Louis Vuitton Guides

How to spot a fake

Vintage & French Co.

Louis Vuitton Vernis

Louis Vuitton Mulitcolore

Louis Vuitton Epi

Louis Vuitton Date Codes

Chanel Guides

Serials & Holograms

Logos & Patches

Hardware & Tags

CC Logo Stitching & Hardware

 

Background:

There are a few general rules about the CC’s. First, the right-hand C should cross over the left-hand C at the top of the logo.  When looking at the top portion of CC logos, just remember “right is right”—get it, like right side is correct.  This right-side-on-top rule has a couple, very rare exceptions in a few short-lived vintage productions, but the right side rule applies to all modern bags and all standard styles of vintage Chanel.

 

Another thing to look for is the width of the C’s.  The width of the C should be about the same size as the space between the two C’s at the center, as in all 3 below.

 

 

Metal Chanel CC Logo's can either have a small engraved mark on the top of the left C, or nothing at all, depending on the type of metal.   

Silver hardware CC's, for example should NOT have a stamp on the exterior CC, while most of of the gold CC (such as tortoise shell) hardware will. Non-Metal CC logos will also not have any engraving on the tip of the C.

 

 

Fake CC logos

 

The C’s are much thinner than the white space between the interlocking      

Top Right C should go over the Left C

The C’s are too tall

 

Tags

 

Authentic Chanel bags, when new, will have tall, white tags.  These tags can be from Chanel or a Department store.

Chanel tags will never be made of metal or leather. Authentic Tags will look like the two below.  The top right of the tag will have 2 numbers followed by a letter. The numbers are the year and the letter is for the season.

 

 

They use the following letters for seasons:

A=   Autumn

C=   Cruise (late Oct, early Nov)

P=   Spring (Spring is “Printemps” in French)

The numbers that follow the year/season are the style numbers. You can call the Chanel 800 number to find details about the style of bag with this number.

Matching this code with the serial number is another way to verify authenticity.  For example the tag above indicates it is from 2005, Autumn.  This bag’s serial number begins with a10, which indicates that it should be from 2005 or 2006 – so it all checks out. 

 

Booklets & Paperwork

 

Booklets that come with Chanel bags made from the 5 series on to the present should be folded in an accordion style rather than a traditional booklet.


6-Series to Present: Authentic booklets

 

0-5 Series: Authentic Booklets
5 Series or before have glossy booklets with tradition book style bindings.  BEWARE, these kinds of booklets are common with fake bags that are more recent than the 5 series.

 

 

Twist-lock Back Plates

 

Many Chanel bags will have a twist lock closure. The back plate of this lock will always have “CHANEL” engraved on the top, and “PARIS” engraved on the bottom.  The back plate can be rectangular or oval.   The color of the plate will match the color of the hardware (silver, gold, pewter, tortoise….).


The screws on these back plates will be a regular head screw**, not a Phillips head (which has the + cross shaped head).  Below are examples of authentic back plates.
**There is one exception to the no-Phillips head rule.  Some bags have a twist-lock closure that is made of a non-metal material such as tortoise shell.  These non-metal twist lock back plates can have a Phillips screw head.   Below is one such exception to the rule.

 

 

Fake Back Plate

 

Phillips Screws (should be flat head with traditional metal plate)

 

Other Hardware  

 

We mentioned earlier that you will never see “CHANEL – Made in Paris”.  This is generally true, but on some hardware, you will see “CHANEL  PARIS” (but not 'made in').  This is usually on eyelets, the backs of twist locks, backs of metal snaps, etc.  They may also only say “CHANEL” without the Paris part.  Below are examples of each one.


(view recent examples)