I was super excited this morning to receive this in my inbox!! I love vintage Chanel and its always quite a task to make sure the bag is authentic. Always make sure when you are thinking of purchasing a vintage Chanel that you do get it authenticated and that it is from a reputable seller. Inside a Chanel bag you will find a serial sticker which should match the authentication card (assuming all is intact). Those no.s are not just random numbers but they can give you an indication what circa your bag is from. The email I got from the fabulous Vintage Designer Handbags shows you how YOU can identify the circa of the bag.
xoxo
Chanel
Authentic Chanel handbags from the mid 1980s on come with authenticity cards embossed with a serial number (pictured on right). The serial number matches the serial number appearing on a sticker placed somewhere within the handbag’s interior lining. The serial number sticker has Chanel logos and was protected by a clear tape with hologram security feature from approximately 2000-on. The sticker, Chanel logo, and hologram design varied with the manufacturing date:
| Serial Number | Year Manufactured | Style of Numbers | Style of Serial Number Sticker | Picture of Serial Number Sticker |
| 13XXXXXX | 2009 to 2010 | 0′s have strikethroughs. 1′s have small serifs (feet). | Eight digit serial number printed on white sticker covered with clear tape with two Chanel logos.”X” cut-lines prevent sticker from being removed without damage. “CHANEL” appears on right right side of the sticker. Dark line appears on left side of sticker. Gold speckles appear throughout sticker. |  |
| 12XXXXXX | 2008 to 2009 | 0′s have strikethroughs. 1′s have small serifs (feet). | Eight digit serial number printed on white sticker covered with clear tape with two Chanel logos.”X” cut-lines prevent sticker from being removed without damage. “CHANEL” appears on right right side of the sticker. Dark line appears on left side of sticker. Gold speckles appear throughout sticker. |  |
| 11XXXXXX | 2006 to 2008 | 0′s have strikethroughs. 1′s have small serifs (feet). | Eight digit serial number printed on white sticker covered with clear tape with two Chanel logos.”X” cut-lines prevent sticker from being removed without damage. “CHANEL” appears on right right side of the sticker. Dark line appears on left side of sticker. Gold speckles appear throughout sticker. |  |
| 10XXXXXX | 2005 to 2006 | 0′s have strikethroughs. 1′s have small serifs (feet). | Eight digit serial number printed on white sticker covered with clear tape with two Chanel logos.”X” cut-lines prevent sticker from being removed without damage. “CHANEL” appears on right right side of the sticker. Dark line appears on left side of sticker. Gold speckles appear throughout sticker. |  |
| 9XXXXXX | 2004 to 2005 | 0′s have strikethroughs. 1′s have small serifs (feet). | Seven digit serial number printed on white sticker covered with clear tape with two Chanel logos.”X” cut-lines prevent sticker from being removed without damage. “CHANEL” appears on right right side of the sticker. Dark line appears on left side of sticker. Gold speckles appear throughout sticker. |  |
| 8XXXXXX | 2003 to 2004 | 0′s have strikethroughs. 1′s have small serifs (feet). | Seven digit serial number printed on white sticker covered with clear tape with two Chanel logos.”X” cut-lines prevent sticker from being removed without damage. “CHANEL” appears on right right side of the sticker. Dark line appears on left side of sticker. Gold speckles appear throughout sticker. |  |
| 7XXXXXX | 2002 to 2003 | 0′s have strikethroughs. 1′s have small serifs (feet). | Seven digit serial number printed on white sticker covered with clear tape with two Chanel logos.”X” cut-lines prevent sticker from being removed without damage. “CHANEL” appears on right right side of the sticker. Dark line appears on left side of sticker. Gold speckles appear throughout sticker. |  |
| 6XXXXXX | 2000 to 2002 | 0′s have strikethroughs. 1′s have small serifs (feet). | Seven digit serial number printed on white sticker covered with clear tape with two Chanel logos.”X” cut-lines prevent sticker from being removed without damage. “CHANEL” appears on right right side of the sticker. Dark line appears on left side of sticker. Gold speckles appear throughout sticker. |  |
| 5XXXXXX | 1997 to 1999 | 0′s have strikethroughs up to 51XXXXX. 0′s have no strikethroughs from 52XXXXX to 56XXXXX. 0′s have strikethroughs from 57XXXXX on. 1′s have small serifs (feet) from 57XXXXX on. |
Seven digit serial number printed on white sticker covered with clear tape with two Chanel logos from 57XXXXX on.”X” cut-lines prevent sticker from being removed without damage. “CHANEL” appears on right right side of the sticker. Dark line appears on left side of sticker. Gold speckles appear throughout sticker. |  |
| 4XXXXXX | 1996 to 1997 | 0′s have strikethroughs. 1′s are sans-serifs (no feet). | Seven digit serial number printed on white sticker with Chanel logos. Opaque film covers sticker. |  |
| 3XXXXXX | 1994 to 1996 | 0′s have strikethroughs. 1′s are sans-serifs (no feet). | Seven digit serial number printed on white sticker with Chanel logos. Opaque film covers sticker. |  |
| 2XXXXXX | 1991 to 1994 | 0′s have no strikethroughs up to 27XXXXXX. 1′s are sans-serifs (no feet). | Seven digit serial number printed on white sticker with Chanel logos. Opaque film covers sticker. |  |
| 1XXXXXX | 1989 to 1991 | 0′s have no strikethroughs. 1′s have serifs (feet). | Seven digit serial number printed on white sticker with Chanel logos and left-sided cutout. Opaque film covers sticker. |  |
| 0XXXXXX | 1986 to 1988 | 0′s have no strikethroughs. 1′s have serifs (feet). | Seven digit serial number printed on white sticker with Chanel logos and left-sided cutout. Opaque film covers sticker. |
Note that over time, serial number stickers often become detached from handbags. Authentication cards also often become lost. Therefore, Chanel handbags missing these items may still be authentic.
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17 comments
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November 8, 2011 at 9:13 am
chantou
i bought a chanel bag 2.55 with serial number 13623001 everything look correct accept the flap of the bag the diamond dont seem to line up is, have i got the authentic or fake?many thanks
December 7, 2011 at 8:08 pm
maramostafa
Best thing would be to take it to a CHANEL boutique or go to http://www.purseforum.com the ladies there authenticate bags
January 10, 2012 at 5:25 am
Sue
Can anyone help me I have a vintage Chanel bag that comes with a black and gold booklette. The bag has no serial number at all inside the bag. I did hear somewhere that some older chanel bags do not have numbers insdie the bags. It is quite an old bag I can tell from the style but in my country we do not have a chanel store so I can not take it anywhere to get it authenticated
January 10, 2012 at 10:47 am
maramostafa
Hi, the best thing would be is to visit this site http://forum.purseblog.com/ and go to the authenticate this section and choose the Chanel designer bag category.. The ladies there are experts in authenticating and should be able to help you a lot. You will need to provide them with clear images of the bag.
They list what they require images etc and of what parts to be able to do the authentication, so make sure you have all that info on hand and then ask them. They do this on their own time and get requested to authenticate a lot so it’ll be helpful on your part if you can have it all ready on hand as not to waste any time.
Hope this helps 🙂
January 22, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Karine
What about the little white cc logo on the right side of the authiencity card? On the same side of the card as the numbers. If that little white circle is missing, is it not an authentic bag then? or is the white round cc new? because the bag I`m checking is from early 1990 or so, with a 1XXXXXX serialnumber.
January 22, 2012 at 6:20 pm
maramostafa
the experts are on purseforum.com/ they are the ones I trust when it comes to authenticating.
Hope that helps
October 12, 2012 at 11:14 pm
Angelmah
I buy one Chanel bag but the serial sticker only have 6 digit 298600 is authentic…she say is birth date 1991.
October 15, 2012 at 1:20 am
Monica ho
I’ve got a chanel wallet with series no:15567787, but the wallet was brought 10+ years ago, is it fake?
October 15, 2012 at 11:00 am
maramostafa
Monica and Angelmah the ideal ladies to help you with this would be the fabulous women on the purseforum.com
October 28, 2012 at 9:49 pm
MissMandy
When did Chanel start putting X on stickers? Can recent Chanel that don’t have X on sticker but everything else on sticker look good still be authentic?
February 4, 2013 at 4:30 am
chloe
Hi there,
you mentioned that serial #’s starting with a 2 have ones that are sans-serifs. Does that mean this one is a fake:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281054990579?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
Thanks!
March 1, 2013 at 12:05 pm
servicii seo
Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after reading through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
Anyways, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!
March 2, 2013 at 4:29 pm
maramostafa
Thanks for your lovely comment.. messages like these mean so much 🙂
April 14, 2013 at 6:10 pm
Yoram Levy
My wife has 3 Chanel bags. they seem to be perfect but just to be Sure the Serial Numbers are 13297126, 10218184, 10501946.
There is any recommended site or address for Serial Number authentication
July 24, 2013 at 9:41 am
alynna
hello ,
my friend bought me a chanel earing. but do not know it is authentic
the serial number is 12D A37420 T07824 Z4603
can anyone tell me is it reali?
July 24, 2013 at 11:12 am
maramostafa
hi Alynna, please refer to the link I posted in the blog. Thanks
September 24, 2013 at 5:45 am
Yoram Levy
I buy one Chanel bag but the serial sticker have 8 digit 14310276, how can i Know its authentic