Congrats! It’s looks to me to be in good vintage condition. I like the way the oval bottom is constructed. Where do you think you’re seeing a possible tear? If you’re looking at the corner construction itself, that may be a deliberate “split” to give shape and detail.
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
- Thread starter greenpixie
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Yes, that one corner looks a little weird to me. It kind of looks like it might be split open. Thanks for your input. 😊
Hopefully it’s just a trick of the photo. 🤞 But I see what you’re looking at between the seams. For small splits I’ve had good luck with Alene’s Leather & Suede Glue (recommended here in the thread). I’m sure others will have suggestions!
The bag is gorgeous, and I don't see any flaws at all. That bullseye symbol there on the creed means that this bag was made for sale originally in the boutique stores (different from a made for factory outlet bag). You got a good one!
Well, no offense to vintage Coach (which I love), but I just bought a vintage bag and it is so beautiful and amazingly well made. The full-grain leather seems to me to be nicer to the feel than even vintage Coach leather. It's a "Plaza" style bag from a very small company called Mitchell USA Luxury in Leather. I can't stop touching it, it's so nice! And every inch of it is beautifully made. Now, my dilemma. It does need rehab and reshaping--it's got serious squish going on on the sides and bottom. BUT, I don't want to dunk it. It was hand signed and dated 2003 by the (now deceased) company owner (an engineer who designed the bag) with what looks like a black marker on blue leather on the interior pocket. He obviously considered this bag a work of art, and IT IS! That signature is an added value to this bag, and if I dunk, I may smear or obliterate it. Don't want to do that. How to reshape?
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Thank you, Connie. That's good information about the bullseye, I didn't notice it until you pointed it out🤣.
Beautiful bag. Is there some way that you could seal the signature and then maybe insert damp wet towels instead of dunking?
Looks like it's in fabulous condition! Please update when it arrives and congratulations!
Another suggestion is Furniture Clinics leather protection cream. I applied a light coat to whites and pastels (periwinkle, aqua, lime, etc) and I do feel that helps a lot.
The purple (blue?) interior is beautiful. I think it looks like a cross between a Bella and a Derby bag.. I always thought that the Derby should have had a turnlock, the spring lock looked an odd belly button to me.
The turnlock hardware is on par with Coach too (??) although the way Coach would sew top handles "inside" as opposed to exposed rivets underneath is more attractive but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The stitching looks very well done and the leather looks divine! Textured leather like that is gorgeous.
What are the dimensions? What does the hangtag say and look like? I'm guessing the guy really appreciated the craftsmanship of vintage Coach and made an outstanding effort to replicate with his creativity.
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Thanks. It measures about 8.5 x 8 x 3. The hang tag says JCC03. I think it's either the person who put it together or a style number. I found a couple nice articles about this company: https://mitchell-leather.com/blogs/news/mitchell-leather-history-how-we-got-started and here: https://mitchell-leather.com/pages/article-milwaukee-magazine. The second one has a pic of my guy, Jerry. Here's a photo of their emblem inside the bag. A couple dancing lions, it looks like.
I'm ready to ship myself off to Seattle and let Connie work on me!
I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. I stopped stalling and just went ahead with the paint job. I even shocked myself how close a match for Leaf I was able to mix up. I used only 4 shades of Angelus paint (avocado, yellow, blue and white), I noticed the respective thread has been a bit dead for some time, but I might post a breakdown there as well.
I really only wanted to hide the color loss where it had occurred and not paint over whole portions of the bag. I started with the bottom of the bag as the rim had consistent color loss. I initially tried prepping the immediate area with acetone but dropped it as I found that it was unnecessary and changed how the paint acted. I also started out by using a brush and simply wiping the excess with a paper towel, but I quickly switched to cotton swabs which give a far better result for small areas because of the way it restricts the quantity of paint and also somehow has the leather soak up the paint, rather than just brushing it on so it just sits on top, becoming a noticeable layer that you have to blend around the edges. I still worked on a small area at a time and wiped over it after I was done on a section. The result is such that in I myself can't really distinguish the painted areas from the rest in daylight. Looking extra close in bright sunlight I can see that the layer of paint seems ever so slightly more transluscent in those areas, but you wouldn' be able to tell unless you knew to look and put your nose to it. I also applied only one coat and don't feel more is necessary. The sheen of the paint also matches the rest so I don't feel like I have to apply any type of finish. The difference between the before and after is best seen on the bottom and on the strap. The two closeups of the strap are from the same area (see where the leather is overlayed for reference). The edges of the strap had the same type of color loss the whole way around as the bottom, just not as extreme.
I really only wanted to hide the color loss where it had occurred and not paint over whole portions of the bag. I started with the bottom of the bag as the rim had consistent color loss. I initially tried prepping the immediate area with acetone but dropped it as I found that it was unnecessary and changed how the paint acted. I also started out by using a brush and simply wiping the excess with a paper towel, but I quickly switched to cotton swabs which give a far better result for small areas because of the way it restricts the quantity of paint and also somehow has the leather soak up the paint, rather than just brushing it on so it just sits on top, becoming a noticeable layer that you have to blend around the edges. I still worked on a small area at a time and wiped over it after I was done on a section. The result is such that in I myself can't really distinguish the painted areas from the rest in daylight. Looking extra close in bright sunlight I can see that the layer of paint seems ever so slightly more transluscent in those areas, but you wouldn' be able to tell unless you knew to look and put your nose to it. I also applied only one coat and don't feel more is necessary. The sheen of the paint also matches the rest so I don't feel like I have to apply any type of finish. The difference between the before and after is best seen on the bottom and on the strap. The two closeups of the strap are from the same area (see where the leather is overlayed for reference). The edges of the strap had the same type of color loss the whole way around as the bottom, just not as extreme.
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