So I’ve been collecting Celine (Phoebe Philo era-aka Old Celine) bags for quite awhile now. So I’m not sure why I haven’t put together something like this sooner. Well maybe it’s because I don’t want to proclaim myself the authority (and I’m not). But these are just some tips I want to put out there for you guys who are looking into buying Celine bags used. Also please don’t message me asking to authenticate a Celine for you since like I said I’m no expert (and most of the time I can only really tell when a Celine is authentic or not when I have it in my hands).
1) First a look at the embossed logo. For the most part the letters are slim and neat. The E’s in Celine also should be somewhat unevenly space with the middle bar being ever so slightly closer to the top than the bottom.
2) Depending on the type of bag there’s a serial number either on a tag or embossed directly into the leather. My nano Celine (which I purchased in the Celine store so I know it’s authentic) doesn’t have a serial number. In a bag that I was pretty sure was a fake, the serial number was embossed way away from the seam of the bag. I thought that was unusual since most times trying to get a good pic of the serial number is hard (since it’s usually so close to the seam). The embossed serial number should be close to the seam.
3) Here are some examples of what the “Made in Italy” looks like in my known-to-be-authentic bags. They’re upright and not slanted or italicized, with clean minimal block letters.
4) The zippers on all my Celine bags are leather pull tags, cut at a slant. And the zippers all have an “I” down the center. The zipper on my Celine wallet, isn’t a leather pull but a metal one (which is the one pictured above).
And lastly I can tell a fake Celine mostly by the feel of the leather. It should not feel light or rubbery. And the leather edging should also be smooth and not jaggedy. These are some pictures from a small Big Bag that I’m 99% sure is a fake: the zipper is wrong (and the leather edging around the zipper is wonky), the serial is quite far from the seam, the Made in Italy was slanted, the leather edging was wonky, and the Celine lettering in the front didn’t look right, nor was it really embossed into the leather (it looks like it sits on top of the leather, thus it can easily be rubbed off).
But mostly I just could tell when I had it in my hands that this was not the real deal.
Anyway for those who are looking into getting a pre-owned Celine bag, please be aware that there are fakes out there since it’s such a popular brand. To ensure you get an authentic one, please take a look at my last post with tips for successfully buying a used luxury bag.
And if you’re interested, you can find all my other Celine bag reviews here.
{March 2022 Update: Thank you to everyone who has used my services for authentication and paid me fairly. I appreciate your trust in me and I enjoy the practice I am getting at authenticating. Since I’ve learned a couple more things during this process I thought I would share it with you here:
These are what authentic Celine date codes look like:
Notice how the leather tags for the date codes have squared corners and are a large-ish rectangle. If your date code tag is a skinny rectangle with rounded corners, it’s most likely a fake.
Also, if your Celine comes with removable straps, the strap hardware should be slightly rounded like in the picture below:
fake on the left, authentic on the right; via
Anyway I hope these additional tips help you authenticate your old Celine bag!
{December 2022 Update: As of this time I don’t have the bandwidth to authenticate bags so please do not send me authentication requests. Thanks!}