How to Tell if a Louis Vuitton Tivoli GM is Fake or Authentic? Fake vs. Real
Hi bagaholics!
I hope you had a wonderful summer. Now it's time to get back to bussiness, schools and general routine.
Today I want to talk about a model loved by almost everyone. It's large, it's stylish and it's called Tivoli GM. Here's a pic of an authentic TIvoli GM.
Despite this model being discontinued, it's one of the most populr models on the preloved Louis Vuitton market. Depending on the condition, prices range from 500$ to 1300$ with the majority of bags with normal wear going for less than 1000$, so there's a good opportunity to buy a great bag at a reasonable price.
However, fakes are everywhere and this model is extremely popular in replica shops. You think you can easily tell a replica? Try this one!
Again, our goal is not screaming "FAKE" or winning the puzzle game. Our goal here is to learn to pay more attention to tiniest details. Remember a game in children magazines where there were two almost identical pictures and the task was to compare the pics and find the elements that are missing on one of them. These were very small, hard to see elements like butterfly eyes, tree leaves or number of sun rays.
Authentication is pretty much this game but with real stakes. We are comparing an authentic bag to a fake one to see what's missing or what's there though it shouldn't be.
Here are the detailed pics for two bags: one is authentic and one is fake. I am not going to create a mystery, instead, let's try to compare these pics just as if you are a child looking for discrepancies on the last page of the magazine.
1. HANDLES
Look pretty much the same, right? Theya re actually not. If you look closer at the vachetta 'butterfly' element, its sharper on the real bag. Take a look at the stitching where the handle gets thicker, it's off on the fake. It seems that it is going inwards much more than on an authentic bag.
Now imagine you do not have a pic of a real bag. You wouldn't notice the 'butterfly' but this fake stitching should've definitely caught your attention.
These photos are really close unless you see that there are three stitches on the real Tivoli and 4 on the fake one. The shape of this element is also different.
See? This fake is really close but scroll down to the next comparison pics and I promise you'll be surprised.
2. HARDWARE
That's where the fake Tivoli becomes more obvious. If you look at the left pic really close, you'll see that the thickness of LV letters is uneven. On a real Tivoli (and other Louis Vuitton bags) the back side of the L and the front side of the V are thicker. You will not see that on a fake bag. Actually, you can note that the back side of the V is thicker on the fake. It's amazing how these details become obvious when you start to pay attention.
3. HEATSTAMPS
Let's start with the canvas print. Take a look at the differences. The fake Louis Vuitton Tivoli has 4 instances of fleur de lis right below the heatstamp and the round-shaped symbol is hardly noticeable. On an authentic Louis Vuitton Tivoli GM 1/3 of the round-shaped symbol is visible from under the heatstamp.
Now what we are looking at is the font. I'll dedicate a separate article and a separate course to Louis Vuitton fonts, but let me show you the basics here.
L: Can you see that the bottom part of L is longer on the fake LV?
O: Authentic Tivoli GM will show you nice round Os. They are perfect round. Look at the fake Tivoli. The Os are oval, not round.
V,N: Look at the authntic heatstamp and note the bottom part of these letters. See how sharp they are. Now take a look at the fake Tivoli and pay attantion to the difference.
The basics are pretty much as described above. O on the fake Tivoli is better than on the outer heatstamp still the L is too long and the V and N are not that sharp. Note that the R letter in PARIS is totally different on the fake bag (the letter 'leg' is curved).
4. DATE CODE
I bet you see that the font and the size of the letters are different.
By the way, I know you heard an idea that fake Louis Vuitton bags do not have patina, i.e. the leather part does not change its color. Well, on the right photo you can see that the date code and the 'made in' tag have a very different color and there's some patina. This authentication criteria is actually a myth.
I hope you learned something new in this review. Be attantive and never give in to fake bags! We are launching our authentication course just in a month, to subscribe now please send a request to me in Facebook!
