Hermès date stamp

The year letter is usually the first letter on the stamp; on 2011 bags it can sit inside a frame shared with the craftsman’s J. Pick the letter and the shape around it.

Shape around the letter

Letter

Birkin and Kelly: older bags have it under a strap, recent ones inside against the back wall. A small mark next to the logo on exotic skins (□, ^, ..) shows the leather – it isn’t the year frame.

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Not proof of authenticity. Counterfeits copy genuine stamps; genuine bags can have a faint stamp or none. Hermès doesn’t authenticate pieces bought outside its own stores and website.

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1945–1970No frameA = 1945 … Z = 1970

1971–1996CircleA○ = 1971 … Z○ = 1996

1997–2014SquareA□ = 1997 … R□ = 2014

2015–2026No frame againT X A C D Y Z U B W K G

Matches five reseller guides and is tested on dated listings from two resellers: 32 stamps, 1973–2026. No dated bags from 1945–1970 yet, so those years are shown as approximate. Sources

How to read the stamp

Hermès presses a small “blind” stamp (no ink, no foil) into the leather. The year is a single letter. From 1945 the letters ran through the alphabet one per year, with no frame. When the alphabet ran out the letters started again inside a circle (1971–1996), then inside a square (1997–2014).

In 2015 the frame was dropped, and since then the letters no longer follow the alphabet: T for 2015, X, A, C, D, Y, Z, U, B, W, K for 2025 and G for 2026. That is why an unframed letter can mean two years – for example K is 1955 or 2025.

Recent bags carry the stamp inside, usually with a longer line below it that identifies the craftsman. Older bags have a shorter code, often under a strap or a flap. That helps you choose between the two years, but it’s a hint, not a rule: around 2015–2016 both places were used.

What the stamp can’t tell you

Whether the bag is genuine. Stamps are copied, and Hermès says it only vouches for pieces bought through its own stores and website.
When the bag was bought. A bag can reach the boutique a year or more after its stamp year.
Who made it. Only Hermès can read the craftsman line.

Things that trip people up

I, O and Q are used as year letters like any other letter.
2011: the year O sometimes shares one frame with the craftsman’s J and reads “JO”.
2014: from the second half of the year, R was stamped without its square.
Marks for exotic leathers sit next to the logo. They are not a year frame.
A separate S, a horseshoe or a star next to the stamp marks staff, special-order or craftsman bags. None of them is the year.
Some genuine bags have a faint stamp, or none that you can read.

New letters are added once two independent sources confirm them. See sources.