice bag maker and will have a bunch of exams over the next weeks that are a priority, so it might take a loooong time before I can carry her. In the meantime, here's some before and afters, plus bonus color comparison with Miss BT Manor. First two befores are from seller.

Thanks, this has inspired me to go with more CPR for my Plaza!

 

[MrsGAM]

My daughter ordered it from the Bath and Body Works website. They have some cute ones when you can catch them in stock. We stalk that page everyday hoping to catch some hand sanitizer lol. So far early mornings seem to be best.

Thanks so much...looks like I'll be doing some stalking myself !

That's funny! I bought this same sanitizer holder on Poshmark - it came as a set of two and I kept the green/purple one and gave the pink/orange one to my mom. I haven't been able to catch them in stock on the Bath and Body Works website, but there are a lot for sale on Poshmark and Mercari.

 

[NikkiTheVet]

It's not completely dry. There's still hope!

Those look very similar to the spots on my same-colored City that I asked y'all about last week, I think it was. I dunked it again then tried the vinegar. They lightened somewhat but any conditioner at all makes them darker again! Keep us posted, ok?

 

[NikkiTheVet]

Beautiful backpack, you are lucky your goodwill is only charging $16.99 for these.
My goodwill is putting *every* Coach bag behind the case, no matter how ratty it is, charging $30+.

I'm hoping prices soften up after Coronavirus, since GW will certainly have lots of inventory.

My Goodwill does the same thing. They are in the glass case and either $29.99 or $39.99.

 

[MaraudingMagpie]

Thanks, this has inspired me to go with more CPR for my Plaza!

Yes, go for it! If it's evening out the color your looking to do, CPR might only get you so far though. My Dinky was still relatively mottled when I went in with Elephant. Buffing between layers of CPR also helped with the color.

 

[MaraudingMagpie]

That colour is warm and inviting...shre looks great.

Thanks! This color just has to be Honey, there can't be another name for it.

 

[Aku_no_Hana]

That's funny! I bought this same sanitizer holder on Poshmark - it came as a set of two and I kept the green/purple one and gave the pink/orange one to my mom. I haven't been able to catch them in stock on the Bath and Body Works website, but there are a lot for sale on Poshmark and Mercari.

That is funny! Also good info on where to find them. I haven't seen them back on their site since we got them. My daughter has the green/purple one lol

 

[katev]

The seller just lowered the price and you can get $3.99 shipping if you buy in the next 6 hours! Not getting it myself unless she goes down another 20+ dollars.

Thanks, but I have regained my senses, trying to replace a missing strap is difficult and expensive; the bag has to be really cheap before I will buy.

 

[Morgan_Bellini]

I tried chipping away at it and using a tooth brush but it just wasn’t budging. I had some brasso so I tried that and it really just melted right off! Unbelievable how well the brasso worked. Thank you so much for your response!!

Yay!! I'm so glad it worked for you!! I'm not sure I would try that on a zipper with lighter colored fabric but the darker ones are a little more forgiving.

 

[Coachaddict4020]

Yay!! I'm so glad it worked for you!! I'm not sure I would try that on a zipper with lighter colored fabric but the darker ones are a little more forgiving.

Yea it did leave a whitish residue on the fabric part of the interior zipper but its very faint and way better than the green gunk it used to be. As for the turnlock- there is some white dry residue on the leather around it but It just needs some conditioner since the brasso dried it out

 

[MaraudingMagpie]

Got my court today...its neither red nor brown...wondering if its burgandy.
Will take a picture in the morning when the light is better and see what the experts say.

Is it morning yet in Gondor? What's the verdict?

 

[Narnanz]

Is it morning yet in Gondor? What's the verdict?

Think its burgandy..have to get daylight to do a decent picture and ceiling lights cast shadow and false light.
Put it against my red city and current rambler. Might change when I do the dunk on thursday arvo.

 

[Morgan_Bellini]

Yea it did leave a whitish residue on the fabric part of the interior zipper but its very faint and way better than the green gunk it used to be. As for the turnlock- there is some white dry residue on the leather around it but It just needs some conditioner since the brasso dried it out

Will it wash out? I didn't have that issue with mine. I'm sorry!

 

[aerinha]

I believe my gray Willis is done. My work on the tear held so tomorrow I will share pics of the bag and what I did as a “cobbler”.

 

[Coachaddict4020]

Will it wash out? I didn't have that issue with mine. I'm sorry!

Don’t be sorry! it disappeared when I conditioned the bag! Sorry I didn’t mean to make it sound like it was a bad thing lol! Im gonna continue using brasso on all future verdigris