Chanel serial numbers

How to read a Chanel serial sticker and card from the 1980s to 2021, where the published charts disagree, and what the metal microchip plates since 2021 mean.

These guides describe what reputable authenticators and the houses themselves have published. They are a starting point for reading a piece, not a verdict. Counterfeits change quickly, and no single feature proves a piece genuine. For any significant purchase or sale, use a professional authenticator.

Look up a Chanel serial

Serial from the sticker, card or plate

From the mid 1980s until 2021, Chanel bags carried a serial number on a small sticker inside, with a matching black authenticity card. The leading digits indicate roughly when the piece was made. Look a number up above; the full chart below shows each source's dates side by side.

Seven digits, then eight

Couture USA and Fashionphile both say the 0 to 9 series used seven digits, read by the first digit, and the 10 series onwards used eight digits, read by the first two. Fashionphile dates the change to 2005.

Where the charts disagree

Resellers publish their own charts, and they differ by a year or more for some series. For example, Yoogi's Closet dates the 6 series to 2000–2002, Xupes to 2000–2001; Yoogi's dates the 11 series to 2006–2008, Xupes to 2006; and Couture USA dates a 14 series bag to 2011, where Xupes says 2010. We show every reading rather than pick one. Series often span two calendar years because a new series starts when the previous one runs out, so the year can differ from the season of the collection.

The last stickers

Xupes ends its chart with the 31 series in 2021. Fashionphile says there were 32 sticker series before the change. Yoogi's Closet's chart stops at 25 ("2018 onwards").

From 2021: metal plates

Couture USA dates the switch to April 2021. Instead of a sticker and card, bags carry a small metal plate engraved with the CC and a code. Fashionphile describes the code as eight characters starting with a letter; Couture USA describes seven. Fashionphile says the code has no known link to the year made. Xupes notes that a 2021 bag can carry either system, and that a genuine bag should not carry both.

Missing stickers and cards

Stickers come off and cards are lost. Yoogi's Closet and Couture USA both say a missing sticker or card does not on its own mean a bag is counterfeit. A sticker and card that match each other and the expected series are a consistency check, not proof. For quilting, hardware and the CC turn-lock, see the Chanel Classic Flap guide.

Serial series by year, source by source

Rows marked “differs” are where the published charts disagree. “—” means that source gives no year for the series.

Series	Digits	Yoogi’s Closet	Xupes	Couture USA
0	7	1986–1988	1986	—	differs
1	7	1989–1991	1989–1991	1989–1991
2	7	1991–1994	1991–1994	—
3	7	1994–1996	1994–1996	—
4	7	1996–1997	1996–1997	—
5	7	1997–1999	1997–1999	1997–1999
6	7	2000–2002	2000–2001	2000–2002	differs
7	7	2002–2003	2001–2002	—	differs
8	7	2003–2004	2003–2004	—
9	7	2004–2005	2004–2005	2004–2005
10	8	2005–2006	2005	—	differs
11	8	2006–2008	2006	—	differs
12	8	2008–2009	2008	—	differs
13	8	2009–2010	2009	—	differs
14	8	2010–2011	2010	2011	differs
15	8	2011	2011	—
16	8	2012	2012	—
17	8	2012–2013	2012–2013	—
18	8	2013–2014	2013	—	differs
19	8	2014	2014	—
20	8	2014–2015	2014–2015	—
21	8	2015–2016	2015	—	differs
22	8	2016–2017	2016	—	differs
23	8	2016–2017	2016–2017	—
24	8	2017–2018	2017	—	differs
25	8	2018 onwards	2018	—	differs
26	8	—	2019	2019
27	8	—	2019	—
28	8	—	2019–2020	—
29	8	—	2020	—
30	8	—	2020–2021	—
31	8	—	2021	—