HERMÈS CODE CHECK

Hermès blind stamp checker, read the year off your stamp

Enter only the year letter, then pick the shape around it. Leave out any craftsman letters stamped alongside.

Stamp letter

Shape around the letter

No shape around it Inside a circle Inside a square I'm not sure

The interactive checker needs JavaScript, but you do not need it: the full Hermès blind stamp chart is below, and you can read your code straight off it.

Hermès blind stamp letters and the year each one indicates
Letter	No frame, any cycle	letter inside a circle	letter inside a square
A	1945 or 2017	1971	1997
B	1946 or 2023	1972	1998
C	1947 or 2018	1973	1999
D	1948 or 2019	1974	2000
E	1949	1975	2001
F	1950	1976	2002
G	1951 or 2026	1977	2003
H	1952	1978	2004
I	1953	1979	2005
J	1954	1980	2006
K	1955 or 2025	1981	2007
L	1956	1982	2008
M	1957	1983	2009
N	1958	1984	2010
O	1959	1985	2011
P	1960	1986	2012
Q	1961	1987	2013
R	1962 or 2014	1988	2014
S	1963	1989	—
T	1964 or 2015	1990	—
U	1965 or 2022	1991	—
V	1966	1992	—
W	1967 or 2024	1993	—
X	1968 or 2016	1994	—
Y	1969 or 2020	1995	—
Z	1970 or 2021	1996	—

Hermès reused the alphabet across several cycles, so the letter alone is not enough. The shape drawn around it is what separates them, a plain letter can be roughly 50 years apart from the same letter in a circle. Look closely at the stamp: is there a circle or a square around it, or nothing at all?

This checker does not tell you whether your Hermès is genuine. A blind stamp can be copied onto a fake as easily as it appears on a real one, and only a professional authentication can settle that. Have your Hermès authenticated by an expert

A Hermès blind stamp is a single letter that records the year the item was made. The letter alone is not enough, because Hermès ran through the alphabet several times, so the shape drawn around it decides which cycle you are in. A plain letter is 1945 to 1970 or 2015 onwards, a letter in a circle is 1971 to 1996, and a letter in a square is 1997 to 2014.

A blind stamp is a production marking, not a certificate. Hermès stamps are widely copied, and a stamp that reads correctly only tells you the marking is consistent with a given year, it cannot tell you the leather, the stitching or the hardware are right. Treat a matching stamp as one signal that clears a low bar, never as proof.

Era	What the marking looks like	Example
1945 to 1963, plain letter, first cycle	A single letter with nothing drawn around it	`H = 1952`
1964 to 1970, plain letter, no frame	A single letter with nothing drawn around it	`T = 1964`
1971 to 1996, letter inside a circle	A single letter enclosed in a circle	`circle T = 1990`
1997 to 2014, letter inside a square	A single letter enclosed in a square	`square J = 2006`
Late 2014 onwards, no frame	A single letter with no frame, not in alphabetical order	`A = 2017, and a plain R = late 2014`
More than one letter, the whole stamp	Two or three letters, sometimes with digits	`AT, or HDA1234`

Compiled from professional authentication reference material and reviewed in-house.

1945-1963 Varies widely on pieces this old, often on a strap, under a flap or on the interior leather. The first run of the alphabet, complete and including I and O. The CQC table prints only its tail from T in 1964, but its own printed Z = 1970 forces the run to have started at A = 1945, and skipping I and O would put T on 1962 instead of the 1964 the same table prints.

1964-1970 Varies by model and era, often on a strap, under a flap, or on the interior leather. The earliest run we can source. A plain letter here means pre-1971, but the same plain letters were reused from 2015, which is why the shape question matters.

1971-1996 Birkin/Kelly: on the reverse of the lock strap (pre-2015). Runs the full alphabet A to Z across 26 years, including I and O.

1997-2014 Birkin/Kelly: reverse of the lock strap until 2015, then the bag-opening edge. Runs A (1997) through R (2014), when the framed system was retired.

2014 Birkin/Kelly: on the bag-opening edge (2015 onwards). After 2014 Hermès dropped the frame and stopped running the letters in order, so this era must be read from a lookup rather than counted alphabetically. The changeover began inside 2014: pieces from late that year carry a plain R with no square, which is an early adoption of the new system and not a fault.

More than one letter The same place as the year letter, alongside it. A Hermès stamp usually carries craftsman and production references beside the year letter, and only the single framed or unframed year letter records when the item was made. Enter just that one character and the checker can date it.

Hermès stamp placement moved in 2015. On a Birkin or Kelly made before then, look on the reverse of the lock strap, from 2015 onward it sits on the bag-opening edge. Placement also varies by model, so on other styles check under the flap, on the interior leather and around the strap attachments. A stamp you cannot find is not evidence of a fake, it is usually evidence of looking in the wrong place for that model and era.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Hermès blind stamp questions

The things people actually ask us about Hermès blind stamps, answered by the team that reads them for a living.

What do the circle and square around the letter mean?

They tell you which cycle the letter belongs to. Hermès has run the alphabet four times: plain 1945 to 1970, circled 1971 to 1996, squared 1997 to 2014, and plain again from 2015.

My stamp has no shape around it, what does that mean?

Either it is vintage (1945 to 1970) or recent (2015 onward). Those two runs use overlapping letters, which is why the checker returns both rather than picking one. An unframed A is 1945 or 2017, and nothing in the stamp itself separates them. The rest of the bag settles it quickly: hardware, lining and model tell you at once which end of that range you are at.

Why isn't the letter in alphabetical order on newer bags?

After 2014 Hermès stopped running the letters in order, so a modern stamp has to be read from a lookup rather than counted along the alphabet.

Does a correct blind stamp mean my Hermès is authentic?

No. Counterfeiters reproduce blind stamps. Authentication looks at leather grain, stitch angle and tension, hardware weight and plating, and the tooling of the stamp itself.

What are the other letters and numbers next to the year letter?

They are craftsman and production references, not dates. Only the single framed or unframed year letter records when the item was made.

How far back does this checker go?

To 1945, the first complete run of the alphabet. Two things fix that date rather than estimate it: our sourced year table prints Z = 1970 as the last year before the circles begin, and a 26-letter run ending there has to start in 1945. Independent authenticator references give the same range.

The letter on my bag is faint or partly worn, can I still read it?

Read the shape more carefully than the letter. A worn circle can pass for a square, and that moves the answer by about twenty-six years. If in doubt, choose “I'm not sure” and the checker returns every year that letter can mean.

My stamp is a plain R with no square, is that wrong?

No, and it is a known transition. 2014 should carry an R inside a square, but Hermès began dropping the frame inside that year, so pieces from late 2014 carry a plain R. The checker returns both 1962 and late 2014 for an unframed R, because the stamp alone genuinely does not separate them.

Still not sure? Ask the authenticators The people who read these markings for a living, and who check your item