Help Authenticate Coach Leather Snake or Python Print Bag

[backtofuture1985]

Can someone help me Authentic this Python or Snake Print Leather Coach Kristin Please? I am Concerned mostly by the Creed number missing and the hand printed mark S. Could that stand for Sample? This is a Beautiful Bag! Thank you Creed with No Number

[labbypaws · Accepted solution]

From what I can tell, it was a sample bag. Coach never meant for them to be resold. I have a sample bag too. I would never sell it. Your bag appears to be authentic but you would have a problem selling it anywhere. Enjoy it. That’s a great bag.

[albertabrightalberta]

Pull the zippered pocket and turn it inside out. See if there's a small white tag/label buried in there.

While I don't see anything that screams fake, at this point, the bag cannot be authenticated.

And if indeed it's a sample or prototype (something we've never been able to prove or confirm), it's never recommended that it be sold because there's no way to prove authenticity.

Again, feel around look inside the pocket for a white label with 2 rows of numbers/letters.

[backtofuture1985]

Okay I just checked and No other label. Thank you for your expertise. 

[albertabrightalberta]

I hate to be a pain but frequently, we'll be told there's no other tag or label and when they check again, they find it.

[fashionclubgurl]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:
I hate to be a pain but frequently, we'll be told there's no other tag or label and when they check again, they find it.

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It depends when it was made, I dont think Coach was using the small hidden white tags with the factory codes until some time in 2014 after they stopped using the serial number stamp on the creeds. The most recent Kristins I can find in my files are a few MFF ones from 2013, but the style in these photos is closer to one thats in the 193xx number range from 2012. A check of my Kristins from the same year doesnt come up with ANY factory code tag on the inside, just the serial number stamp on the creed (sample or no, Im surprised the one being asked about doesnt look like it has a number on the creed.) Any sample for a python-embossed leather Kristin would have been made while Coach was still using serial number stamps on the creeds.

My style 19312 made in 2012  DOES have a small Made In ... tag in the large zipped pocket but thats all.

But like everyone already said, samples without a valid serial number cant be authenticated.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@fashionclubgurl wrote:

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 Any sample for a python-embossed leather Kristin would have been made while Coach was still using serial number stamps on the creeds.

@fashionclubgurl - Would this bag had "finest materials and leather" on the creed if it were python or snake? 

[fashionclubgurl]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

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@fashionclubgurl wrote:

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 Any sample for a python-embossed leather Kristin would have been made while Coach was still using serial number stamps on the creeds.

@fashionclubgurl - Would this bag had "finest materials and leather" on the creed if it were python or snake? 

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Genuine python made for retail sale would always mention "python" on the creed, probably to comply with California law banning its sale. Leather that was simply embossed with a snake, alligator or lizard pattern would just use the "finest materials and leather" creed, at least according to the ones in my file and the embossed-alligator leather Kristins that I own. The purse in the OP is just snakeskin-embossed leather so AFAIK thats what would have been used. And its possible that a sample bag would just have used a generic "one description fits all" stamped creed. But thats just based on my photo files and personal experience.

Heres the creed from the listing for one of my alligator-embossed leather Kristins.

[fashionclubgurl]

Just to throw in another opinion on the purse in the original post, it looks genuine to me too but thats not to be considered an authentication. I havent seen many fake Kristins but the ones Ive seen stick out like a sore thumb and arent even close to the genuine versions although Im sure a faker could make a pretty accurate one if they were willing to spend the time and money.

I sure would like to see some receipts from the factory or company sales where people are buying these "sample bags" though. With all the sample sales all over NYC that we see advertised, the State of New York is going to make sure they get their tax revenue from every single one of them, which means that buyers have to pay standard sales tax and should be given valid receipts for their purchases showing that the company collected the sales tax. I havent seen a receipt for any item, purse or otherwise, from a single Coach "factory sample sale" yet. But I HAVE seen a lot of purses with creeds and serial numbers that make me think "FAKE" instead of "sample". Somewhere out there I think someone is selling fakes with phony or invalid serial numbers and claiming that theyre samples.