Vintage Coach Photos & Chat

[Lake Effect]

So far I have been unable to find other examples of the 7000 style Gramercy Clutch (see above) but I called Coach Customer Service and I was told that they have the bag in their computer records and that the retail price is listed as $268 and that the original release date is the non-existent date of February 31, 2005! But according to the serial number the bag was made in Italy in 1998.

I've come up with a theory that may explain some of the odd things about this bag. Of course there's no way of knowing for sure but it fits with the things that we do know.

My theory is that when the Gramercy line was first being developed in Italy in late 1998, this was the first style bag that was created and they had even started to produce them, giving them the style number 7000.

I don't know how many were made but there was a sudden change of plans and the bags were pulled out of production. The 7007 Gramercy Clutch was released a year later and it has several design differences; see the coach sale description posted below for the 7007 style.

They clearly wanted to make a smaller clutch that could easily be held "in the palm of your hand". That explains why the later version is smaller, has a shorter strap, and it has a creased bottom without metal feet. Easier to carry as a clutch I guess. Personally I like the larger bag with the flat bottom with metal feet. It holds more and the feet protect the bottom of the bag and the corners when you set it down; especially with such a light-colored bad.

I also don't know why they decided to remove the leather slip pocket with the creed patch stamp from the 7007 version but that's another feature in the 7000 bag that I like a lot. But both bags were made in the wheat color have the textured Gramercy finish. They both have a light, suede-cloth interior, and they have interior zipper pockets and outside slip pockets; and they both have the distinctive brass hangtag and rectangular turnlock of the Gramercy line.

Here's where things get murky but here is the scenario that I'm suggesting. The heyday of the Italian Coach plant was in the late 1990s and in early 2000s and they were starting to make fewer bags in Italy by 2005. Since they were starting to reduce operations in Italy, it is quite possible that someone gathered up a mixed shipment of the Coach bags they had in storage (including the abandoned 7000 Gramercy clutch) and shipped all miscellaneous bags to Coach USA.

This shipment of Italian Coach bags were all stamped with the Bullseye mark to be sent to the outlets as FP delete bags, but the 7000 style was problematic. The bag had never been released and had to be entered into the Coach computer. The computer fields included a retail price - even though this bag had never been sold at retail, so the price of $268 was entered. The 7007 clutch originally sold for $248 so $268 seems like a reasonable price in 2005.

The Coach computer also wanted a release date but this bag didn't have one, so they entered the made-up date of 2/31/05 just to complete the record.

I don't know how many of them went to the outlets in 2005 - probably not many because I haven't found any other examples so far, but my bag may have been purchased by a woman that never carried the bag as far as I can tell. If she did carry it then it was probably only on a special occasion and put away in her closet. Or maybe it was a gift and the woman that received it didn't care for it - but it clearly has been stored well but ignored for 22 years.

For some reason this closet was recently purged and the bag ended up posted online for sale by a vendor that @BeenBurned has seen selling both genuine and fake Coach bags in the past; so I was lucky to get this rare, genuine bag for only $50!

That's my theory but I would love to hear other ideas!

Coach 7007 Gramercy Clutch made in 1999-2000:
View attachment 4724027

Coach 7000 Gramercy Clutch made in 1998:
View attachment 4724036

Interesting read. Amazing color. I just get a chuckle thinking, The Gramercy 7000 . . . What a great name!

 

[MaraudingMagpie]

Interesting read. Amazing color. I just get a chuckle thinking, The Gramercy 7000 . . . What a great name!

Sounds like a fancy sports car!

 

[katev]

You found a beautiful and rare bag for a great price. Thanks for sharing your research and your intriguing discussion of the bag’s mysterious history, too. I love that color!

Thank you! I also love the color. I have avoided the light-colored Italian Coach bags ever since I rehabbed a Madison Copley with a matching wallet in Butter. They turned out okay but a little disappointing because I couldn't get them quite as clean as desired, but this bag looked so pristine in the auction pictures that I decided to give it a chance - and I'm glad that I did.

I had fun devising a "life history scenario" for this bag but I need to make a correction because my math doesn't add up. The bag was made in late 1998 so it is going on 22 years old. I think it spent the first 6 or 7 years boxed up in a storeroom in Italy, spent a short time in a Coach Warehouse in the US before being shipped to an Outlet, and the next 14 or 15 years carefully stored in a private closet somewhere in the US. The online vendor that sold the bag got it next and she is located in Tennessee, and now the bag resides in my home in Illinois. So it has done a lot of travelling but I am glad that it finally came out of hiding and I was lucky enough to find it.

Any people in your circle you could convince to get married this summer? The bag screams "wedding!" to me!

Unfortunately nobody's getting married or having parties for awhile thanks to this quarantine, but I agree that this bag would be a great accessory for a wedding. In fact, I was thinking that if the woman that owned it ever carried it - she probably carried it only once for a special occasion, like a wedding!

Interesting read. Amazing color. I just get a chuckle thinking, The Gramercy 7000 . . . What a great name!

Sounds like a fancy sports car!

Yes, a fancy Italian sports car! I was delighted when I called Coach Customer Service and the Associate said that they did have a 7000 style bag in their computer and it was called the "Gramercy Clutch"!

The Gramercy 7000 fills in a missing link, too! My first Gramercy was the 7001 Gramercy Zip (see pic below) and that seemed to start the series, but In researching this bag I found this intriguing entry from Hyacinth in 2015 see below. She was asked to look at a bag on eBay that may have been a Gramercy Pilot or Sample bag.

Hyacinth said "...None of the sequential Gramercy style numbers seem to be unaccounted for, with one possible exception, I have photos of all of them unless there was a style number 7000. If there WAS a style 7000, all bets are off and the bag may be genuine. Or if it was a preproduction pilot bag it might not even have had an official style number..."

Well now we know that there was a Gramercy 7000, but it doesn't look anything like the bag she was trying to authenticate. I wish a picture of that mystery bag had survived, it may well have been a pilot bag made while the designers worked to create the new line.

I can't give you an answer. Much of it is wrong compared to all the other Gramercys we've seen, but it's possible it was a sample or Pilot Bag.

Compared to other Gramercys:
The lining isn't the right color, there's no serial number and there should be, based on the measurements. The lines in the grain of the leather are horizontal but on all the other Gramercy styles they're at a 45-degree angle, and I've never seen or heard of a Gramercy with a dowel on the top. The creed patch should be smooth leather, not textured. The strap clips are NOT the same design used on the other Gramercy styles.

None of the sequential Gramercy style numbers seem to be unaccounted for, with one possible exception, I have photos of all of them unless there was a style number 7000. If there WAS a style 7000, all bets are off and the bag may be genuine. Or if it was a preproduction pilot bag it might not even have had an official style number. I really hope no one reports it because there are just enough accurate details such as the creed wording and the turnlock design to make its authenticity a possibility. It's hard to see clearly in the photo but it might even have the right inside pocket zipper pull, and THAT would be almost impossible if it was fake. I'm going to do more comparing when I have time but for now I'm calling it "Questionable but Possible".

If Tetondeb is checking this thread, I hope she points this one out to Jed.

The Gramercy Zip 7001 was thought to be the first bag in the series, but now we know that the first version of the Gramercy Clutch was the initial 7000 bag.

 

[aerinha]

I have seen mention of replacement straps purchased through Coach somewhere on here. Are the the ones on their website or can you call and get something basic?

 

[katev]

I have seen mention of replacement straps purchased through Coach somewhere on here. Are the the ones on their website or can you call and get something basic?

They used to sell replacement straps for classic bags like the Willis, Station Bag, and Court but they've stopped doing that. I once bought one during a PCE sale and I remember that it was still kind of expensive - but it was authentic and correct for the bag.

Now Coach only offers novelty straps and chain straps on their web site; at least that's all that I've seen lately.

 

[katev]

I have seen mention of replacement straps purchased through Coach somewhere on here. Are the the ones on their website or can you call and get something basic?

They used to sell replacement straps for classic bags like the Willis and the Court but they've stopped doing that. I bought once bought one during a PCE sale and I remember that it was still kind of expensive - but it was authentic and correct for the bag.

Now Coach only offers novelty straps and chain straps on their web site; at least that's all that I've seen lately.

BTW, as a Rehabber I am also frequently on the look-out to replace missing straps and hangtags and so I was impressed by the quality of the Black Cooper and Dark Gunmetal Chain Straps that came with my recently rehabbed Suede Fringe Dinky. During the recent 30% Off Sale at Coach.com sale I decided to order the silver and gold Dinky curb-chain straps 58847. They were only $24.50 each with free shipping.

When I received the chain straps I was pleased and surprised by the packaging because they were in separate Coach gift boxes wrapped with bows. As a bonus the chain straps were each inside small, 1941 Coach dustbags that work very well with some of my smaller bags - like my recent find of a red Poppy Occasion Sequin Pouch 14368 that I got at the Goodwill for only $15, see pics below.

There was no extra charge and I thoroughly enjoyed unwrapping those plain, chain-link straps and finding the gift boxes and small dustbags inside!

 

[MaraudingMagpie]

BTW, as a Rehabber I am also frequently on the look-out to replace missing straps and hangtags and so I was impressed by the quality of the Black Cooper and Dark Gunmetal chain straps that came with my recently rehabbed Suede Fringe Dinky. During the recent 30% Off sale at Coach.com sale I decided to order the silver and gold Dinky curb-chain straps 58847. They were only $24.50 each with free shipping.

When I received the chain straps I was pleased and surprised by the packaging because they were in separate Coach gift boxes wrapped with bows. As a bonus the chain straps were each inside small, 1941 Coach dustbags that work very well with some of my smaller bags - like my recent find of a red Poppy Occasion Sequin Pouch 14368 that I got at the Goodwill for only $15, see pics below.

There was no extra charge and I thoroughly enjoyed unwrapping those plain, chain-link straps and finding the small dustbags inside!

View attachment 4724491

View attachment 4724492

I'm debating getting a Dinky strap too. Do you find the gold to be a good match with vintage brass?

 

[katev]

I'm debating getting a Dinky strap too. Do you find the gold to be a good match with vintage brass?

I think it depends on the bag. As an example I've put the gold Dinky chain strap on a black Court Bag that needs rehabbing. This bag has the original leather strap but if it was missing the strap I think that the Dinky might work - after I clean the shine the bag and polish the hardware. The gold colors are slightly different but not incompatible and I like knowing that it is a genuine, good quality Coach strap.

But I think that the small clips on the Dinky straps wouldn't work as well with a bag like a Willis that has the large D-ring connectors, it would be a tight fit.

Here is a tarnished, dirty black Court with a shiny Dinky gold chain strap:






The Italian Vintage Coach bags have burnished hardware which are very difficult to match. I looked for years to replace the missing strap on my Beechnut Gracie bag but I was unsuccessful. I finally decided to use the thinner, lighter-weight, slightly shorter gold chain strap that they sell on CoachOutlet.com as a replacement. It is not a perfect match but I am very pleased with the way they look together, see below:

 

[MaraudingMagpie]

I think it depends on the bag. As an example I've put the gold Dinky chain strap on a black Court Bag that needs rehabbing. This bag has the original leather strap but if it was missing the strap I think that the Dinky might work - after I clean the shine the bag and polish the hardware. The gold colors are slightly different but not incompatible and I like knowing that it is a genuine, good quality Coach strap.

But I think that the small clips on the Dinky straps wouldn't work as well with a bag like a Willis that has the large D-ring connectors, it would be a tight fit.

Here is a tarnished, dirty black Court with a shiny Dinky gold chain strap:
View attachment 4724525

View attachment 4724526

View attachment 4724527

The Italian Vintage Coach bags have burnished hardware which are very difficult to match. I looked for years to replace the missing strap on my Beechnut Gracie bag but I was unsuccessful. I finally decided to use the thinner, lighter, shorter gold chain strap that they sell at the CoachOutlet.com as a replacement. It is not a perfect match but I am very pleased with the way they look together, see below:

View attachment 4724528

Thanks, and very nice! They do look great together.

 

[artax two]

They used to sell replacement straps for classic bags like the Willis, Station Bag, and Court but they've stopped doing that. I once bought one during a PCE sale and I remember that it was still kind of expensive - but it was authentic and correct for the bag.

Now Coach only offers novelty straps and chain straps on their web site; at least that's all that I've seen lately.

The last time I contacted Coach asking specifically for color information on a specific vintage style and inquired about any leftover vintage straps that they may have that I could buy for that style was unhelpful. They replied to my email by sending me a link to their website where someone had entered "strap" into the search bar and displayed the results.

 

[aerinha]

I think it depends on the bag. As an example I've put the gold Dinky chain strap on a black Court Bag that needs rehabbing. This bag has the original leather strap but if it was missing the strap I think that the Dinky might work - after I clean the shine the bag and polish the hardware. The gold colors are slightly different but not incompatible and I like knowing that it is a genuine, good quality Coach strap.

But I think that the small clips on the Dinky straps wouldn't work as well with a bag like a Willis that has the large D-ring connectors, it would be a tight fit.

Here is a tarnished, dirty black Court with a shiny Dinky gold chain strap:
View attachment 4724525

View attachment 4724526

View attachment 4724527

The Italian Vintage Coach bags have burnished hardware which are very difficult to match. I looked for years to replace the missing strap on my Beechnut Gracie bag but I was unsuccessful. I finally decided to use the thinner, lighter, shorter gold chain strap that they sell at the CoachOutlet.com as a replacement. It is not a perfect match but I am very pleased with the way they look together, see below:

View attachment 4724528

They work well together. I asked because I found a strapless Regina and wasn’t sure if it was worth getting it and sourcing a strap somewhere or not,

 

[MrsGAM]

They work well together. I asked because I found a strapless Regina and wasn’t sure if it was worth getting it and sourcing a strap somewhere or not,

I have two strapless Reginas! I ended up finding a thin vintage mahogany leather Coach strap on eBay for my mahogany Regina (and mahogany station bag that came sans strap) - it's not the original strap, more like a Lunch Box Zip strap, but I like it - and I bought one of these gold dinky straps for my red Regina. I also use the dinky strap for my Casinos (only my green Casino came with a strap).

 

[katev]

They work well together. I asked because I found a strapless Regina and wasn’t sure if it was worth getting it and sourcing a strap somewhere or not,

The Dinky straps are rather long at 48 inches, not bad crossbody but long for a shoulder bag, but I believe that the original Regina Bag had a long leather strap. On some bags it is easy to shorten the length of the chain strap as shown on the Fern Suede Fringe Dinky bag in the picture below.

The lighter-weight, thinner, less-expensive outlet version of the gold chain strap that I used on Gracie in the post above is a little shorter (46 inches) but still a long strap.

I thought that the smaller, lighter chain was a good choice for Gracie because it is such a small bag and also because I had to thread the chain through the loops under the flap, see pic below.

ETA: I just weighed the gold Dinky strap and it is 7.3 oz so a little less than half a pound.

 

[katev]

The Dinky straps are rather long at 48 inches, not bad crossbody but long for a shoulder bag, but I believe that the original Regina Bag had a long leather strap. On some bags it is easy to shorten the length of the chain strap as shown on the Fern Suede Fringe Dinky bag in the picture below.

The lighter-weight, thinner, less-expensive outlet version of the gold chain strap that I used on Gracie in the post above is a little shorter (45.5 inches) but still a long strap.

I thought that the smaller, lighter chain was a good choice for Gracie because it is such a small bag and also because I had to thread the chain through the loops under the flap, see pic below.

ETA: I just weighed the gold Dinky strap and it is 7.3 oz so a little less than half a pound.

View attachment 4724568

View attachment 4724584

One thing that I found a little surprising about the Dinky chain straps is that they don't have any Coach branding that I can see. After you remove the paper tag that comes with them there is no identification that this is a genuine Coach strap, but it is clearly a well-made, quality product that is consistent with other Coach hardware.

The lighter-weight version of the chain strap that I got at the outlet for only $15 has a small, metal Coach hangtag attached (see the under flap Gracie picture above) so it is clearly identifiable as a Coach product. I wonder why they didn't do the same thing on the more expensive Dinky version, or at least stamp the Coach name on it somewhere (or did I miss something?)

 

[Hyacinth]

Thank you! I also love the color. I have avoided the light-colored Italian Coach bags ever since I rehabbed a Madison Copley with a matching wallet in Butter. They turned out okay but a little disappointing because I couldn't get them quite as clean as desired, but this bag looked so pristine in the auction pictures that I decided to give it a chance - and I'm glad that I did.

I had fun devising a "life history scenario" for this bag but I need to make a correction because my math doesn't add up. The bag was made in late 1998 so it is going on 22 years old. I think it spent the first 6 or 7 years boxed up in a storeroom in Italy, spent a short time in a Coach Warehouse in the US before being shipped to an Outlet, and the next 14 or 15 years carefully stored in a private closet somewhere in the US. The online vendor that sold the bag got it next and she is located in Tennessee, and now the bag resides in my home in Illinois. So it has done a lot of travelling but I am glad that it finally came out of hiding and I was lucky enough to find it.



Unfortunately nobody's getting married or having parties for awhile thanks to this quarantine, but I agree that this bag would be a great accessory for a wedding. In fact, I was thinking that if the woman that owned it ever carried it - she probably carried it only once for a special occasion, like a wedding!





Yes, a fancy Italian sports car! I was delighted when I called Coach Customer Service and the Associate said that they did have a 7000 style bag in their computer and it was called the "Gramercy Clutch"!

The Gramercy 7000 fills in a missing link, too! My first Gramercy was the 7001 Gramercy Zip (see pic below) and that seemed to start the series, but In researching this bag I found this intriguing entry from Hyacinth in 2015 see below. She was asked to look at a bag on eBay that may have been a Gramercy Pilot or Sample bag.

Hyacinth said "...None of the sequential Gramercy style numbers seem to be unaccounted for, with one possible exception, I have photos of all of them unless there was a style number 7000. If there WAS a style 7000, all bets are off and the bag may be genuine. Or if it was a preproduction pilot bag it might not even have had an official style number..."

Well now we know that there was a Gramercy 7000, but it doesn't look anything like the bag she was trying to authenticate. I wish a picture of that mystery bag had survived, it may well have been a pilot bag made while the designers worked to create the new line.


The Gramercy Zip 7001 was thought to be the first bag in the series, but now we know that the first version of the Gramercy Clutch was the initial 7000 bag.

View attachment 4724377

The name "Gramercy Clutch" is still officially listed on the June 4, 2000 Wayback Machine as style number 7007, with some different details. So if the 7000 is the original Gramercy Clutch, it may have been discontinued by the time the 7007 was introduced. Since construction details had been changed rather than just cosmetic details, Coach would have assigned it a different style number.
http://web.archive.org/web/20000604...hop/product.asp?product_no=1107&category_id=4

Here's another mystery Gramercy, and the details from my files. There's no room in the serial number sequence for it:
"700? - POSS. Gramercy Pilot? Top Handle with no serial #,
Has right creed, detachable strap, brass feet, Coach stamp on squared strap rings, etc. 11x10x2.5, 19" str drop, dowel style similar to Willis".
Click on the thumbnails.



ETA - this is the bag that was discussed a few years ago here:
https://forum.purseblog.com/threads...post-for-format.889527/page-661#post-29262764
Since style number 7000 is now accounted for, I'm thinking that this might definitely have been a sample or pilot bag that never made it to production.