How to Identify an Authentic Hermès Lindy Bag
The Hermès Lindy bag is one of the key models of the French brand, and although it is not one of the members of the famous Hermès trilogy, it is still a very coveted luxury handbag that can be seen in the luxury resale market. The high demand for this handbag also makes it a target of counterfeits, putting at risk the investment that clients or resellers make by purchasing a Hermès Lindy bag.
In this article, we will guide you on how to identify an authentic Hermès Lindy bag. Spotting counterfeit Lindy bags is essential to ensure your clients receive genuine luxury items. We'll cover the craftsmanship, materials, and unique details that distinguish genuine Hermès creations.
Keep reading to avoid being scammed!
Materials
Just like any other Hermès creation, Lindy handbags are made with exquisite materials, such as high-quality calfskin and exotic skins, aside from brass plated in gold, palladium, and permabrass used for the hardware. These materials are very important when examining the authenticity of a Lindy handbag because most of the bad counterfeits of Lindy bags use deficient materials that are too light, made of plastic, and don’t have the distinctive scent of natural leather.
So when inspecting a Hermès Lindy handbag for authenticity, make sure to check the scent, feel, and weight of the skin, as it should be smooth to the touch and slightly grainy if it is calfskin, and it should have a strong scent of natural skin, it should also be heavy enough since leather tends to be heavier than most materials.
The hardware materials should also be shiny and resistant, they shouldn’t be easy to peel off or show any sign of deep dents. It is necessary that you inspect the Lindy handbag to make sure that all its materials are of quality and reflect the true nature of Hermès crafting.
Remember that sometimes there are counterfeits that are almost identical to the original bags, so you may find perfect materials on a Lindy bag, but it may be fake. To be able to authenticate a Lindy handbag you must check every aspect described in this guide, and not rely only on materials.
Structure
The structure of the Hermès Lindy handbag is perhaps one of its more distinctive and unique features since it is shaped as a rectangular cylinder with two handles at each distant side, instead of at the front and the back. The Lindy also has a strap that connects the two handles, making it a perfect choice for casual wear, and allowing it to be carried on the shoulder or even crossbody in small sizes.
The Lindy handbag should have a very distinctive soft saggy appearance, which means that the top part where the closing flap is should sag slightly, this happens because of the weight of the authentic skin and the positioning of the handles and strap. When being grabbed or carried only by the two handles at each side, an authentic Lindy should sag and bend inwards. Some of the fake Lindy handbags tend to be way too stiff and rigid in the closing flap, and the handles. Pay attention to this key detail to avoid counterfeits.
The closing flap of the Lindy handbag should close at the front with a circular turning closure attached to two closing straps. The closing flap should close with a zipper that matches the hardware of the bag. On each side of the bag, there should be one open pocket to fit small or thin objects, on the inside of the handbag you can also find two equal pockets in the same spots.
Another important key to authenticating the Lindy handbag is the stitches. As in any other Hermès creation, the atelier uses very distinctive diagonal stitches made with the saddle stitching method, ensuring a resistant structure for its bags, so they can resist the passage of time. While examining a Lindy, make sure to check the stitches throughout the bag, they must be consistent, diagonal, and expertly made, if they are loose, or way too straight as made with a sewing machine, the bag is a fake.
Interior
The interior of an authentic Hermès Lindy handbag is quite simple, it is usually lined with soft lambskin at the bottom on handbags made of calfskin. On the other hand, bags made with exotic materials have their interior completely lined with lambskin. The lining should always be exactly the same color as the rest of the bag, except when it is a Lindy verso, that combines two colors, one on the outside and one on the inside.
In terms of storage, the Lindy bag has a spacious interior with a semi-sturdy structure. On the inside, the handbag must have two open pockets, one at the right panel, and one at the left panel. The Lindy bag doesn’t have pockets on the front or back panels. Be alert to these characteristics.
Sizes
The Hermès Lindy handbag comes in 4 specific sizes, to measure the size of any Hermès bag you should measure the centimeters of the base, and they should correspond to the size. The Lindy comes in sizes 20, 26, 30, and 34. Each one of the sizes is fit for different occasions and depends on the type of wear that the owner wants to give them. The Lindy size 20 is also known as Mini Lindy.
Hardware
The hardware of the Hermès Lindy bag is located in many parts of the bag. The most distinctive piece of hardware is the turning closure that closes the flap, the closure should be circular and rotate perfectly without getting stuck. There are also two plaques on each strap that secure the turning closure, these plaques should be round and fixed by perfectly rounded studs. It must be noted that these studs must not be placed on top of the seams, but without touching the structure.
Another important hardware piece is the zipper that closes the flap, this zipper should finish with an “H” shaped stop, it should be perfectly defined, not too thick, not too thin. The mechanisms to open the zipper also contain a hardware ring that attaches to the strap where the plaques are located.
Finally, the bottom studs are a very important piece of hardware, these studs are designed to give stability to the Lindy while being placed on a surface. An authentic Lindy bag must have 5 bottom studs, one at each corner and one in the middle. The studs should be perfectly round and with a clean finish. Hermès bottom studs are hammered in, while the counterfeit ones are screwed in. Look out for this detail!
It must be noted that every piece of hardware present on the Lindy handbag must be of the same material throughout the bag. This means that if the bag has gold-plated hardware, it should be gold-plated in every single piece of metal. If a Lindy has different types of plating on its hardware, it is clearly a fake.
Metal engraving
As with any other Hermès product, the Lindy handbag has some metal engravings that work as an indicator of the brand, but also as a way to distinguish authentic bags. There are some of these engravings that you should pay attention to, as in some bad counterfeits there are not present.
One of the most important metal engravings is the one in the rounded turning closure, this one features the words: “Hermès - Paris” as in the famous Hermès button logo, with two rings encasing the letters and two diamond shapes at each side, to make sure you’re dealing with an authentic Lindy, check the font of the engraving, the original should have rounded “Rs” instead of ones pointing the right leg to a side. The plaques of each closing strap also have a metal engraving with the words “Hermès - Paris”.
Another important detail to consider is the zippers of the Lindy bags, they are “riri zippers” which means that they should have a small metal engraving with the word “riri” at the bottom of the closing mechanism. Look out for this small detail, as many fakes don’t use these types of zippers.
Strap
The strap of the Hermès Lindy bag is a very important part of the structure of the bag, as it allows it to be worn comfortably on the shoulder. The Lindy strap is rather short in comparison with the Constance and Kelly straps, and it has a characteristic way in which it is attached to the bag. The Lindy strap is connected by two additional pieces of leather that are folded in two and then sewn into the main strap, these leather hoops are then folded around the handles.
When examining the authenticity of the Hermès Lindy bag, make sure to check these details, as in some bad counterfeits they may apply metal hoops or any other way to attach the strap to the bag. You should also know that the strap of this bag is not detachable as in the case of the Kelly, so if you see a detachable Lindy strap, it is a fake bag. Keep in mind that the strap is not adjustable.
Hermès date stamps are perhaps one of the best ways to authenticate a handbag, as they indicate the year of manufacture of the bag, followed by the number of the artisans or Hermès workshop in which the handbag was made. These letters vary greatly depending on the years because Hermès has used specific letters for specific years since 1945, also adding circles or squares to encase them.
In the case of the Lindy, which was introduced in 2007, from that year to 2014 the bags had letters inside squares as date stamps, from 2015 to the present day, they only have letters without shapes. Check out the chart of Hermès date stamps.
The placing of the date stamps is another important element when authenticating any Hermès handbag. The stamps of the Lindy size 26 to bigger sizes are located on the inner side of the right closing strap, while the stamp of the Mini Lindy or size 20 is located on the inside of the handbag.
Prints
The prints are a key element used by Hermès to indicate their brand on their products, but they also work as an authentication method. Hermès handbags usually have a characteristic print that reads: “Hermès - Paris - Made in France”, in the case of the Lindy bag this print is present under the closing flap, just on top of the turning closure, a few millimeters under the top seams.
This characteristic print has a very specific font, not too bold and not too thin, it should also not be too large. Pay attention to the edges and definition, an authentic Lindy bag has a full and strong marking of the print, so it shouldn’t be faint.
Another important thing you must consider is the color of the print, as it should be exactly the same color as the hardware of the bag. So if the Lindy has gold-plated hardware, the print should be golden, and if it has palladium hardware, it should be silver.
Special symbols
Special symbols are certain identifications that Hermès prints on its bags to identify specific features in them. These symbols can be dots, carets, squares, dashes, etc. They usually represent the exotic materials present on a Hermès bag, allowing the experts and the resellers to know that the exotic skins are authentic.
Each type of exotic skin is defined by a special symbol, and these markings are added to any Hermès handbag made of unusual skins, so if your Lindy bag has these types of skins, be sure to look for the special symbol.
The special symbols are placed exactly on the right side of the main Hermès print, and they should be of the same color as the print and hardware. Learn more about the meaning of each special symbol.
Packaging
Hermès packaging is very meticulous and of high quality, Lindy handbags must come inside a dust bag made of a wide and dense material of beige color with a dark brown logo. The logo on the dustbag must have double lines in the circle and the line under the horse carriage, most of the counterfeits display a faulty logo on the dustbag. The drawstring of the dust bag is made of cotton and it must be dark brown.
The Hermès classic orange box is very characteristic, made of high-quality materials. The logo on the box is not excessively big, it measures only 2.3 centimeters, fake boxes tend to have big logos. The box should also be big enough to fit the Lindy bag comfortably, it shouldn’t be too small.
For verifying the authenticity of the box, you can employ the UV light test. Simply shine a UV flashlight onto the box's surface, and you should observe multiple Hermès logos appearing in invisible ink. Please note that the visibility of the logos might differ across various boxes.
Invoice
Definitely, the official Hermès invoice is the ideal element to verify the authenticity of a Lindy bag, since this document contains all the details regarding model, color, skin, hardware, and date code specific to the handbag. By contrasting the information on the invoice with the handbag itself, you can tell if it corresponds to it, therefore, it indicates that the Lindy was purchased in an official Hermès store and it is completely authentic.
Another important addition to the authentication documents is the payment ticket of the purchase, this one details the date, time, and price, and if it is compared to the official invoice and the handbag, you can be 100% sure that it is exactly the Lindy that was purchased.
In the luxury resale market, you don’t always get the chance to obtain all of these elements to prove the authenticity of the bags you purchase, but you can stay alert and don’t buy from resellers that don’t offer these elements, that way you can avoid purchasing counterfeits or stolen handbags.
So, do you know how to identify an authentic Hermès Lindy bag?
We hope we have helped you obtain greater information to make secure and informed purchases, to provide a better service for your clients, and always give them authentic products that they can enjoy for the years to come.
For more guides and information about Hermès handbags, browse our blog for Hermès resellers.
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