A Little Knowledge Can Be a Distraction

A Little Knowledge can be Distracting

With the huge demand for high end fashion goods, the world of fake leather goods is ever-rising and becoming more difficult to spot in some circumstances. We all know that we can seek help from a fashion blog or a You Tube tutorial clip in comparing a fake product with the real deal but we can fall into the trap of homing in on these and dismissing an item because it fails to have certain markers.

A few years ago, several items of Retro Gucci luggage came in to our auction rooms. The iconic double G and double dot/square monogram is the first pointer we look at and if we resorted to an online tutorial we would have dismissed this luggage as genuine due to one of the dots missing in the iconic pattern. However, in the 1980’s Gucci did bring out a limited-edition line of a double G and single dot/square slightly smaller than the usual monogram print we recognise and the luggage went on to sell well at auction. In March this year, we sold for £150 a similar Gucci weekend bag. S

Serial numbers and internal labels were not introduced by Gucci until the 1990’s so any bags made before this time would be without one and this is another reason not to dismiss a bag as genuine. The volume of bags that come through the doors helps us to recognise quality and with time we begin to spot a fake from the genuine article without having to look for pointers. If you have any items you would like valued for auction, please contact Sian