Almost every Louis Vuitton bag made between the early 1980s and 2021 carries a small stamped code. Sellers quote it as if it settled the question of authenticity. It does not. What the code does very well is tell you when and roughly where a piece was made, and that is useful precisely because it can be checked against everything else about the bag.
This guide explains how to find the code, how to read each format, which factory letters belong to which country, and why a missing code is often completely normal.
Dates that tell you what can exist
Before reading any code, it helps to know when the materials themselves appeared. According to the brand history summarised by the resale house Yoogi's Closet, Louis Vuitton was founded in Paris in 1854. The Damier check followed in 1888 and the Monogram canvas, created by Georges Vuitton, in 1896. Epi leather arrived in 1985, Taiga leather in 1993 and Vernis patent leather in 1997, the year Marc Jacobs was appointed. According to the European Fashion Heritage Association, Jacobs went on to create the house's first ready to wear line.
Later dates are just as useful: Damier was reissued in 1998, the Takashi Murakami Multicolore line launched in 2003, Damier Azur in 2006, Damier Graphite in 2008 and the first Yayoi Kusama collection in 2012. Yoogi's Closet also dates silver tone hardware on Epi to 2004. A Damier Graphite bag with a 2005 code, or an Epi piece described as 1970s, is therefore wrong before you look at a single stitch.
Where to find the code
The code is usually stamped on a small leather tab sewn into an interior seam, or embossed directly into the lining near the top of an interior pocket. Madison Avenue Couture and Xupes both note that placement varies by model and year. On a Speedy it typically sits on a tab in the pocket seam, on a Neverfull inside the zip pocket, on wallets under a flap or along the edge of a card section. The stamp is small and often faint, so use a torch at a low angle and a phone camera to zoom.
Reading the four formats
The formats below are taken from the date code guides published by Madison Avenue Couture and Xupes, which agree on the structure and the examples.
| Period | Format | How to read it | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early 1980s | 3 or 4 digits | First two digits the year, then the month | 836 = June 1983 |
| Mid to late 1980s | 3 or 4 digits plus 2 letters | Year and month, then the factory | 874VX = April 1987, France |
| 1990 to 2006 | 2 letters plus 4 digits | 1st and 3rd digit the month, 2nd and 4th the year | SP0995 = September 1995, France |
| 2007 to 2021 | 2 letters plus 4 digits | 1st and 3rd digit the week, 2nd and 4th the year | SD1132 = week 13 of 2012 |
The trap is that the last two formats look identical. The same four digits mean a month before 2007 and a calendar week afterwards, so you have to decide the era from the material, the model and the hardware first, and only then read the digits. Madison Avenue Couture also notes that the early 1980s stamps are not fully consistent, so treat any code from that decade as approximate.
Factory letters
The two letters identify the workshop. Combining the lists from Madison Avenue Couture and Xupes, the most common pairs are:
France: AR, DU, SP, TH, VI, VX, among many others.
United States: FH, OS, TX, and SD and FL in some periods.
Spain: CA, LM, LO, UB.
Italy: BC, FO, PL, SA.
Germany and Switzerland: LP and OL, DI and FA, according to Xupes.
Several pairs appear under more than one country depending on the period, so a factory code narrows things down rather than proving them. The useful test is consistency: the letters should match the origin line on the heat stamp. A piece stamped Made in U.S.A. with a pair that only ever appears on French production is worth a closer look.
When there is no code
A missing code is not automatically a warning sign. There are three common, legitimate reasons.
Age. Pieces made before the early 1980s generally have no code at all. Xupes also describes the French Luggage Company, which produced Louis Vuitton under licence in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s; these pieces often carry no code and a different lining.
Wear. On worn or relined linings the stamp can fade until it is no longer legible.
The chip. Louis Vuitton has replaced stamped codes with an embedded microchip. The sources differ slightly on timing: Xupes gives 1 March 2021, LDJ spring 2021, and Madison Avenue Couture says the chips appeared from around 2019, with the change largely complete by 2021. Either way, a recent bag without a visible code is normal. The chip cannot be read at home and, according to Madison Avenue Couture, holds no personal data.
What a code does not prove
All three guides used here say the same thing: a date code is not a serial number and not proof of authenticity. Counterfeiters copy real codes, often the same few over and over. What a code can do is expose a contradiction. Check that the format matches the era, that the year is not earlier than the material or model, and that the factory fits the origin stamp. Then move on to stitching, pattern alignment across seams, the heat stamp lettering and the hardware. Our authentication guide covers those checks in detail.
Ready to wear and shoes are a separate case. The scheme above is documented for leather goods. We have not found a reliable public source that applies it to clothing or footwear, so we date those pieces by collection, labels and construction rather than by a stamped code.
Sizes and care
Louis Vuitton ready to wear and shoes use continental sizes, but fit varies by season and designer. Measure flat and compare with something you already own; our guide to vintage sizing lists the measurements that matter. For bags, coated canvas is hard wearing and can be wiped with a barely damp cloth. Untreated leather trim and handles darken with light and handling, which is expected, but they mark easily with water, so keep them dry. Store bags lightly stuffed in a dust bag, away from heat, and never in plastic.
What it is worth
Taking 1stDibs as the high end reference, in October 2026 the platform listed 2,170 Louis Vuitton handbags between 92 and 47,940 dollars, averaging about 1,820 dollars. Its period filter on that page showed how little true vintage there is: 19 pieces assigned to the 1980s and 45 to the 1990s, against 1,863 in the 21st century and contemporary category. General resale platforms sit below 1stDibs, so read these figures as a ceiling. A consistent date code adds confidence to a price; it does not add value on its own.
Louis Vuitton at Berlin Vintage Corner
We currently have more than 25 Louis Vuitton pieces in the shop in Berlin Mitte. A few examples: a Damier Ebene briefcase with darkened leather trim (800 euros), a Monogram long wallet stamped made in U.S.A. (320 euros), a Catalina NS tote in Vernis Ikat (1,200 euros), a Damier Graphite cabin trolley (1,450 euros), and sneakers from the Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama collaborations (400 and 950 euros). See everything in our Louis Vuitton collection.
We will photograph the date code, the heat stamp and the interior for you before you decide. For more on dating a luxury house by its stamps, read our Hermès guide, and for how buying second hand luxury in the city works, our luxury second hand guide.
Berlin Vintage Corner
Elisabethkirchstr. 1, 10115 Berlin, Mitte
EN: Mon to Sat 12:00 to 19:00, Sun 12:00 to 17:00 / DE: Mo bis Sa 12:00 bis 19:00 Uhr, So 12:00 bis 17:00 Uhr