Question:
Well, in the spirit of the earlier L'artisan Date Code inquiries (which bore some useful info from a number of very logical B-noters, I think), I thought I'd start another with Chanel's coding. What can we decipher that might help us tell good stock from bad as to the 4-digit codes printed on many of the bottles and boxes? I'll start:
On my bottles of the following is inscribed the following numbers:
1. Cuir de Russie EDT: 7401
2. Bois des Iles EDT: 7101
3. Antaeus: 7401
4. Egoiste: 6202
5. PM Eau de Concentree: I can't find one (but I don't have the box anymore, either)
Any thoughts or possibilities? All of my bottles of the above fragrances were bought after 2005, so I don't think that the second number is a year of make...
So, what do you think? Please post your other Chanel fragrance numbers and opinions on what they might mean.

Answer:
Actually, my Allure Homme Sport has a series of / and ', the 's being in four different heights in the line of code.
So if l' is the bottommost, lm' is just above it, m' is in the middle, and t' denotes one in the same place as the other l' ones with another one near the top of the slash, mine looks like..
/m'm'm'/lm'l'l'/ t'/l'
Weird..?

Answer:
From past email communications with Chanel "Consumer Relations":
The code, either 2 letters and a number or 4 numbers, represents the production date and place of origin.
Chanel identified the following codes for me from my Egoiste bottles:
5401 = June 2004 France
2002 = August 2001 (they didn't tell me the origin on this one)
I don't know if there is a pattern that can be discovered just by looking at a few codes however.
According to the posts so far, the last two digits - '01' and '02' - may represent the origin, '01' probably being France. Anybody know where a second manufacturing plant may be and if there are more? In my examples, '54' must represent June 2004 and '20' must represent August 2001 but I don't see a pattern to use to extrapolate rach2jlc's dates from his codes.
genvy5, I don't know what's going on with your AHS.

Answer:
Mad Scientist, if you are correct, it may be that each successive month has the number represented by the first two digits increased by one.
As an illustration - if August 2001 is month '20' then 34 months on from that would be June 2004 which is, hey presto, number 54.
No idea if this is correct, but it would suggest that we should be looking for the highest possible number represented by the two digits beginning the code if we want the 'freshest' bottle.

Answer:
That makes a LOT of sense, Dante. According to your model (and madscientists initial post), my Chanels would be... and please double check my math...
1. Cuir de Russie EDT: 7401: February 2006, France (or 54 months after code "20"= August 2001)
2. Bois des Iles EDT: 7101: November 2005, France
3. Antaeus: 7401: February 2006, France
4. Egoiste: 6202: February 2005, (Location?)
That would all work logically, seeing as how I got all of them after those times.
ThANKS for the hints. I think we just may be on to something here as well...

Answer:
Very nice. We need more Chanel codes!
Chanel isn't secretive about it though. I don't know if they'd explain the pattern to you if you asked but I didn't have any trouble at all getting them to tell me the manufacture dates from the codes I gave them. You can contact them through their 'contact us' page at their website.
But it's more fun if we can figure it out ourselves
BTW, I purchased the August 2001 Egoiste (code 2002) in August 2005 from Perfumebay.com. Chanel said this was significantly past "shelf life"; I sent it back. I purchased the June 2004 bottle (code 5401) in September 2006 from Scentmonkey.com. Chanel said it was within its shelf life (just barely I suspect).

Answer:
Just wanted to bump this up again, since I think it could be helpful to many members with Chanel stuff.
August 2001 is code "20"... , so that would mean that January 2000 is code 00 (right?) Therefore, the first two numbers of the code SHOULD be the number of months AFTER January 2000.
So, my CdR starts with "74", which is 74 months after January 2000 (or 54 months past August 2001, which we know is code "20") or February 2006. That fits with when I would have purchased mine.
Any other codes people want to submit to test this some more? For those of us who order discount online, it could really help us tell if we're getting a good deal or just getting stock "past its shelf life."

Answer:
Well my egoiste is 6501. Bought in the UK so 01 for france makes sense and 65 would be jun 2005. I bought it online in mid 2006 so its perfectly plausible. The evidence is not contradicting the hypothesis so far, but that is not the same as proof!
I would love to know if madscientist/dante have got it correct with their rather excellent deductions.

Answer:
I just received a 75ml tester of Chanel PM today from bigdiscount.com.

Here are the particulars...


Label on side of box:


POUR MONSIUER
CHANEL
PARIS

EAU DE TOILETTE CONCENTRE
VAPORISATEUR - SPRAY
DEMONSTRATION - TESTER

NE PEUT ETRE VENDU - NOT FOR SALE
027452
75ml 2.5 fl oz.
EMB 60159 B Made in France

There is also a barcode on the top of the box, which looks newer than the Chanel label:

*BD00001683*

Answer:
Well, I have to bump this. i've been looking for a cheap bottle of Egoiste for a friend who said he couldn't find it anynmore. I bought a bottle off of ebay cheap. $26.99. Of course it was listed as brand new. Well, it doesn't look very used but it is old.
I compared it to my bottle:

8002 August 2006
ebay bottle:
0527 May 2000
It smells the same so no major complaints at the price I paid. Just thought I would throw some more dates up for people to see.