Hermès does not use serial numbers. Instead every bag carries a blind stamp, also called the date stamp — a small letter pressed into the leather without ink — that indicates the year it was made. Beside it you will usually see one or two other marks identifying the artisan and workshop. Once you know where to look and which alphabet Hermès was using that decade, a Birkin, Kelly, Constance or Evelyne can be dated in seconds.
Where the blind stamp is
Birkin and Kelly, made before 2016: on the underside of the left strap, on the leather that folds down over the front — the "sangle". Turn the strap over and look near the end.
Birkin and Kelly, made from about 2016: Hermès moved the stamp inside the bag. Look on the interior wall, usually on the right-hand side near the top edge or the gusset. It is deliberately subtle; you may need to angle the bag toward a window.
Constance: inside, along the top edge of the interior.
Evelyne, Lindy, Picotin, Garden Party and small leather goods: inside, near a seam, hardware anchor or inside a pocket. Belts and straps are stamped on the reverse.
The stamp should be crisp, evenly pressed and slightly recessed. A stamp that looks printed, smudged or sits on top of the grain rather than in it is a warning sign.
Hermès stamp year chart, 1971–2026
Hermès has cycled through the alphabet several times, and the shape around the letter — or its absence — helps identify which cycle you are in. Read the letter in context: the shape, the bag's construction and its hardware together narrow it to one year.
Before 1971. From 1945 to 1970 Hermès used a bare letter with no surrounding shape, A to Z in order. These are rare on the resale market, and a bag of that age is unmistakable in hand.
Circle era, 1971–1996. A letter inside a circle. A = 1971, running in order to Z = 1996.
Square era, 1997–2014. A letter inside a square. A = 1997, in order to R = 2014. 2014 is a transition year: some documented 2014 pieces carry an unboxed R as Hermès moved to the modern system.
Modern no-shape codes, 2015–present. A bare letter again, but no longer in alphabetical order — Hermès deliberately broke the sequence so that counterfeiters could not predict the next year.
| Year | Letter |
|---|---|
| 2015 | T |
| 2016 | X |
| 2017 | A |
| 2018 | C |
| 2019 | D |
| 2020 | Y |
| 2021 | Z |
| 2022 | U |
| 2023 | B |
| 2024 | W |
| 2025 | K |
| 2026 | G |
So a "W" inside a circle is 1993; a "W" inside a square is 2019; a bare "W" is 2024 — or 1967 on a bag old enough to belong to the pre-1971 series, which the leather, hardware and construction will make obvious. The shape matters as much as the letter.
The other marks
Next to the year letter you will normally find one or two more stamps. These identify the craftsperson and the atelier — a letter, a number, or a small symbol — and they are unique to that artisan. Hermès uses them for repairs and records. They have no public key, and there is no reason to try to decode them; what matters is that they look pressed with the same care and depth as the year letter.
A few symbols do have a known meaning:
- Horseshoe — a special order (Horseshoe Stamp, or HSS), typically a custom colour combination.
- Shooting star — a bag made by a craftsperson for their own use or for an employee, not for sale in a boutique.
- An "S" in a circle — the bag was sold through a Hermès staff sale, usually at a reduced price.
Exotic skins carry an additional mark: a square for alligator, two dots for niloticus crocodile, a caret for porosus crocodile, and a dash for lizard. If the listing says alligator and the stamp shows two dots, one of them is wrong.
What the stamp cannot tell you
The blind stamp helps identify the bag's production year — not the year it was bought, and not whether it is authentic. Counterfeiters know the alphabet too, and a correctly shaped, correctly lettered stamp is common on good fakes. What they get wrong is everything around it — the depth and evenness of the impression, the leather it sits in, the saddle stitching (slanted, hand-done, never perfectly uniform), the hardware plating and engraving, the lining, the smell. Our team examines every Hermès piece in-house and has it verified independently — we work with Entrupy, LegitGrails and AuthenticateFirst — before it is offered for sale. Details are on our Authenticity page, and every purchase carries our lifetime money-back authenticity guarantee.
Frequently asked questions
My Birkin has no blind stamp. Check the inside walls carefully — post-2016 stamps are easy to miss. Older bags may have a stamp worn faint by years of the strap rubbing. A bag with genuinely no stamp anywhere needs proper authentication before you buy or sell it.
What year is a square "Q" Hermès? 2013.
What year is a plain "B"? 2023.
Does Hermès authenticate bags? Hermès boutiques do not authenticate pre-owned pieces for the public.
Can you authenticate a Hermès bag in Toronto? Yes — we offer authentication as a service at our North York showroom, by appointment. Contact us.
Browse our Hermès collection, or get a quote if you have a Birkin, Kelly or Constance to sell.