Every Hermes handbag has the iconic “Hermes Paris Made in France” stamp somewhere close to the opening of the bag. This stamp will come in gold or silver to correspond to the hardware of the given bag. On the contrary to the Hermes stamp, the date stamp for these bags are a “blind stamp”, meaning it won’t be eye catching, and it could go easily unnoticed if you don’t know what you’re looking for.
When we say “date stamp” we don’t mean that there is an actual numerical value of the year the bag was manufactured. But rather you can find the symbol that corresponds to the year the bag was created. All Hermes bags have a date stamp. The different types of bags display their date codes in their own specific area but this can change depending on the year. On Birkins and Kellys, the date stamp used to be located on the inner side of the sangle, however, more recently they can be found on the interior panel of the bag. While the Constance bag commonly has this stamp located on the middle interior panel. It is important to note that you will also see an initial somewhere close to the date stamp; these are the “craftsman stamp” made to reference the artisan who made the bag. The reason for this stamp is so that if the bag is sent to the Hermes spa, ideally they will try to get the bag repaired by the same artisan who created the piece.
The Hermes date stamp system was first enacted in 1945, where plain letters of the alphabet were stamped into bags to signify the year of production. This continued until 1970, then from 1971 until 1996 Hermes used letters encased in circles, and from 1997 until 2014, they used letters encased in squares. Note that mid-way through 2014 Hermes switched to plain letters without any geometric outline again. This pattern remains until present day. Please refer to the table below for a list of all Hermes date signs.
Besides the date stamps, there are other symbols that are stamped on Hermes bags that are beneficial to learn about prior to pursuing the purchase of a pre-loved or new Hermes bag. These following symbols are always added close to the standard “Hermes Paris” stamp at the front of the bags.
Special Order
The first notable stamp is the “horseshoe stamp” that can be found on bags that were custom made; meaning that the client got to choose the leather, color, stitching, and hardware of the bag.
Alligator Mississippiensis
The next stamp to mention is the square stamp which indicates the leather of the bag is “Alligator Mississippiensis”; sourced from the Mississippi river. 
Crocodile Porosus
The next symbol is a caret [^] used to indicate the most expensive exotic leather offered at Hermes; Crocodile Porosus farmed in Australia. A distinguishing characteristic of this leather type is that little pores can be seen on each scale of the crocodile skin, as shown below.
Crocodile Niloticus
The next stamp is shown as two small dots which indicate the leather is that of Crocodile Niloticus, found in the river Nile.
Niloticus Lizard
The Dash sign shows that the leather is that of the Varanus Niloticus Lizard.
Varanus Salvator Lizard
The equal sign symbol is the signifier of the Varanus Salvator Lizard.
Shooting Star
The shooting star symbolizes that the artisan created the bag for their personal use. Bear in mind that if you purchase a pre-loved Hermes bag with the shooting star stamp on it, it will not be accepted at the Hermes spa for repair because it was created by an artisan and therefore they would theoretically be the one to repair their own bag.
Bonus
Ostrich leather bags won’t come with any particular stamp to indicate their leather type as the distinct pattern is the clearest indication of the type of leather it is.
written by: @sabsstyle_
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