I found the bag at an antique store in Prescott, AZ for $15. Apparently, the man who owned the booth had never even heard of the brand and was not aware of it's possible value. The woman at the front counter said it was a good find and couldn't tell right off the bat if it was real or not. So, I bought it. This began my research into how to authenticate a Louis Vuitton. During my search I found these 11 main points:
1. The pattern is always symmetrical. Always. If it's off centered or tilted in any way, it's not the real thing.
2. The LV is never cute off. (Except on shoes....cause they are small) You should always be able to see then entire LV logo. All of them.
3. The stitching is always perfect and even. Any loose threads probably means it's a fake. Any seams that might run back and forth from the seam unevenly are not real.
4. LV uses heavy thick hardware. A lot of the fakes use a smaller lighter weight plastic version.
5. LV has a certain font they use. The O is always like a circle. Some of the fakes, the O in Louis is more of an oval. The font is also very neat and never slanted.
6. LV never includes an authenticity card, so if your bag comes with one....FAKE.
7. The tags are never actually attached to the bag, they are placed inside a pocket.
8. The handles NEVER have plastic wrapped around them. This is a big one. I lot of the replica's will wrap the handles in plastic but LV never does.
9. After wear, the leather parts(handles for example) will darken.
10. Check to see if it's ever been part of a collection. If they never made that style....obviously fake. For example, they came out with a cherry print, however, never put it on the speedy. So if you come across a cherry speedy...fake. Also, they never came out with a bag that has the red LV on it. They put pictures on their website of bags that have it to throw off the replica manufacturers, however, they never actually produced them. So, a red LV is a sure way to determine it's a fake. Click on the link to see the current collections:
http://louisvuitton.com
11. Lastly, LV NEVER has sales, discounts or outlets and there are no approved resellers. So, unless you are buying it second hand, it's not real if you didn't buy it from the actual store at full price.
After review of these 11 points, I have come to the realization that even though at first glance, the bag looks real...it's a fake :( It got every point except #4 and #10. The hardware is a little on the small light side and I can't find it in any collection. I found one similar....but not the same.
I was a little bummed about this discovery, however, I'll still keep it and use it occasionally. For $15 - I can fake it once in a while.
