How to date vintage Chanel jewellery by its stamp

Most Chanel costume jewellery made since the 1950s carries a small stamp, usually on a plaque on the back of the piece or on the clip. The wording and layout of that stamp changed over the decades, so it is often the quickest way to place a piece in time. The dates below are approximate: the reference guides disagree by a year or two at each change.

Before 1954: mostly unsigned

Chanel's costume jewellery of the 1920s and 1930s was mostly unsigned. Gabrielle Chanel closed her couture house in 1939 and did not reopen it until 1954. Pieces from the 1940s signed "Chanel" in a flowing script were made by an unrelated American company, not by the house.

1954 to 1971: CHANEL in capitals

After the reopening, pieces were stamped CHANEL in plain capital letters, either straight into the metal or on a small rectangular plaque. Some couture pieces have three small stars beneath the name. Many pieces from these years were not signed at all.

1971 to about 1980: the round plaque

A round plaque appears, with CHANEL across the top, the © and ® symbols on either side, the interlocking CC in the centre and MADE IN FRANCE along the bottom. Some earrings of this time are marked © CHANEL on a small rectangular plaque instead.

The early 1980s: a year instead of the country

For a few years from around 1980, some pieces carry a four-digit year where MADE IN FRANCE used to be. Not every piece from these years is dated.

The mid-1980s to about 1992: collection numbers

An oval plaque takes over, with a two-digit collection number split either side of the CC: 2 CC 3 is collection 23, and 2 CC 9 is collection 29. The numbers run from 23 to 29. Around 1990 to 1992, some plaques leave the number out altogether.

From 1993: year and season

From 1993, the plaque shows the last two digits of the year to the left of the CC and a letter for the season to the right. 95 CC A, for example, is autumn 1995. The letters come from French: P for printemps (spring), A for automne (autumn) and C for croisière (cruise). V is rarer, and the guides disagree on it: some read it as summer, others as a continuing line.

From the 2000s, some pieces are marked Made in Italy, and the stamp is often engraved straight into the metal rather than set on a separate plaque.

What a stamp can't tell you

A stamp is the easiest part of a piece to copy. A correct-looking plaque on a piece in the wrong style, weight or finish for its date is one of the commonest signs of a fake, so the stamp has to agree with everything else: the shape of the clip, the weight in the hand, the quality of the glass, pearls and gilding, and the way the parts are joined.

The opposite holds too. Plaques are soldered on and can come away over the years, so a missing plaque is not proof that a piece is wrong. A stamp sitting slightly off-centre on its plaque is normal.

How we check

Every piece at Karineko is checked by hand, for authenticity and condition, before it comes to you. Where a piece has a mark, the listing gives it, as on our snowflake drop earrings, marked CHANEL with the CC on an oval plate. Everything we have from the house is in vintage Chanel jewellery, and our questions page answers the rest.