Identification works, and it works for a structural reason
A handbag's silhouette is the most distinctive thing about it, and silhouettes are what photographs capture best. Speedy, Alma, Kelly, Birkin, Boy, Marmont: these are shapes long before they are words, and an identifier reads them the way the trade does — house first, then silhouette, then size, then era.
Size is usually reachable too, because proportions give it away and because the number in a model name is generally a measurement. A Birkin 30 and a Birkin 40 are the same bag at two sizes and two very different prices, and the base width in centimetres is what the number means. Letters like PM, MM and GM are a size class relative to that particular model rather than an absolute.
So on the question 'what is this bag', expect a good answer. That matters more than it sounds, because it is the answer that lets you price the object, compare listings and decide whether to go further.
Everything a counterfeiter is good at is the part that photographs well
This is the sentence to take away, and it explains why no app authenticates bags. Counterfeiters have been copying logos, heat stamps, date codes and hardware engraving for forty years, and they are extremely good at it. Those are flat, visual, reproducible features — precisely what a camera reads.
What counterfeiters are bad at is what costs money: solid plated hardware rather than hollow castings, a consistent stitch count on panels that should match, a monogram that lines up across a seam because the maker wasted leather to make it line up, and lining material with the right weight and weave.
Almost none of that survives a photograph. Hardware weight is the fastest single check there is and a camera cannot feel it. Leather smell is genuinely diagnostic and a camera cannot smell. Stitch count needs a loupe and a willingness to count.
The stamps are the easiest thing to fake and the easiest thing to photograph. That is not a coincidence.
The four checks, in the order a specialist runs them
Note that logos and date codes come last. Most people start there, which is starting with the thing a counterfeiter has spent forty years perfecting.
- Pick it up. Hollow-cast hardware feels wrong even to an untrained hand — genuine plated brass has heft.
- Count stitches on two panels that should match. Inconsistent counts mean the maker was not counting.
- Follow the pattern across every seam. A copy saves leather by letting the monogram jump.
- Open it and compare the lining against the house's own product photography for that model and year. Wrong material is common; wrong colour is conclusive.
- Only then look at the heat stamp, the date code and the engraving.
What the instrument is actually for
The most useful thing a bag identifier does is not identification for its own sake — it is triage on whether to spend money. A paid authentication is worth having on a four-figure bag and absurd on a bag that turns out to be worth ninety pounds, and until you know which situation you are in you cannot make that call.
So the sequence that works is: photograph it and get a house, model and indicative resale range for free. If the range is low, you have your answer and you are done. If the range is high and you intend to buy, sell or insure, pay for a written authentication from a service that will stand behind it.
That second step is genuinely worth it at the top of the market. A written opinion costs a small fraction of a serious bag's value and is what a resale platform or a private buyer will ask you for.
How to photograph a bag for a better reading
Shoot it the way a consignment specialist would ask you to, and both the app and any human you show it to will do better.
- The front, square on, whole bag in frame, in indirect daylight.
- The interior heat stamp, close and in focus — often the hardest shot to get right.
- Hardware close up, including any engraved logo on zip pulls and feet.
- The base, and the corners, which is where honest wear shows.
- The lining, including pocket construction.
- Any date code or serial, plus the dust bag and receipt if they exist.