Authenticate Chanel Reissue 2.55
The original 1955 design brought back, with the Mademoiselle lock instead of the CC.
Introduced 2005Paris
The Reissue is what the 2.55 was before the CC lock arrived: a rectangular Mademoiselle turn-lock, a chain without leather threading, and a flatter, more antique quilting. Anyone selling a 'vintage 2.55' with a CC lock is describing a Classic Flap.
Reissues carry a size number stamped on the interior — 224, 225, 226, 227 — and that number should agree with the bag's measurements. The interior stamp on Reissue production is often embossed into the leather without foiling, which reads flatter than the Classic's stamp and is correct.
The aged calfskin used on many Reissues has a deliberately distressed surface. It should be distressed evenly and consistently with the piping and the back; a counterfeit's distressing tends to sit only where a photograph would show it.
What a Reissue 2.55 does on the secondary market
A collector's model rather than a status one, so the market is narrower and more knowledgeable. Original hardware finish and an intact interior stamp matter more here than they do on a Classic.
An orientation for honest, unrestored condition — never an appraisal, and never a quotation.
Questions we are asked
- What is the difference between a Reissue 2.55 and a Classic Flap?
- The lock. The Reissue uses the rectangular Mademoiselle turn-lock and a chain without leather threading; the Classic Flap uses the interlocking CC. Anyone selling a vintage 2.55 with a CC lock is describing a Classic Flap.
- What does the number stamped inside a Reissue mean?
- It is the size, running 224, 225, 226 and 227, and it should agree with the bag's measurements.
Lovenhall BagRead the handbag itself
The checks tell you how it was made. The instrument tells you what it appears to be, and roughly what its kind fetches.