Thrift find - very old Louis Vuitton backpack or a copy?

Yes, that's a good idea. Go in, say you inherited it from your mother, and inquire about the cost of restoration for your daughter. You may get a (free) answer then.

Debora

 

I should add that... You won't be the first person to try this but it's a better place to start than walking in and asking for an authentication.

Debora

 

Took a quick look at the page, before doing my estate sale, but I'll finish it this afternoon - thank you Debora!

 

Good idea! If not free then it will need a cleaning anyway!
Thank you

 

That sounds good - but I'm wondering why I couldnt go in & just say I got it at an estate sale and I just want to be sure it's real - before giving it to my daughter? (That's a nice touch)

 

There should be a date code hidden somewhere inside. Look that up. I bought a walle that looked awfully good and NIB. It had a code inside..faked. So yes they fake the codes too.

 

I have never purchased a LV second hand, I know if I have had issues with anything from them they look up my purchase history - but that does make sense that they won’t authenticate.

 

These high end designers don't like the idea of their items being sold on the secondary market. Safer to say that you inherited it... from mother or aunt or whomever, and if they ask for a name to look up the purchase history, say that mom or auntie got it as a gift from an admirer or some such.

 

Because they only want to deal with their direct customers and do services for them only. They turn away people who have not purchased direct from them. If you've bought anything in the last 8 or so years, they look up your purchase history even.

 

Thanks all,interesting thread. Personally Iam still between two minds. I have never known much about Louis V items (but relatively I really know a lot more now,so Thanks again) Also interesting question about serial numbers and date codes. Iam also thinking this bag should have a date code (as I understand it)

At first glance my initial first thought was ‘must be fake’ but now the quality and look seems to be very much the same as authentic bags (this is just after looking at several photos for reference) So overall I think if this is a fake then it’s a very good one (and very possibly the bag is authentic)

 

The best way to see if an LV is real is by having the bag in front of us. We can look for clues, stitching, etc. but as someone mentioned screens can make colors appear “off”. I had that bag, and as I said I had returned mine. If I remember correctly it was also on the heavier side. I have seen fakes & held them & have noticed some fakes are lighter in weight. I have many - some very old to some newer. A friend had a fake never full, we compared ours both the larger version. Mine was a different pattern than hers, other than the pattern, mine was a bit heavier. That is one thing that I have noticed with fakes. Same friend had a similar wallet to me, hers a fake that was the LV vinyl traditional pattern most know, mine as well hers again was much lighter in weight. I will say the leather looks good for the original, the stitching color appears as I said wonky, & it could have been repaired previously by a cobbler. I am not sure how far back they can go to look up purchases. I am friendly with my local LV store manager, but I have been a regular of hers for a long time, so I have never had issues going back in with an item.

 

Thank you everyone for trying to help me - i will let you know what happens!
A last question - how long have their backpacks been being made?
Thanka again

 

I took all the newspapers out I had in it to fill it out & I found this. Is this the tag /date code? It's only on 1 side of the leather?
PS - 1st pics are side without letters & numbers - its what you see if you look into bag, but when I looked on the other side i saw the marking!
Thank you

 

Is that it?

 

You can see a detailed site about the date codes here. Yes, this looks like one. Date made appears to be July 2002, made in France. But you should read the site.

 

Thank you!
PS - i thought it was made in '72 from code!

 

The backpack wasn't introduced into the Vuitton line until 1994.

Debora

 

They are sneaky with the first + third numbers = month or week, and second + fourth numbers = year!