Vintage Louis Vuitton haul ( Moyen Montssouri PM ) and authenticating Louis Vuitton

Hey guys! Here today to share about this really amazing find that I found, it was truly such luck to run into this sale. 

So a week ago I saw this post by a seller selling her Louis Vuitton backpack in the monogram for just $230 (cheapest I've seen is around $350-$450) which was a really good price. I wasn't sure about the size but it was either an MM or PM. Of course, after confirmation and purchase I know it's a PM. I'm also gonna bring you a guide to authenticating Louis Vuitton ( particularly this Montsouris ) because I realise that it's really difficult to find much information regarding this bag. Let's dive right in! 

Thought I'd screenshot the listing for you guys and show you what else she had for sale - a ton of designer goods for sale at really reasonable prices 

And because I don't have the lighting as good as the seller does I thought I'd show you guys the photos I screenshotted from our conversation instead for the bag. 

Front 

Back

The brass buckles are slightly oxidised 

Suede interior

Here's the date code! 

Authentication 

1. Date code should be present.

So to clarify with you guys, her listing isn't correct regarding the year of the bag. It's not from 2005, but from 1997 - more than 10 years old, a true vintage. This you can tell from the date code - SP shows it's made in France (location), the first and third digits show the month it was made in and the second and fourth digits represent the year. Although it has now been changed to the first and third number representing the week it was made in (so they split the year into weeks). This you can google so as to check what year your LV bag was made in (could help with authenticating). 

2. Check if the leather has patinaed over the years if it's old. 

I'm not sure if you guys know but a normal Louis Vuitton is made out of a leather known as vachetta leather. This means that the leather is left untreated during the manufacturing process, and although it becomes susceptible to water and stains, this also means that it will naturally darken over time with sunlight exposed to it (known as developing a patina). Hence you can tell that the leather in this picture looks really really dark because it's more than 10 years old and definitely has had its fair share of exposure to sunlight. If the bag you buy seems very resistant to water and sunlight and stains you might really want to reconsider the purchase. 

3. Receipts / dustbag

Receipts and dustbags are always a great way to tell whether your item is real or not - however sometimes people do use authentic dustbags and receipts and attach it to a replica so I honestly don't think it's of too much use. 

4. Make sure the interior is properly made and of the correct material.

For the Montsouris, the interior should be suede, so if you feel any fabric-ish texture you know for sure its a fake because they don't have any canvas interiors. Depends from bag to bag, so make sure you do all the proper research 

5. Look at the way to monogram is printed / damier print etc

These bags are really well made so you should be seeing a print that's slanted or has misprintings. You might see an upside down print somewhere (definitely not the front of the bag though) because the bags are normally made by one entire piece of leather.

6. Look at the way it's sewn

All LV bags are hand sewn, so you shouldn't be seeing any machinery work. I'm not exactly super sure about this but it doesn't really apply that much to my Monstouris, although one things is that the thread should be yellow.

7. Brass metal hardware 

All hardware made out of brass will only oxidise and never chip - they fade into a darker gold. Make sure your hardware isn't made out of cheap plastics and if the leather has patinaed, you should expect oxidation too. 

8. Try to arrange for a meet up at a Louis Vuitton so you can go in store and check. 

Although it's against store policy to authenticate bags, you can always just casually ask for the cost for repairing a bag. Louis Vuitton staff will then look into whether your bag is real since they only repair products which are "theirs", and any replicas will be rejected. In my case, I scheduled a meet up to check in store for the cost to repair something and the staff said it was possible after a thorough inspection of the bag and going through the system - so I know it's real. 

And that's all for now! Hope you liked this post :) just to clarify, I did save up my own money to buy this bag and also because I've recently sold a few items so that's how I could afford the bag. The rationale behind it really was that these bags hold their value so much better than your average Kanken or adidas or Nike bags, hence its always a good investment, plus I figured I would be making profit if I sold this since I bought it for so little, hence it was a win-win

Love,

Khione