How to Authenticate a Hermès Birkin or Kelly

A Hermès bag carries several stamps, and each has to be right.

• The Hermès Paris heat stamp – below the turn-lock on the front. The lettering is crisp, evenly spaced and pressed cleanly into the leather, whether blind, gold or silver. Sloppy spacing, thick letters or a stamp that sits on top of the leather are warning signs.
• The year letter and artisan mark – usually on the back of a strap inside the bag. From 2015 the year letter stands alone (A for 2017, D for 2019, B for 2023…); before that it sat inside a shape. The letter must make sense for the leather, colour and hardware of the bag.
• Exotic marks – crocodile, alligator, ostrich and lizard bags carry an extra symbol beside the heat stamp that identifies the skin.

Hermès bags are saddle-stitched by hand with two needles and a single waxed linen thread, which creates stitches that sit at a slight, consistent angle. Machine stitching is perfectly straight and identical; hand stitching is even but alive. Look closely at the handles, the sides of the flap and the strap ends.

Thread colour matters too: it should be consistent with the bag's colour combination and the house's usual choices for that leather.

• Engravings – "Hermès" and "Paris" engravings on the turn-lock, padlock and hardware should be fine, clean and correctly spaced, with no fuzzy edges.
• Weight and finish – genuine hardware is solid and heavy for its size, with an even plating and no bubbling or flaking.
• Lock and keys – the padlock has a number stamped on its underside that matches the number on the keys. The keys sit in the leather clochette.
• Feet – four metal feet on the base, matching the rest of the hardware.

Hermès leathers each have a distinctive grain: Togo's soft, irregular pebble; Epsom's fine, regular emboss; Box calf's glassy shine. A bag described as Togo that has a flat, uniform grain is a problem. The edges (tranches) are painted and polished smoothly, and the bag stands with even, balanced proportions.

Genuine leather smells of leather. A chemical or glue smell, or a plastic feel to the surface, deserves a closer look.

An orange box, dust bag, rain cover and receipt add confidence and value, but they are also the easiest things to fake. Treat them as supporting evidence: they should match the bag, but they never prove it on their own. A receipt can be checked for consistency with the store, date and model.

The best replicas get most individual details close. What gives them away is inconsistency – a date letter from one year with hardware from another, a leather that wasn't offered in that colour, stitching tension that changes along a seam. Spotting those takes thousands of bags of experience.

That is why every Hermès piece on Montévane is examined by our specialists before it is listed, and why we offer a full refund if a piece ever fails a third-party check. Read more about our authenticity guarantee, or send us photos of a bag you are considering and we will tell you what we see.