Gold Stickers on Chanel Bags - Dates what do they mean.
- Thread starter shinymagpie
- Start date
TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others
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!
You're welcome. I have replaced the word 'repaired' with 'bought' in your info.
That little baby is 1996.
This is interesting too because I have stickers saying 89.10.7 which means that some stores adopted the western calendar in Heisei 1 or 1989 whereas others, like the store your bag came from kept to the Japanese Calendar.
I will post a table of the full dates when I get a moment!
That's totally strange. Please post a good close up here. Is it definitely a gold sticker or is it silver? A rare instance is a silver one for repairs, but I am still checking that out.
perhaps its actually silver? ill take a photo when my brother gets home with his camera
Please use macro setting. You already had the bag authenticated in the other thread so it won't be an issue. The authenticity tips give you the relationship between serial number and age of the bag.
Last edited:
i'm 10000% sure the bag is authentic, i bought it through chanel touch. im just trying to figure out the mystery of this sticker
Last edited by a moderator:
The gold stickers sometimes found in bags or wallets, were originally sold by Chanel boutiques in Japan. They often use a different dating system, which refers to the era that a particular Emporer was on the Chrysanthemum Throne. After an Emporer passes away, they rename him. The previous Emporer's title is now Emporer Showa. The current period, is known as Heisei.
The numbers show the year, month, then the date of sale and the final two digits are the details of the boutique. The earliest sticker I have seen is has a year 60 on it.
Some Chanel boutiques changed their year protocols to the Roman Calendar earlier than others. So for example, you could have a bag or wallet with 2.2.6 AB. and two letters or in others you'd have a bag with 90.2.6 CD Both would mean the bag was sold on the 6th of February Heisei 2/1990.
Here is a contrast of the Japanese Calendar years to the Roman Calendar.
Showa 60 1985
Showa 61 1986
Showa 62 1987
Showa 63 1988
Heisei 1 1989
Heisei 2 1990
Heisei 3 1991
Heisei 4 1992
Heisei 5 1993
Heisei 6 1994
All bags and wallets sold in Chanel Boutiques in Japan would have had these stickers placed in them on the date of sale. (this was being done as recently as a couple of years ago and may still be happening). Sometimes they are not there because they have been dislodged due to use or the owner has taken all the stickers off, not realizing that they may be important.
Presumably, some original buyers never considered that their bags may, generations later, enter the resale market.
I have found details of these stickers in Collectors Magazines that I have purchased in Japan.
The numbers show the year, month, then the date of sale and the final two digits are the details of the boutique. The earliest sticker I have seen is has a year 60 on it.
Some Chanel boutiques changed their year protocols to the Roman Calendar earlier than others. So for example, you could have a bag or wallet with 2.2.6 AB. and two letters or in others you'd have a bag with 90.2.6 CD Both would mean the bag was sold on the 6th of February Heisei 2/1990.
Here is a contrast of the Japanese Calendar years to the Roman Calendar.
Showa 60 1985
Showa 61 1986
Showa 62 1987
Showa 63 1988
Heisei 1 1989
Heisei 2 1990
Heisei 3 1991
Heisei 4 1992
Heisei 5 1993
Heisei 6 1994
All bags and wallets sold in Chanel Boutiques in Japan would have had these stickers placed in them on the date of sale. (this was being done as recently as a couple of years ago and may still be happening). Sometimes they are not there because they have been dislodged due to use or the owner has taken all the stickers off, not realizing that they may be important.
Presumably, some original buyers never considered that their bags may, generations later, enter the resale market.
I have found details of these stickers in Collectors Magazines that I have purchased in Japan.
Great info!!
So..are you saying only boutiques in Japan used these stickers or do you mean that is just where the gold stickers originated from but later they used them in the US boutiques? I am having difficulty figuring out how to read it still. Can you show me how to read mine (from my vintage lambskin Jumbo --3 series)? 
Great info indeed! Mine says 4.10.1 HD so, with serial number starting with 2, so I guess it was bought on the 1st of October 1994?
Great info!!
View attachment 1386077
They are, to the best of my knowledge, something only done in Japan. So any bags in the USA with a gold sticker with those markings was originally sold in Japan.
The other thing is some boutiques used the last 2 digits of the Roman Year to date their stickers and others use all 4 digits eg 89 or 1989. All the stickers are made up individually at each boutique.
JessieRose, can you take a please take a close look at the digit on the left of the 5 and the one in the middle. The 29 is the day of the month.
luciabugia Your bag was first sold on Heisei 4 October 1st or 1 October 1992. at the HD Boutique (still haven't cracked the boutique protocol). The 2 series is estimated to run between 1991-1994. So that means your bag was crafted prior to 1 October 1992.
The date ranges of serials that we know of are based on research started by Michele, I think it was (sorry if it was someone else here...
).