I have been cleaning a lot of vintage pieces so I am very familiar with the zipper and hardware of these bags.
BUT I had encountered something new.
I bought a piece that had the date code 861 (no letters) which meant that it was made in 1986 January.
I started to clean the zipper and I notice a few things that started to freak me out.
* First of all the colour of the zipper was different.
It was a pinky copper color, as opposed to the normal gold brass colour.
* Second, the shape of the zipper teeth were different!
* The back of each zipper had "Swiss Made" on the backside of it
* the front zipper pull was silver, not gold
WHAT IS GOING ON!?
Did I just purchase a counterfeit?
I have seen so many vintage pieces and no way this was counterfeit. The canvas and leather was perfect, the colour of the stitching was perfect, the stamping inside the bag was as it was supposed to be. Then WHAT??
I went on a hunt for other Louis Vuitton Marly Dragonne clutches to see if they had
the same shape teeth for their zipper, the same tarnishing (almost black) or pinky tone to their zipper.
I saw two different listings consistent with my piece.
Both listings were on Tradesy;
1.
https://www.tradesy.com/i/louis-vuitton-marly-dragonne-gm-monogram-brown-coated-canvas-wristlet/25516743/
2.
https://www.tradesy.com/i/louis-vuitton-monogram-strap-marly-dragonne-clutch-brown-21837614/21837614/
These listings are consistent with my piece in the colour of the tarnishing, the serial number format, the colour of the front zipper being silver, the shape of the zipper teeth, the way that the endings of the largest zipper locks.
Although it is impossible to know if the main zipper is pink (they would have to clean it for me to know) and if the inner zipper part says "Swiss made", I am confident this is a genuine Louis vuitton item and not a counterfeit.
:)
Happy rehab everyone!
