It could be a brass alloy, but the look is a pale gold
It's very beautiful IMO. Your KP sounds incredible!
Query: History of Hermès Hardware
- Thread starter CTLover
- Start date
TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others
It's very beautiful IMO. Your KP sounds incredible!
This Kelly is 1959. I have not polished hardware lately. You can see a rainbow patina that will polish off.
The 52 “Kelly” (was it called Sac à Dépêches then?) is gorgeous!I'm not near the bag right now but will look for a pic. If I can't find, will take one once I'm back in the US
No, permabrass isn't brass, it's a light gold, sometimes called "champagne gold" here, see the pic below.
Guilloché is an etched pattern as opposed to a color, here below in palladium but as noted by @r luvs h , also comes in brass and gold. It's a term often used in jewelry; I believe VCA uses guilloché a fair amount.
View attachment 5811132View attachment 5811133
Edited to add: here is brass hardware on a 1952 "Kelly" (years before Grace would use this bag to hide her baby bump). Sorry for the blur but best photo I have. Bag is in the color then called Gold; we'd call it Noisette.
This bag is older than my mom would be today
View attachment 5811195
Yes, this is solid brass hardware. I don't see much tarnish on your hardware, so I would just start with a brass polishing cloth or jewelry polishing cloth. Use Brasso at your own risk. Personally, I am not a big proponent of using liquids to clean hardware because it could damage the leather, but many have used Brasso with no issues.
The photo may be deceptive, but IMO this needs a spa (by H only) much more than anything for the hardware, I'd leave the hardware alone except for a clean cloth rub-down, probably just dirt. Patina is everything on these bags.
Brasso works by a method of abrasion (silicon dioxide, kaolin and kaolinite) in a liquid kerosene (like paraffin), fatty acids and aqueous ammonia (corrosive - the ammonia in urine was historically used to used to tan hide).
The abrasives scrape tarnish from the surface and smooth any scratch marks but can also leave marks, and if you get it on the leather you are going to have to do more than clean.
Thanks! I kind of misspoke/posted a misleading pic, mostly i just wanted to clean the lock and the keys...they kind of have that gross old metal look and smell (lol). I will just do it to the lock since I can remove and clean away from the leather
I think so, Sac à Dépêches à Main, even
there seem to have been quite a lot of variants, with the words used descriptively rather than as names
I dropped off my vintage Kelly (from 1974) for Spa last week and they asked if I’d be changing the hardware. The after care rep mentioned older bags had gold-infused hardware which was news to me 🤔 but sounds like the original hardware would have been brass instead of gold-infused hardware according to this thread? Is there any validity to her claim?
The hardware on the bag is still in a good condition so I’m leaning towards keeping it as is, but the lock & keys are quite tarnished & I did request to get them replaced. Now that I know the hardware is brass, I think I’ll ask to keep the original hardare for the lock & keys as well once the work estimates come in!
The hardware on the bag is still in a good condition so I’m leaning towards keeping it as is, but the lock & keys are quite tarnished & I did request to get them replaced. Now that I know the hardware is brass, I think I’ll ask to keep the original hardare for the lock & keys as well once the work estimates come in!
I have never known Hermès to produce any sort of “gold-infused” hardware, so maybe the After Sales Rep. misunderstood something? A bag from 1974 would almost certainly have solid brass hardware (or maybe solid gold). Nonetheless, if you have a picture of the hardware, I (or others here) should be able to tell you rather definitively whether the hardware is solid brass or gold plated brass.
I always advise salvaging as much of the original vintage hardware as possible— it’s so pretty and historical!
Wishing your bag a nice and relaxing spa!
Solid gold would be interesting 🤔I have never known Hermès to produce any sort of “gold-infused” hardware, so maybe the After Sales Rep. misunderstood something? A bag from 1974 would almost certainly have solid brass hardware (or maybe solid gold). Nonetheless, if you have a picture of the hardware, I (or others here) should be able to tell you rather definitively whether the hardware is solid brass or gold plated brass.
I always advise salvaging as much of the original vintage hardware as possible— it’s so pretty and historical!
Wishing your bag a nice and relaxing spa!
Was there a specific era when solid gold hardware was used?
I don’t have photos of the lock & keys which are quite dark & tarnished, but did snap some photos of the plaque hardware! Attached for your reference
Attachments
Pretty bag! It has solid brass hardware.
I personally have not seen solid gold hardware used for this specific vintage of bag, but it was used as the substrate for SO bags with pavé diamond hardware around this time. Given that, I would not be surprised if SO bags with solid gold hardware existed* during this time also.
*Again, I have personally never seen this, but Hermès is full of surprises, so it is not impossible.
Thank you so much for confirming the brass hardware! I was initially planning to update all the hardware during spa but will definitely preserve the originals now that I know. I’ll research ways to polish & clean them if not offered from spa. 💗Pretty bag! It has solid brass hardware.
I personally have not seen solid gold hardware used for this specific vintage of bag, but it was used as the substrate for SO bags with pavé diamond hardware around this time. Given that, I would not be surprised if SO bags with solid gold hardware existed* during this time also.
*Again, I have personally never seen this, but Hermès is full of surprises, so it is not impossible.
