Look at the entire bag on the inside and outside. Authentic Dooney & Bourke handbags have high-quality stitching with straight lines and no extra needle holes. Determine the place of assembly. Locate the label that indicates where the bag was made or assembled. Real Dooney & Bourke bags are made only in the United States, China, Italy and Mexico. Open your product and locate the fabric tag inside. Authentic products will have a red, white and blue tag, with the words 'Dooney & Bourke, Made in the U.S.A.' Flip the tag over. On the reverse side is a serial key. This is your Bag ID Number. May 12, 2016 - Dooney & Bourke is the brand behind a wide range of fashion accessories, but they're mainly known for their handbags. If you've purchased one of them lately, it's important that you register the product. Then I saw Paula's Dooney & Bourke Equestrian bag and thought it would be perfect for me - that was the good news. The bad news was that D&B no longer makes the Equestrian handbags. With Paula's help (she's very resourceful) I now have a wonderful vintage D&B bag that should last me another 30 years! I am so pleased with my new handbag that we.
Dooney & Bourke bags sold for between $200-$380 in the 1980s and 1990s which invited knock offs and fakes to flood the market. But it only takes a few seconds to spot the difference in materials, workmanship and feel of the great Dooney & Bourke handbags, briefcases, totes, wallets and other items in the All Weather Collection.
![Dooney Dooney](/uploads/1/3/4/2/134242679/393172036.jpg)
To help, authentic Dooney & Bourke items have some identifying features. Note that in the early 1980's before the AWL (All Weather Leather) bags went into production, the Equestrian bags, for example, were made of wonderful bridle leather but it was NOT waterproof. Also those early bags, because they were not AWL bags, did not have the Duck Leather seal or the Brass Duck fob as these signify the waterproof aspects - like water shedding from a duck's feathers. So bear that in mind as you shop for authentic bags. There are some absolutes but some anomalies along the way also. To the best of my knowledge and by researching in my vintage Dooney & Bourke catalog collection, here's the scoop.
Early AWL bags (early 1980s) usually will have: | |
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Dooney And Bourke Style Numbers
Handbags in the AWL collection (1983-1990s) usually will have: | |
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Dooney & Bourke Bag Trim Designation There are 3 main trim colors on original AWL Dooney & Bourke handbags. © 2013 Horsekeeping LLC © Copyright Information | |
| R54 R54 |
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| P54 |
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| H512 |
![Dooney Dooney](/uploads/1/3/4/2/134242679/112482156.jpg)
About Registration Tags
Very early bags have no sewn in cloth regitration tags.
The first sewn-in tags (1983-1984) were fairly large green rectangles sewn flat into the bag that said:
The first sewn-in tags (1983-1984) were fairly large green rectangles sewn flat into the bag that said:
Dooney & Bourke
DB
Made in USA
DB
Made in USA
After 1985, the tags were red, white and blue and were sewn as tabs inside the bag in conjunction with a seam. They say:
Dooney & Bourke, Inc.
Made in USA
and they have a registration number on the back.
Made in USA
and they have a registration number on the back.
Some more recent bags (1990s) have been manufactured in the US but assembled elsewhere, such as Costa Rica. Those bags have red, white and blue sewn-in tags that say Dooney & Bourke Inc. but the tag does not say Made in USA. Instead there is often a (leather or cloth) tag underneath the red, white and blue tag that says where the bag was assembled such as the example above which shows a blue cloth tag that says 'Assembled in Costa Rica.
In these assembled-overseas bags, there is a registration number on the back of the red, white and blue tag and the letter it stars with indicates the country where the bag was assembled.
C indicates Costa Rica
H, J, K and L indicate China
I indicates Italy
M indicates Mexico.
H, J, K and L indicate China
I indicates Italy
M indicates Mexico.
This registration tag system was used when Dooney & Bourke was producing a limited amount of collections. As the company got larger, it no longer assigned individual registration numbers to each bag.
Tags removed or snipped? Often we will see tags that are snipped or partially or completely torn out of the bags. If a tag is snipped but is mostly still there, it probably indicates that the bag was sold at an outlet store - it is likely authentic but might have been an overstock or slightly imperfect bag. If a tag is completely ripped out, leaving only a few red and white threads, I am always suspicious. Such bags might be authentic but it would be difficult to authenticate them without a registration number.
Since there are so many knock-off designer bags out there, it pays to do a little homework before you buy. We only sell authentic Dooney & Bourke leather handbags. We feel Dooney & Bourke bags from the 1980s and 1990s are the best bags you can find. They are extremely high quality, made in USA, registered bags.
Drop Length. Go here to find out what drop length means and how we measure it.
'We hope you enjoy looking through the bags we've found and
that you see one that suits you to a T.'
© 2010 Horsekeeping LLC © Copyright Information
Dooney Bourke Serial Number Lookup
Hi Paula,
I have a vintage Dooney bag. I checked your site for authenticity and it checks out – the only thing I can’t figure out is how you tell the date it was made or sold – my purse I found would be minimally a 9 on your quality scale and I haven’t been able to find another one like it online. The ID number is A6 317269. How do you know what those numbers mean? Jessica
Hi Jessica,
The number that is on the back of the sewn-in tag indicates where in the US and when the bag was made. All of the Identifying Characteristics of Vintage AWL Dooney & Bourke bags are discussed on our website.
If you want to know specifically, you’d have to contact Dooney & Bourke directly although finding someone there who is knowledgeable or interested in the vintage bags is often difficult.
In the right hand column of this blog, you’ll see a list called “Categories” and under it is an expanded list of all topics on this blog. Scroll down to the Dooney & Bourke heading and click on it. You will then see all the articles related to your query.