How to get the most for your pre-owned handbag.

We are frequently asked how a Seller can get the most cash for a pre-owned bag. Since this is our business, we thought we would offer a few key tips.


For the highest possible selling price for your handbag, have as many of these items available as possible. Keep this in mind with each and every bag your purchase!

Original Receipt with a description of the history of ownership
Original Price Tag
Original Dust Bag, and Box
Original Accessories and Hardware (ie. Shoulder strap, keys)
Manufacturers Authenticity Card (if applicable)
Intact Serial Number or Hologram (if applicable)

Having these items can make a significant difference in the price that you will be offered for your item.


You may consider sending your bag to the “spa” before selling though this is not necessary. A spa treatment can be advantageous if you do not have any of the above to support authenticity. Manufacturers will only accept authentic bags for spa treatment. Remember to keep your receipt if you do spa your bag! Spa-ing is relatively inexpensive and can offer a good return on your investment ( approx.$125-200). A word to the wise, DO NOT have your bag treated or refurbished by anyone other than the manufacturer as this will actually reduce the value of your bag. Hermes and Chanel, for example, will not accept a bag for spa that has been treated by anyone other than their own craftsman. If you need additional information on taking your bag for a spa treatment, feel free to contact us for advice @ info@clochettehandbags.com

What is my Hermes or Chanel handbag worth?

This is one of our most frequently asked questions and we certainly understand your curiosity. It is a full time job keeping up with the ever changing values of these bags!

If you email us with information about your Hermes or Chanel handbag, we will do our best to provide you with what we believe to be the value of your bag.

The more information, the better.and of course photos are a great help in determining a proper value. If you don't have them, don't worry. Provide us with what you can, ie:

Brand: Hermes or Chanel

Style: Hermes, ie. Birkin, Kelly, Constance, Chanel, ie: 2.55 Flap , Executive Tote

Leather Color and Type,Hermes, ie: Togo, Clemence, Barenia, Swift etc. Chanel, ie: lambskin, caviar or fabric

Size: Hermes, ie 35cm, 30cm, 23cm or Chanel- 226, 227, large tote etc.

Age of the bag: With most of the Hermes bags, there will be a stamp with a circle or square and a letter within. For Chanel, it will be the serial number, located on the sticker inside of the bag.

Condition: List your opinion on a 1/10 scale and the particulars of any damage. Also, are dust bags, boxes etc. available?

Provenance: From where did you get the bag?

Of course, unless your photos lead us to believe otherwise, all bags will be assumed to be authentic and values will be based on this assumption. Please keep in mind that the values we offer will be our opinion only.

We look forward to hearing from you!
info@clochettehandbags.com
or call us at:
(703) 254-0440

www.hermes-chanel.com

Enduring, classic style.

There is an article in today's Womens Wear Daily that is entitled "Fashion Brand Play Up Heritage". Below is an excerpt form that article. If you are a lover of Hermes and classic Chanel, you already understand the value ofenduring, classic style. I ask, who needs another trendy bag for a season. I'd rather have a classic that will last me a lifetime.

From WWD 5/13/2010
"Origin myths, legacy stories, reverence for founding dates, forefathers and artifacts. It sounds like a trip to the American Museum of Natural History — or perhaps your local men’s boutique.

Driven by consumers that have developed a taste for iconic, classic apparel, heritage has become hip, turning the fashion truism — that everything old is new again — on its head. These days, everything new looks kind of old.

Experts cite multiple reasons for this current backward glance. Economic insecurity has fueled nostalgia for more stable eras. Marketing-saturated consumers are eager for products that feel authentic and evoke a simpler time. More general consumer trends for transparency favor brands with backstories. But whatever the forces, heritage — which only a few years ago was relegated to dry corporate time lines and dusty archives — is now front and center of many company strategies."

Hermes Crocodile Birkin and Victoria's seamless style.

Is there any bag that is more heirloom worthy than an Hermes exotic skin handbag? I can see this stunning bag on Victoria's arm thirty years from now, looking as gorgeous as it does today. Perhaps she won't be sporting her skinny jeans (then again, maybe she will), but this chic bag is nothing if not timeless. When you think of it this way, perhaps the prices look almost reasonable....

For Hermes, it is in the details....

Beautiful Barenia!

EQUESTRIAN CHIC - Hermes Style
The House that became legendary first for saddles is the house that created the Barenia leather handbag. Universally admired and always in style, Hermes Barenia leather takes a timeless handbag to a new level of sophistication while retaining a classic motif of old money, equestrian chic.


Barenia is an expensive and prized natural leather. The processing of Barenia leather, which has a very fine, natural grain, gives it its unmistakable, luxurious hand. In order to achieve optimal quality, it is tanned in a time-consuming process that is periodically interspersed with “rest phases” for the material. Just as with the saddles for which it was originally used, the Barenia will develop the most gorgeous patina over time. Like all fine collectables, an Hermes Barenia leather handbag becomes increasingly beautiful with age.

You are supposed to collect art, not handbags. (?)

We love and appreciate art and even collect it ourselves. Why is it that art or jewelry is considered collectible while a handbag is deemed, disposable? Although spending $8,000 and upward on a Hermes handbag may sound insane to many, it’s the ultimate purchase for an Hermès brand loyalist. Give us a moment to make a case for the coveted, collectible Hermes Handbag.

When other luxury brands are reaching to a bigger mass market, Hermès has made a very specific decision not to do that. Hermes bags are distributed worldwide to Hermès boutiques on intentionally unpredictable schedules and in even fewer reliable quantities, creating a sense of scarcity and exclusivity around the product. Supply vs. demand, but that is only part of the story.

Hermes is a luxury leather good that is made the old fashioned way. Each handbag is handmade by a single craftsman from start to finish, handled only by that craftsman until it is turned over for inspection. Depending on the size of the bag and the leather used, a single bag can take anywhere from 18-30 hours to craft. An average workshop will produce only five handbags a week.

The heirloom quality and calssic styling is such that these bags are meant to be enjoyed and handed down from generation to generation, much as one would a cherished piece of jewelry.

I'll take mine with a twist...

Are you looking for a fun way to dress up your Hermes Kelly? Try this. Add a twist with a Twilly scarf for a whole new look and it's a great way to protect lighter colored handles. Twilly's can be found at your Hermes boutique as well as on-line at www.Hermes.com. Experiment..have fun!

The 411 on the Classic Chanel 2.55 Handbag

In February 1955 Coco Chanel introduced a handbag that was destined to become the iconic bag know as the 2.55. The bag was designed with a double flap (one on the interior beneath the exterior flap) and featured a mademoiselle (rectangular) closure and an all metal chain. The name 2.55 refers to February 1955 when the bag was first issued by Chanel For those who may be Chanel No. 5 perfume lovers, the No. 5 was simply the 5th sample tube that Coco Chanel tested. Simplicity at its finest!

Some of the interesting details behind the design of the 2.55 are as follows though it difficult to be certain which are accurate and which are part of the Chanel legend. The lining of the original 2.55 was a brownish red color which purportedly represented the color of the uniforms at the Catholic orphnage where Coco grew up following her mother’s death and father’s departure. The inside compartment located beneath the outer flap is where Coco Chanel presumably hid her love letters. The shoulder strap is said to be designed after the chains on which the nun’s keys dangled at their waist of their habits. The turn lock was called the “the Mademoiselle Lock” presumably because Coco Chanel never married.


In 1983 Karl Lagerfeld joined the house of Chanel as Artistic Director / Chief Designer. Based on research it is believed that while Coco Chanel designed the original interlocking CC logo it was not often used in her designs rather it was Karl Lagerfeld who introduced the interlocking CC closure on the flaps handbags that are so popular today.

The term Classic Flap commonly refers to the flap with the interlocking CC logo turnstile closure, a chain with interwoven leather, and more rounded shape to the outer flap. The most immediately identifiable differences from the 2.55 are the chain, with the interwoven leather and the CC closure which to some has become the “classic” Chanel bag though it was issue decades later than the 2.55.


In February 2005 Karl Lagerfeld re-made the 2.55 , exactly as Coco Chanel had made the original in 1955. This bag was called the Reissue 2.55 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the original. Technically the term Reissue should only be used for the bags that were made to commemorate the original - so only those produced in 2005. However, it has become popular to call all 2.55s that resemble the original 2.55 Reissues and all flaps that have the interlocking CCs, Classic Flaps.

The 2005 Commemorative Reissue was available in three colors (black w/gold hardware, grey w/silver hardware, and white w/silver hardware) and in (5) sizes. The sizes are commonly referred to as 224, 225, 226, 227, 228 and the numbers correspond to the last 3 numbers of the style code. As well, the higher the number, the larger the bag.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and both flap are timeless, classic pieces, heirloom worthy pieces. But in this authors opinion, a 2.55 is a must have item in every Chanel collector’s closet.