Expert Tips And Tricks To Tell A Genuine Hermès Birkin Or Kelly From A Fake

If you’re in the market for a Birkin, you probably wouldn’t be waltzing into a boutique to get one off the shelves. Because you can’t — not even if you’ve got the cash. Chances are, you’d be staking out online resellers such as LuxLexicon. The woman behind what’s touted as Singapore’s largest reseller of Hermès bags is Florence Low, 45 (above). The former contract publisher and flash-sale site owner began selling the coveted bags on Instagram (@LuxLexcion) two years ago, and rose to become a trusted reseller of new and pre-loved Hermès bags among her 44K Instagram followers. Last year, the luxury consignment platform sold 1,300 bags, the most expensive one being a brand new $130,000 Himalayan Birkin in size 30 sold to an eye surgeon here.

This month, the mother-of-two launched LuxLexicon's first brick-and-mortar store in Orchard Road. It’s an Hermès fan’s dream come true — about 280 bags are sold at the 1,100 sq ft shop, from a $9,500 pre-loved Birkin to a $50,000 Kelly. “Previously, if you wanted to view a bag, you had to fix an appointment. But we decided to open a physical store now so that people can come in, get to know us better before they buy. After all, you’re looking at buying items that average at $20K, so you do want to see the item and get to know your seller first,” she says.

When a consigner takes a bag into the shop, the first order of business is for the in-house experts to authenticate the item, which is no small feat, mind you. “The first thing we do is to check for authenticity, then we look at the condition of the bag, and then we give a quote. Our consignment fee is very transparent — it’s $1,000. When we do our due diligence [to authenticate], we typically look at the hardware, engraving, fonts and even stitch count,” she explains. So confident is she of their authentication process that they offer a money-back guarantee to buyers. We take a closer look at a HSS Special Order Birkin 30 with brushed gold hardware ($27,000), and point out what you should you look out for if you’re parting with your hard-earned money for one of these babies.

Look closely for each bag's unique code, or blind stamp, which is made up of letters, numbers and shapes. “[The alphanumeric code] identifies the craftsman who made this bag, and where and when it was made. A letter of the alphabet is used to denote the year of the production. This year, it’s ‘C’. It used to be chronological until 2014 when they started skipping certain letters, and also introduced shapes,” says Florence. “Our take on it is that they want to catch counterfeiters off guard. Not only did they change the position of the stamp on the bag, but also the way it’s presented. In the past, there used to be symbols like a star or an omega sign to denote which quarter of the year it was made, but that has been dropped.”

“Colours are seasonal and you have to know the colour palette for each year, and which colours are made in which type of leather,” she explains.

The only exception are special order (SO) bags. The highly coveted bespoke bags are reserved only for an elite tier of customers who have, according to Florence, “invested in a relationship” with the brand (read: big spenders). (While she declines to disclose the amount, we hear it’s enough for a three-room resale flat in Sengkang.) These folks are then invited to customise their very own bag, branded with an exclusive Hermès horseshoe stamp (HSS) on the front-facing brand logo of the bag (pictured).

Every minute detail, right down to stitch count on a strap, matters. Says Florence: “On a Birkin, there are typically five stitches [on the diagonal stitching on the bag strap], and seven down the middle. The last three stitches are always reinforced. It’s also time-specific. The old Birkin 35 used to have eight, instead of seven stitches [in the middle]. So there are nuances and changes made over time.”

“We also look out for the zippers and the position, fonts, and even the shape of the feet of the bag. All these have to be consistent.”

This rare Ostrich Fuschia/Taupe/Mykonos HSS Special Order Birkin 30 could be yours. “Tri-colour Horseshoe stamp [special orders] are no longer made. Now, Hermes only offers special orders [of up to] two colours,” says Florence.

What’s the best way to care for your Hermès prized possession? Keep it away from water, or risk having your shiny croc skin bag, like that on the Kelly 20 and Kelly 25 here, lose its sheen. Bags should also not be exposed to excessive sunlight and heat as colours will oxidise and fade.

This vintage 15-year-old diamond Kelly, decked out with white gold and diamonds, goes for $40,000. A worthy investment? Florence thinks so.

“Some of our new bags are procured from clients who shop at Hermès boutiques and are offered a bag in a colour that they already have or isn’t to their liking, but it’s not nice for them to turn it down, so they buy it anyway. But it’s a wise decision because the moment the bag leaves the [overseas] store, it immediately appreciates in value — you’re looking at an immediate 40 to 50 per cent ROI. We advise clients if they should buy or sell it, and how much it can fetch on the secondary market. We’re akin to financial advisors, but we’re bag advisors,” she says. Still think it’s only about shopping and showing off?

LuxLexicon is at #02-20 The Centrepoint, 176 Orchard Rd. Open Mon to Sat, 10.30am to 7pm. For more info, go to www.luxlexicon.com.

Photos: Kelvin Chia