Provenance
Buying a pre-owned Hermes piece is not like buying a new one. There is no receipt from a boutique. What you have instead is the object itself and everything encoded in it. Our job is to read that object thoroughly and tell you exactly what it says before you commit to a purchase.
Every bag we carry is sourced directly from a private seller or estate. We do not purchase from grey-market wholesalers, aggregators, or consignment warehouses. This matters because the chain of custody is part of what we are selling. We need to know the history of a piece to document it honestly, and that requires sourcing directly from the people who owned it.
Many pieces come with original purchase documentation, dust bags, box, and clochette. Where these exist, they are included. Where they do not, we say so clearly rather than leaving the question open.
Every Hermes bag produced since 1945 carries a blind stamp, a small embossed mark inside the bag, typically beneath the flap or on an interior strap. This stamp encodes two pieces of information: the production year represented by a letter, and the atelier where the bag was made represented by a symbol.
The year letter system runs alphabetically with some letters skipped, and the sequence restarted in 2015 with a circled letter to distinguish new production from older pieces. A Q stamp indicates 2013. A circled C indicates 2017. We decode and document this for every piece so the date of production is a fact, not an estimate.
Counterfeit pieces frequently get the stamp wrong: incorrect letter for the year, wrong placement, inconsistent depth, or a symbol that does not correspond to any known Hermes atelier. These are among the first things we check.
Hermes works with a specific set of leathers, each with distinct grain, weight, and finish characteristics. We identify and record the leather type for every piece we carry.
Togo
Pebbled calf. Scratch-resistant, shape-retaining. The most popular choice for everyday Birkins.
Clemence
Softer and heavier than Togo, with a slightly larger grain and a more relaxed drape.
Epsom
Cross-hatched, structured, lighter than Togo and Clemence. Holds its shape exceptionally well.
Swift
Smooth calf with a fine grain. More susceptible to scratching but with an elegant, refined finish.
Toile H
The woven canvas used on travel pieces and special editions, often combined with leather trim.
Hermes hardware is cast from brass and finished in either 18k gold plating or palladium. The quality of the finish, the depth of the engraving, the weight of the clasp, the smoothness of the turn-lock, is consistent across genuine pieces and inconsistent on fakes. We inspect and photograph every hardware element before listing.
Brushed finishes on runway and special-order pieces are noted separately from standard polished hardware.
Hermes uses a saddle-stitch technique applied entirely by hand. Each stitch is made by passing two needles through the same hole from opposite sides, producing a seam that will not unravel if a single thread breaks. The stitch count per centimetre is consistent throughout on a genuine piece.
On counterfeit pieces, stitching is frequently machine-made, sitting flat on the surface with inconsistent spacing. This is one of the clearest physical tells and one of the first things we examine.
We decline to list it. There is no secondary category, no reduced-price option for pieces we cannot fully document. If we cannot establish the provenance of a piece to our own standard, it does not appear on the site. This is not a commercial decision. It is the only approach that makes what we do worth doing.
Questions about a specific piece? We will walk you through the documentation.
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