Balenciaga Motorcycle Bag Authentic or Replica?
I found a Balenciaga city bag from eBay this morning. Its leather is very distressed and slightly glossy - it just looks like the authentic Balenciaga leather. The only thing that made me doubt about its authenticity is its hardware.
a close-up of the leather. It looks like authentic Balenciaga leather.
Its hardware looks exactly like those on replica Balenciaga bags: silverish brass hardware.
The lampo zip tab looks like replica lampo zip tab too.
the classic replica Balenciaga hardware:
However as this is a 2004 model, it is the first batch of Balenciaga city bags. I know Balenciaga changed its hardware in 2005. So I was quite convinced that first taupe Balenciaga is authentic. But after a few hours when I checked that listing again in the afternoon, it was removed by eBay. It looks like eBay think it is a replica.
There is another green one from the 2004 collection on sale now. It has the same silverish brass hardware as the taupe one - something we can now only see from a replica Balenciaga bag, not from an authentic Balenciaga. Its leather looks exactly like the real thing - distressed yet glossy. This time this bag comes with a correct Balenciaga tag and a Barney receipt. If the number shown 115748 matches the serial number on the back of the metal tag, it should be authentic.
If anyone come across this and know Balenciaga did make this silverish brass hardware in 2004, please enlighten me. Or are these bags the first authentic quality replica Balenciaga bags made in the past?
