Natural Hermes leather? What does that mean? What is an unfinished vs finished leather?

 

 Dalmatian Buffalo

 Vache Natural

Good Morning,

               I wanted to do a little lesson about "Natural" when describing Hermes leathers ...funny thing natural can mean "a color" such as pale tan or buff for instance on a finished leather; or it can mean that the leather surface is unfinished or  naked/ lacking a clear or colored coating on top of the leather .

A naked leather is considered an unfinished leathers such as Barenia an oil tanned leather ( all of the Barenia colors are still unfinished leather olive, fauve, black or indigo) or Vache natural (which is usually semi finished similar if not the same as a vegetable tanned cow hide). What was once called "natural" Barenia is now called fauve.

The color "natural" can be found on many finished leathers such as Epsom, Charmonix, Courchevel, Ardennes, Clemence, Box Calf , Box Napal and I'm sure some others which I did not mention...


What is a finished leather?


 A finished leather generally means one or more clear or colored top coats has been applied on top of the surface of the leather.
Most modern leathers today are finished leathers, that's why they can often be restored or touched up by applying a matching colored finish to areas of wear or stains or color-loss how well that works out depends upon the restoration specialist technique and eye as well as the re-finishing products they use as well as the amount used and dilution of said re-finishing products.

Some examples of Hermes Finished leathers include  With lesser or greater degrees of finish
Fjord
Charmonix
Box Calf
Veau Courchevel
Togo
Clemence
Evergrain
Epsom
etc...





Additionally, if you have a black mark on a white bag for instance it maybe difficult if not impossible to completely remove and or hide the mark below additional layers of white finish... usually it will show up through the cover finish... in a relatively short time. Much like trying to cover a black mark on a wall with white paint... that mark may migrate up through the coverage white paint over time...

Why Authenticating an Hermes Bag yourself isn't easy . so dont flip out... Just saying ( Part one)

Hello everyone,
                      I was speaking with someone a month or so ago who stated they are working on learning to authenticate  Hermes bags one their own. She said she was busy counting the scales on the crocodile bags and each number of stitches.. hmm sounds pretty tough.. especially because those particulars aren't going to help you....  Not to be mean spirited at all .. its just well.. its easy to get freaked out when you notice something you never have noticed before or that you have never seen before, and lets face it when you buy an Hermes bag even a very used one it represents a substantial investment for most of us...

I've also had folks worrying their Hermes bag isn't real because of the lack of a date code  and or a craftsman's stamp, also not a red flag for being inauthentic , missing or invisible date codes and craftsman's stamps  are not a sign of inauthenticity, those Hermes date codes and craftsman's ID stamps were for Hermes' internal controls not for authenticity nor are they serial numbers.... and yes bags can have the same date code and the same makers ID stamp.

Now I've heard Hermes is hiding the date codes, moving them to unexpected locations and or leaving them absent completely. And I've seen plenty of authentic Hermes bags without date codes not fetch the same money in the secondary market than one with a date code, so maybe you'll find a bargain? The lack of a date code has nothing to do with a bag being denied servicing by Hermes.. so exhale....whew!

Also comparing authentic Hermes bags  which were made in different time periods  for instance decades for instance the 1980's, 1990's, 2000's and 2010 ... whoa, way too many changes.... 
You will see so many differences , differences in hardware, zipper pulls and zipper stops, date code stamping, gold plating color, lock identification, dust bags, fonts on hardware etc....

Additionally comparing lets say 5 Kelly 32cm retourne style bags or 5 Birkin 35cm bags and finding they all vary in size! Yes authentic Hermes bags of the same style and size can vary considerably in size, also the leather type soft or stiff can also effect the way a bag looks in size...

And colors can vary greatly from year to year and leather type to leather type and dye vat to dye vat ...
For instance the classic Hermes Rouge H color can look purple hued burgundy , to a red burgundy, to a brown under-toned wine color....

Classic Hermes orange can be found in a wide range of hues .....also... as can all of the colors...

So, my advice is that because there are super fakes which are made so well its every hard to tell what you have ; don't try to authenticate it your self use an trusted authenticity service or buy directly from Hermes boutique.

All the best, doc

 

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season and not getting too tired and or stressed out .... whew....

Heavy snow here on the ranch, it's blowy and peaceful now....

I've got to go out and feed the livestock before heading over to the work shop to work on some Hermes Bag restorations.

This year  I'm going to start adding in some video clips so you can learn to restore and care for your bags.

 I hope you'll all  check back and add in your leather care and restoration questions in the comments section and I'll do my best to answer them
. 
I'm adding in a short clip of some of the animals to test out how this works :)

I hope you all have a happy and healthy New Year!

All the best.doc