Valid Month Codes

[Dofan]

Hello Coach lovers,
So I've been reading through many threads on this forum and have read that there are exceptions to the rule of using only the letters A-M (excluding I) for the month as the first letter of the serial number. Correct me if I'm wrong but I read that the E factory (Italy) did rarely use I and N as the month code. Are there any other exceptions? I've come across a Hungary bag (U) with I as the first letter, and also for factories J, M, and P. Are these valid? Are there any other letters outside of A-N that are authentic?

Thank you all for your help!

 

[Hyacinth]

Hello Coach lovers,
So I've been reading through many threads on this forum and have read that there are exceptions to the rule of using only the letters A-M (excluding I) for the month as the first letter of the serial number. Correct me if I'm wrong but I read that the E factory (Italy) did rarely use I and N as the month code. Are there any other exceptions? I've come across a Hungary bag (U) with I as the first letter, and also for factories J, M, and P. Are these valid? Are there any other letters outside of A-N that are authentic?

Thank you all for your help!

Only A thru M are "valid" but sometimes i and n were used by mistake by legitimate plants and sometimes they were used by counterfeiters. Any other month codes are always fake UNLESS they;re in some genuine mid 1990s bags where the three digits of the serial prefix were scrambled up.

DON'T try to figure out "rules" based only on one detail like that. And don't try to self-authenticate, there's a lot more involved than just a few numbers and letters.

And just because a serial number has a legitimate month code and / or plant code doesn't mean the bag is genuine. The ENTIRE serial number has to be looked at as a whole.

 

[Dofan]

Only A thru M are "valid" but sometimes i and n were used by mistake by legitimate plants and sometimes they were used by counterfeiters. Any other month codes are always fake UNLESS they;re in some genuine mid 1990s bags where the three digits of the serial prefix were scrambled up.

DON'T try to figure out "rules" based only on one detail like that. And don't try to self-authenticate, there's a lot more involved than just a few numbers and letters.

And just because a serial number has a legitimate month code and / or plant code doesn't mean the bag is genuine. The ENTIRE serial number has to be looked at as a whole.

Thank you Hyacinth!

I'm just trying to make it easier for me to spot BAD fakes that I wouldn't have to bother authenticating. As you said, I would not consider a bag authentic just going by the serial.

So you're saying that any plant could make this mistake right? So I should not discount them based on this mistake.

Also, sorry to bother you with another question but should all Coach items, big or small, have the serial number somewhere no matter what year they were made? I know they permanently moved the serial number from the creed to a small white tag at around 2014 but it looks like they are back to stamping them on the creed. Are they stamping the serial numbers on all creeds now? I know small items do not have the creed anyways so they would still have the white tag. But do all small items from even before 2014 have the white tag? I'm wondering if this holds true for like giveaway bags and such.

Thank you for all the work you do here!

 

[Hyacinth]

Thank you Hyacinth!

I'm just trying to make it easier for me to spot BAD fakes that I wouldn't have to bother authenticating. As you said, I would not consider a bag authentic just going by the serial.

So you're saying that any plant could make this mistake right? So I should not discount them based on this mistake.

Also, sorry to bother you with another question but should all Coach items, big or small, have the serial number somewhere no matter what year they were made? I know they permanently moved the serial number from the creed to a small white tag at around 2014 but it looks like they are back to stamping them on the creed. Are they stamping the serial numbers on all creeds now? I know small items do not have the creed anyways so they would still have the white tag. But do all small items from even before 2014 have the white tag? I'm wondering if this holds true for like giveaway bags and such.

Thank you for all the work you do here!

Yes, any plant could make a mistake and all of them probably did at one tiime or another. Mistakes involving serial numbers were more likely to be made in countries where the primary language was something other than English, but I've seen scrambled serial number prefixes from one or two "US" plants too. Plants also could make mistakes with style numbers. And a few plants operating right before and during Coach's switch to Chinese production had all sorts of odd mistakes because they had to use whatever creed and serial number stamps were left over and hadn't been destroyed or sent to China.
That's why we really discourage anyone who doesn't have a text and photo library of real, fake and questionable bags and stampings to not try and figure it out on their own.

Also, sorry to bother you with another question but should all Coach items, big or small, have the serial number somewhere no matter what year they were made?
No. I suggest you read the Salearea Coach Guides or at least the ones on Creeds and on Serial numbers. Throw in the ones on YKK zippers and Authenticity Guides. Heck, as long as you're already started, read all of them.
https://forum.purseblog.com/threads/salearea-guides.983575/#post-32252957

I know they permanently moved the serial number from the creed to a small white tag at around 2014 but it looks like they are back to stamping them on the creed. Are they stamping the serial numbers on all creeds now? I know small items do not have the creed anyways so they would still have the white tag. But do all small items from even before 2014 have the white tag?
I don't think ANYTHING from before 2014 or when they temporarily stopped using stamped numbers on the creed had a white tag, including small bags without serial numbers. But I'm definitely not an expert on newer styles so if you have questions about a specific bag, please post in the Authenticate This Coach thread. There are NO solid or fixed Rules, Coach changed them often. That's just one of the many reasons why almost every so-called Authenticity Guide on the internet is useless, most of them are years, sometimes almost 2 decades, out of date.

I'm wondering if this holds true for like giveaway bags and such.
I'm not sure what you mean by giveaway bags. We've seen bags made in limited numbers for special occasions or groups (Stuart Vevers' 10th Anniversary, a few NYC dance companies, etc) where some have "normal" serial numbers and some don't. Coach makes up their own rules about that kind of thing.

 

[Dofan]

Yes, any plant could make a mistake and all of them probably did at one tiime or another. Mistakes involving serial numbers were more likely to be made in countries where the primary language was something other than English, but I've seen scrambled serial number prefixes from one or two "US" plants too. Plants also could make mistakes with style numbers. And a few plants operating right before and during Coach's switch to Chinese production had all sorts of odd mistakes because they had to use whatever creed and serial number stamps were left over and hadn't been destroyed or sent to China.
That's why we really discourage anyone who doesn't have a text and photo library of real, fake and questionable bags and stampings to not try and figure it out on their own.

Also, sorry to bother you with another question but should all Coach items, big or small, have the serial number somewhere no matter what year they were made?
No. I suggest you read the Salearea Coach Guides or at least the ones on Creeds and on Serial numbers. Throw in the ones on YKK zippers and Authenticity Guides. Heck, as long as you're already started, read all of them.
https://forum.purseblog.com/threads/salearea-guides.983575/#post-32252957

I know they permanently moved the serial number from the creed to a small white tag at around 2014 but it looks like they are back to stamping them on the creed. Are they stamping the serial numbers on all creeds now? I know small items do not have the creed anyways so they would still have the white tag. But do all small items from even before 2014 have the white tag?
I don't think ANYTHING from before 2014 or when they temporarily stopped using stamped numbers on the creed had a white tag, including small bags without serial numbers. But I'm definitely not an expert on newer styles so if you have questions about a specific bag, please post in the Authenticate This Coach thread. There are NO solid or fixed Rules, Coach changed them often. That's just one of the many reasons why almost every so-called Authenticity Guide on the internet is useless, most of them are years, sometimes almost 2 decades, out of date.

I'm wondering if this holds true for like giveaway bags and such.
I'm not sure what you mean by giveaway bags. We've seen bags made in limited numbers for special occasions or groups (Stuart Vevers' 10th Anniversary, a few NYC dance companies, etc) where some have "normal" serial numbers and some don't. Coach makes up their own rules about that kind of thing.

Thank you for the in-depth response!

I should clarify my question. When I asked whether Coach items no matter what size should have a serial somewhere, I didn't mean the "pre-serialized" items. It's just odd to me that Coach would not have at least a serial number on a tag (white or anything else) somewhere, if not on the creed. You would think they would want to not make it so easy for counterfeiters! So far, I've only ever seen those white tags and no other kind. Curiously, I've also seen items where the serial code was on both the creed and the white tag. This seems like a transitional period before they moved it to just the tag in 2014 but I don't recall what years they were made.

Thank you for the readings! I read through them and they clarified a lot of things.