ChanelMaker name
1910
Mark image
Paris, France
Specialties | 1883 | | 1913 | 1915 | 1918 | 1921 | | 1930 | 1932 | | 1954 | 1971
Designer marks
Chanel jewelry marks
The name “© CHANEL ® / 96 CC P / MADE IN FRANCE” appears among Chanel jewelry marks on metal from France. Its mark period is 1996.
- Active years
- From 1909
- Country
- France
- City / region
- Paris
- Products
- jewelry, Costume jewelry, Fine and high jewelry, Imitation-pearl necklaces, Gilt metal, glass-paste and crystal accessories
- Marks
- 7
House established 1910; costume jewelry developed in the early 1920s. Couture closed in 1939 and resumed in 1954.
What to look for
- Read the complete plaque: shape, CHANEL lettering, CC, country, copyright signs and any code. A four-digit year on a round plaque differs from a collection number split around the CC.
- From 1993, two-digit years can accompany a season letter: 95P identifies spring 1995. Use the construction and accompanying stamps to date an oval plaque without a date.
- A signature must be assessed with the whole jewel and its construction. Applied plaques can be lost or transferred, and a CC ornament alone is insufficient.
Marks & lettering
7 marks
c. 1971–1980
© CHANEL ® / CC / MADE IN FRANCE
Round plaque with country wording below the CC, rather than the later full-year line.
stamped applied plaque · gold tone · metal · France
1981
CHANEL 1981
The illustrated signature is dated 1981; no mark-use interval is stated.
1981 signature
1996
© CHANEL ® / 96 CC P / MADE IN FRANCE
96 and P flank the CC: spring 1996.
stamped applied plaque · silver tone · metal · France
Code dates this example, not the whole format.
Undated
© CHANEL ® / 2 CC 3 / MADE IN FRANCE
Single digits on opposite sides of the CC join as collection 23, rather than a year followed by a season letter.
stamped applied plaque · gold tone · metal · France
About Chanel
Gabrielle Chanel opened her first independent hat shop in Paris in 1910. Her business expanded into clothing and accessories, with rue Cambon becoming the house's principal address. By the early 1920s, costume jewelry formed part of her collections. Long strands of imitation pearls, gilt chains and glass stones accompanied clothes whose lines were comparatively restrained.
Chanel worked with specialist jewelers rather than manufacturing every ornament herself. Count Étienne de Beaumont designed costume pieces in the 1920s, and Fulco di Verdura contributed richly colored jewelry inspired by historical ornament. Maison Gripoix supplied glass-paste creations, including naturalistic flowers in colored glass. Robert Goossens later developed elaborate pieces drawing on Byzantine and other ancient jewelry. These collaborations combined precious and inexpensive materials in necklaces, brooches, bracelets and earrings.
The 1932 Bijoux de Diamants exhibition was a separate venture into high jewelry. The couture house closed during the Second World War and reopened in 1954. Gabrielle Chanel died in 1971, but the house continued. Karl Lagerfeld's arrival in 1983 brought renewed use of chains, pearls and the interlocking CC motif. Jewelry signatures subsequently evolved from simple names and plaques to collection and year-and-season codes.
Also known as: Gabrielle Chanel · Coco Chanel · House of Chanel
Look-alikes & how to tell them apart
Chanel Novelty Company / Reinad, 1941
American costume jewelry bearing a cursive Chanel name.
Its script signature belongs to the American company, not Gabrielle Chanel's Paris house. Check the script and design before assigning a piece to prewar French Chanel.
Unbranded or imitation CC jewelry
The interlocking motif and applied plaques are copied.
Compare the complete stamp, attachment and construction with the matching design. A familiar logo is not an authentication by itself.