Rare quality, 10 fakes: French handbag expert authenticates Hermes bags from $3b laundering case - The Straits Times

Jerome Lalande helped local auction house Hotlotz authenticate some 200 Hermes bags seized from the $3 billion money laundering case.

SINGAPORE - Take it from a Frenchman: Singapore’s largest money laundering bust has yielded the finest booty of luxury handbags in recent history.

Jerome Lalande, the veteran authenticator and expert in handbags at the Paris Court of Appeal, says appraising the close to 200 Hermes purses seized from the $3 billion case was the first time he had seen so many rare and expensive bags in one place. “I’ve seen many bags, but of this quality, never,” he tells The Straits Times on a call from France. At last count, he handles 6,000 bags a year.

The bounty of crocodile-skin Birkins, the most exorbitant “leather” used by the French luxury house, and prized Himalayan, Faubourg and Kelly Doll collectible styles, easily trounced his last “best” assignment in Monaco – a city-state where more than 40% of residents are millionaires.

Money launderers the world over have a distinct preference for the rare and flashy, he says.

Lalande, 54, was hired by local auction house Hotlotz as a second pair of eyes for the forfeited Hermes collection. Like much of the criminal haul, it is headed for the hammer. Online bidding for the first of a two-part sale opens on Nov 9 and collectors can tour the riches at Singapore’s secretive storage facility Le Freeport from Nov 16.

The high-profile nature of the lots and Hermes’ white-knuckled grip on supply rightly heightened the fear of fakes. Lalande sniffed out some 10 counterfeits in total.

“You have to be very careful when you get a collection from a very wealthy person because sometimes, people give them presents; and sometimes, they buy fakes on purpose to go to the market or the beach,” he says. In his native Paris, the cradle of luxury fashion, possessing a knockoff is technically punishable by three years in prison.

Even so, he reckons about 30% of the branded purses swinging from Parisian women’s arms are fakes.

Lalande reached the conclusion after authenticating the hoard of a Parisian thief who stole exclusively from swanky hotels and restrooms.

An alligator skin Hermes Birkin 25, going under the hammer from Nov 9.

It helps that fakes are getting better and better. “Superfakes”, a class of elite bootlegs indistinguishable to the untrained eye and good enough to fool an expert from a distance, appeared on the market some 10 years ago, says Lalande.

The cream of the crop are coming from China, where he suspects counterfeiters have been trained by rogue or retired Hermes crafters themselves. “They definitely haven’t been taught in a school in China or Vietnam.

“The leather and the quality of the crafting is very beautiful, and when you see the construction of the handle, it’s like they’ve been told how to make it. It’s done exactly as it has to be.”

In a little hat doff to pirated craft, he has kept for himself a particularly sublime fake pink Hermes Kelly from an old court case for years.

The counter-industry for verification of fakes has had to toughen up too. At resale platform the RealReal, designer handbags go through X-rays and fonts are measured down to the millimeter, but Lalande relies only on natural light and a magnifying glass.

The learned eye can always tell true from false, he says. Lalande’s education dates back to 1998  when he was hired by Hermes to buy archival pieces for the brand’s heritage repository. A women’s side-saddle bag from 1850 is the oldest item he tracked down for the house.

Later, to help his sourcing, he began visiting Hermes’ workshop in Pantin, France up to three times a week to observe craftsmen make bags. They schooled him on the evolution of coveted styles like the Kelly.

From his vantage, an Hermes bag is a map of abundant tells.

Even the small metal plate, known as the plaque, on the ends of sangles (the thin leather closure straps on the front of Birkins and Kellys) has its secrets. “The thickness, finishing, angle of an edge, handmade nails (attaching the hardware to the leather), the hole in the middle. There are some very specific traces to be found,” he says.

One of the most coveted luxury bags in the world. A Birkin 25 in Himalaya Niloticus, referring to leather crafted from the skin of Crocodylus niloticus (the Nile crocodile).

According to Lalande, the same applies to every conceivable part of a purse. Each minute zone has at least five provenance-confirming details.

More often than not, hardware is where the fakes trip up. The gold-plated metal fittings of the real thing is 20 microns strong and would never dull or flake to reveal brass. He spied several fakes for Hotlotz from the plastic wrappers on purse feet – the metal studs at the bottom of a bag. Such coverings are totally unnecessary for such sturdy metal, he says.

When a part that should be hand-stitched is done with “the perfect gesture” of machine-sewing, that is another giveaway.

He adds: “I would say Hermes is one of the hardest brands to copy, maybe Bottega Veneta too because of the quality of the leather and the skill of the Intrecciato (weaving). And, it may seem difficult to understand but Louis Vuitton is also hard to counterfeit because the product is totally machine-made, with a very precise machine. It is very controlled, everything is at the same level and interval.”

Where, then, does he land on the value of a truly good fake? Lalande, a devotee of “quality” who still roams flea markets at 7am every Saturday morning, does not bat an eye.

“I respect the makers of superfakes because honestly, the work on it is real work. It is honest and real (workmanship). What is not honest is that they put the name ‘Hermes’ on it when it’s not. But the work can still be really good.”

“Very collectible, very rare and very funny,” says Lalande.

This is a special order, or by-invite-only custom Kelly, with two tones of green only obvious under natural light. Lalande enjoys the emerald and hidden “cypres” (French for cypress) shade.

A brown Faubourg is the rarest of an already rare style that also comes in white, red and blue. Lalande says that before this piece, he had only seen a brown one once in the flesh.

Info: Bidding opens Nov 9, 10am and closes Nov 26, from 4pm at hotlotz.com. View the catalogue and register to bid here. Hermes Handbags & Accessories Part One is on display at Le Freeport, 32 Changi North Crescent, from Nov 16 to 21 and Nov 23 to 26.