Pocket Purse

Era

classic-nycE3

Designer

in-house

Confidence

tentative

Status

published

Lead

The Pocket Purse is a Coach bag named for its pocket-style silhouette, documented in black, bone, and khaki [yourgreatfinds-collectors-guide]. Treated as tentative overall pending corroboration beyond a single Tier 3 collector compilation.

Description

A Classic NYC-era leather bag whose name derives from its pocket-shaped form. Colors documented in the collector literature are black, bone, and khaki [yourgreatfinds-collectors-guide]. Style number, dimensions, introduction year, and closure type have not yet been confirmed against a primary catalog and are recorded as open verification items. Hardware is presumed solid brass per Classic NYC-era construction norms; this should be verified against a dated example before promotion above tentative.

Authentication

Era diagnostics for a Classic NYC-era Pocket Purse follow the standard E3–E4 matrix; cross-reference authentication/ for full feature lists.

• Designer. The Pocket Purse is not a Bonnie Cashin design. Cashin’s tenure ended in 1974, and any Coach silhouette introduced after that is a Classic NYC-era staff/in-house design unless dated otherwise from a primary source. Community attributions of post-1974 bags to Cashin are folklore.
• Creed wording. A pre-1994 Pocket Purse should read “COACH LEATHERWARE” with “LEATHERWARE” stamped in small letters beneath “COACH,” typically with “Made in United States” or “Made in New York City, U.S.A.” on earlier examples — the single most cited textual anchor for pre-1994 dating.
• Serial format. Pre-1994 examples carry a digit-only unique serial (formats like xxx-xxxx in the 1970s and xxxx-xxx in the 1980s, per Tier 3 sources — tentative). Any post-1994 production would use the [A-M][year-digit][factory-letter]-[style-number] pattern, with the documented single-digit-year ambiguity (e.g., a “6” resolves to either 1996 or 2006 without contextual cross-checks).
• Hardware. Solid brass, non-magnetic. A magnet that sticks indicates plated steel and is a strong fake or post-vintage signal.
• Construction. Glove-tanned cowhide with raw or burnished edges. Painted/glossy edges on a bag claiming 1980s manufacture is a strong reproduction signal.
• Lining. Many NYC-era bags are unlined; an unlined Pocket Purse is not by itself a fake tell.

Sources

• yourgreatfinds-collectors-guide (D1) — names the Pocket Purse and documents black, bone, and khaki colors. Sole current source; entry remains tentative pending a second independent citation (catalog scan, dated PurseForum thread, or museum record).

Confidence: tentative. The model’s existence and color palette rest on a single Tier 3 dealer compilation. Style number, dimensions, introduction year, and dated catalog appearances are open verification items.