New, Unworn and Pre-Owned Chanel · London

Chanel is the only other house we keep, and we keep it for one reason: the clients who buy Hermès from us almost always own Chanel too, and they would rather buy both from somewhere that checks properly. What is here is a small, deliberate edit — flap bags, the pieces that hold their value, and occasionally something unusual — rather than an attempt at a second catalogue.

The Classic Flap is the centre of it. Its ancestor is the 2.55, which Gabrielle Chanel introduced in February 1955 with a shoulder chain at a time when women's bags were carried in the hand — the practical idea that made her name in leather goods. The version most people mean today is the one Karl Lagerfeld brought in during the 1980s, with the interlocking CC turn-lock in place of the original rectangular Mademoiselle clasp. Both exist on the secondary market and they are not the same bag.

Size and leather decide almost everything about how a flap reads and what it is worth. Caviar is the pressed, grained calfskin: hard-wearing, holds its shape, forgives daily use. Lambskin is smoother and considerably more beautiful, and it marks if you look at it wrongly. Medium and Small move fastest; Mini and Jumbo have their own followings. Gold, silver and ruthenium hardware change the register the same way palladium and gold do at Hermès.

Beyond the flap, the pieces worth attention are the Boy, introduced in 2011 with its heavier rectangular hardware; the 19, from 2019, deliberately softer and looser; and the Wallet on Chain, which is the most-used Chanel most owners own. Vintage pieces — the 1990s flaps, the vanity cases, the older chain-and-leather work — come through occasionally and are frequently better made than their modern equivalents.

Authentication at Chanel works differently to Hermès and it is worth knowing why. Hermès bags are read through construction: stamp, stitch angle, hardware engraving. Chanel added serial stickers in the 1980s and moved to embedded microchips from 2021, which means a piece can be dated by its serial format alone — useful, and also the thing counterfeiters target hardest. We assess construction first and the serial second, in that order, because the sticker is the easier of the two to fake.

The market has moved sharply. Chanel has raised prices repeatedly and steeply over recent years, which has pulled the secondary market up behind it and made well-kept older pieces — particularly caviar flaps in classic colours — considerably more sought after than they were. We describe this as an observation of what we see, not as a forecast, and we do not offer investment advice.

What we will not do is pad this page. Our Chanel stock is small by design, it turns over quickly, and there will be weeks when there is very little on it. If you are looking for a specific flap — size, leather, hardware, era — our concierge can look, and will tell you honestly how long it is likely to take rather than promising a week.

Every Chanel piece here is inspected by hand in our London workroom: leather and its grain, stitching and quilt alignment, hardware plating and engraving, chain, interior, and the serial in whichever format the era used. Condition is described plainly, including lambskin that has softened or corners that have rubbed. Shown by appointment in London, filmed in detail for clients elsewhere, delivered insured across the UK.