Gold Stickers on Chanel Bags - Dates what do they mean.

[shinymagpie]

Hi

I bought a bag here in Japan yesterday. It was from the original owner. Her daughter told me when it was bought. It was in the original box.

The serial number on the bag is 149054. But it had a gold sticker saying 60.10.17 This always puzzled me. I have lots of bags with these numbers on them. Why did a bag say 60 when then the numbering system started in 1986?

My friend Yukie and I wrote to the woman asking the exact year it was bought. It was bought in 1985 in Japan. We looked at the dates together and realised that the stickers are from Chanel Bags repaired in Japan and the dates are using the Japanese calendar.

Japan runs two year systems. One is the standard Anno Domini system eg 2009. But here in Japan it is now 2009 and Heisei 21. The second system is based on when the current Emperor started his reign.

For example
Roman Year - Japanese Year
1985 - Showa 60
1986 - Showa 61
1987 - Showa 62
1988 - Showa 63
1981 - Heisei 1 (the current Emperor took office)
1982 - Heisei 2
1983 - Heisei 3
1984 - Heisei 4 etc

So by having this gold sticker saying 60.10.17 I know that this bag was repaired on 17 October 1985. So this bag number 149054 must have been made in 1985 or earlier. This means that the numbering system started before 1986 as previously thought. Exactly when the numbers started is a mystery. Probably around 84 or 85 I would think.



So how old are your gold stickers?
What is the most recent gold sticker date?

Lets compare stickers!

 

[Expat]

Hah! That would require me delving into my cupboard which I will do later.
Very interesting thank you!

But I can tell you that my driving licence quotes my DOB as year 40


ETA - When I bought my WoC las Christmas - brand new - they popped a gold sticker in it before wrapping it up. Will check in a mo!

 

[Expat]

Only had a quick moment to check it out (couldn't be ar$ed to explain to DH what the hell I was doing!)

My WoC has 25 Nov 2008 on its sticker LOL! So it looks like the new ones have reverted to Western datings.
My Pink Kelly has no gold sticker in at all.

Tomorrow I will check my DDs little bag to see what that one has in it and will also take a look at other Japan-bought bags.

 

[shinymagpie]

Only had a quick moment to check it out (couldn't be ar$ed to explain to DH what the hell I was doing!)

My WoC has 25 Nov 2008 on its sticker LOL! So it looks like the new ones have reverted to Western datings.
My Pink Kelly has no gold sticker in at all.

Tomorrow I will check my DDs little bag to see what that one has in it and will also take a look at other Japan-bought bags.

Hi Carol.

That's interesting. Is it possible that these are selling dates, not repair dates.

One of my belt bags has S.O 89.10.7 in it. That is the first year after the change of era from Showa to Heisei, which could be when the change to western dating appeared. That one has a Lampo zip. If the dates were actually production dates, that make it a 20 year old bag. Don't know what the S.O stands for. My friend thought it could be Shuuri which is the Japanese word for repair.

I'm still curious about whether this is Japan specific or if it happened in other countries too. This date range is definitely Japanese.

 

[Cyndee]

The stickers are exclusive to Japan. The dates on the gold stickers are the date the bag was purchased, not repaired.

 

[Expat]

ITA Cyndee, only seen them in bags I've bought here.

And as my SA made a big deal of sticking the one into my WoC I'd definitely agree it's the sale date. Which rather scarily means they must have squillions of date stickers!!!

 

[shinymagpie]

The stickers are exclusive to Japan. The dates on the gold stickers are the date the bag was purchased, not repaired.

Thanks Cyndee. I had just reached that conclusion while digging through my bags. I couldn't understand why so many bags appeared to have been repaired the year they were released!

Mystery solved. That theoretically means we can narrow down the age range of bags a bit.

So if Carol bought one last year and got a sticker. Then that means it is still being done.

I also found a handwritten one for 63.7.5 (no serial it's a belt bag - the serial numbers seem to peel off the lining) and another printed one for 97.3.14 serial is 3844551. A couple had faded beyond reading. Another is 95.3.2 GZ.

Possibly the letters at the end are location.

Interesting.

 

[shinymagpie]

ITA Cyndee, only seen them in bags I've bought here.

And as my SA made a big deal of sticking the one into my WoC I'd definitely agree it's the sale date. Which rather scarily means they must have squillions of date stickers!!!

Nah Carol. It means they have some sort of special ink, a date stamp from somewhere and squillions of little gold stickers.

Now at least I don't feel upset that my bags don't get stickers when they go in for repairs!

 

[Expat]

Nah Carol. It means they have some sort of special ink, a date stamp from somewhere and squillions of little gold stickers.

Now at least I don't feel upset that my bags don't get stickers when they go in for repairs!

Hah! And that will be the sole job of one person!

Actually, he peeled it off a sheet of pre-printed stickers, so maybe that's the job for the morning before they open.
Could explain the late opening times here

 

[shinymagpie]

Hah! And that will be the sole job of one person!

Actually, he peeled it off a sheet of pre-printed stickers, so maybe that's the job for the morning before they open.
Could explain the late opening times here

Ha Ha! So they obviously have good turnover. No recession in the Chanel store!

 

[papertiger]

Interesting thread. Love all this detail.

 

[Smoothoprter]

Great thread! Thanks for the great reference information Alex. Hopefully Natalie can add it to the Authentication Tips thread.

 

[Nat]

Thank you for sharing, Alex! Very interesting information

Sure Mon, I can do that. No problem.

 

[shinymagpie]

Thank you for sharing, Alex! Very interesting information

Sure Mon, I can do that. No problem.

Thanks for adding it to the authenticity tips.

Thanks to Cyndee and Expat, we can now confirm that the gold sticker is put on a new bag sold in Japan at the date of sale. This is useful for dating the bags for history. It doesn't give us a manufacture time, but it's close!

Would love to know who has the oldest gold sticker!

 

[Expat]

Didn't get chance to look today. I hate summer holidays!! Will try again tomorrow