FLOAT 100 · Handbags · No. 37
Chanel 2.55 Reissue 226
Gabrielle Chanel got tired of losing handbags she had to carry, slipped a chain over one and put it on her shoulder, and seventy years later the 28-centimeter version of that bag, the 226, is the size most buyers reach for.
- Year
- current
- Maker
- Chanel
- By price in handbags
- 43 of 100
Create a free account to see every recorded price and every grade.
Create a free account- Maker
- Chanel, Paris; made in France
- Original design
- The 2.55, presented in February 1955 and named for that month and year
- This version
- The Reissue, Karl Lagerfeld's close copy of the 1955 bag, released in February 2005 for its 50th anniversary
- Size
- 226, the 28 cm width; Chanel's US site now lists this size as the Large 2.55 Handbag
- Configuration tracked
- Black aged calfskin, diamond quilting, aged gold-tone Mademoiselle turn-lock and all-metal chain
- Lining
- Burgundy leather
- US boutique price
- $12,600 suggested retail for the black aged calfskin Large 2.55, as listed by Chanel on October 1, 2026
- Earlier boutique prices
- $8,500 as of July 1, 2021, then $9,500 from November 3, 2021, by one published price guide
- Resale examples
- A 2012 black example listed at $3,995, then $3,595; a 2018-2019 example listed at $4,900
A bag that freed the hands
Chanel tells the story in its founder's words: "Tired of carrying my bags by hand and losing them, I slipped a strap over them and slipped them over my shoulder." By most accounts she first tried the idea in the 1920s. A reference history says that, inspired by the straps on soldiers' bags, she added thin straps to a handbag and put the design on the market in 1929.
The bag that carries the name came later. After her comeback in 1954, Chanel updated that design, and the house presented the quilted leather handbag to the public in February 1955. Inside the company the launch date, 2.55, became the model's name. Chanel's own account calls it the first CHANEL handbag and says it defined the codes the house still uses: quilting, a flat-link chain strap, and a rectangular Mademoiselle turn-lock.
The comeback came at a hard moment for her style. When she returned to Paris from Switzerland in 1953, fashion was in thrall to Christian Dior's 1947 New Look, with its narrow waist, full skirt and yards of fabric. The 2.55 offered something else: a bag meant to be worn, not held, so that a woman's hands stayed free.
Every detail with a backstory
Much of what makes a 2.55 recognizable is said to come from Chanel's own life, and these stories are repeated so often that they are best read as house lore rather than documented fact. The burgundy lining is said to match the uniforms at the convent orphanage at Aubazine where she grew up. The chain is said to echo the key chains that hung from the caretakers' waists. The rectangular lock is called the Mademoiselle because she never married.
The diamond quilting, stitched with a running stitch that gives the bag shape and volume, has been credited to jockeys' riding coats, to the stained-glass windows of the abbey at Aubazine and to cushions in her Paris apartment. A zippered compartment under the front flap is rumored to be where Chanel kept love letters; the reference that repeats this flags it as unsourced.
Chanel's current description stresses construction over legend: the 2.55 is sewn like a garment, from the inside out, following principles the founder set down in 1955. A 2005 example cataloged at auction is described with a slip pocket on the back and a Bordeaux lambskin interior with an inner flap and one zip pocket.
Lagerfeld brings back the original
Karl Lagerfeld took over as chief designer at Chanel in 1983. Over the following years the house's flap bags drifted from the 1955 template, most visibly when the interlocking CC turn-lock and leather-threaded chain became the signature of what collectors call the Classic Flap. Those bags share the 2.55's ancestry but are a different model.
In February 2005, for the 50th anniversary, Chanel released a close copy of the original 2.55 with the Mademoiselle lock and all-metal chain. Strictly, the name Reissue belongs only to those 2005 commemorative bags, but it is now used for every bag built to the original pattern. One reseller's history says the 2005 run came in black with gold hardware, grey with silver and white with silver, in five sizes numbered 224 through 228, with 2.55-2005 markings under the flap.
The numbers are Chanel's own size codes. Guides list them from smallest to largest as 224, 225, 226, 227 and 228; one also counts a Mini below the 224, making six. One guide says Chanel now makes the 225, 226 and 227 reliably, while the 224 appears seasonally and the 228 is no longer made routinely. On Chanel's US site in October 2026, the black aged calfskin 2.55 appears in two sizes: a 24 cm bag sold simply as the 2.55 Handbag and a 28 cm bag sold as the Large 2.55 Handbag, the measurements guides give for the 225 and the 226.
How to recognize a 226
Chanel lists the 28 cm Large 2.55 at 19.5 cm high, 28 cm wide and 7.5 cm deep (7.7 x 11 x 3 in). Other sources measure the 226 slightly differently: one guide gives 28 x 19.5 x 7 cm, another 11 x 6.5 x 3.25 in, a resale listing 11 x 7 x 3.5 in, a 2005 auction example 28 x 17 x 6.75 cm, and a 2018-2019 example 28 x 19 x 9 cm. Hand measurements of a soft calfskin bag vary; the width of about 28 cm, or 11 inches, is the constant.
Aged calfskin is one of the most common leathers on the Reissue, usually quilted in diamonds, though chevron quilting and many other materials, from caviar and patent to tweed and printed canvas, have been used. The configuration tracked here pairs black aged calfskin with aged gold-tone hardware; ruthenium and polished gold are the other familiar choices.
The giveaways are the rectangular Mademoiselle turn-lock in place of the CC logo, an all-metal chain rather than a leather-threaded one, and a burgundy leather interior with an inner flap. One guide gives the doubled chain a drop of about 27 cm and the single chain about 49 cm on the 226; a resale listing measured 11 and 19 inches.
Price on the shelf, price on the street
Chanel raises handbag prices often, and the Reissue has followed. One published price guide recorded the 226 at $8,500 as of July 1, 2021 and $9,500 after an increase effective November 3, 2021. A dealer guide put it at about $11,300 in early 2025. On October 1, 2026, Chanel's US site listed the black aged calfskin Large 2.55 at a suggested retail price of $12,600 and the smaller 2.55 Handbag at $11,700.
Pre-owned bags trade well below that. A black aged calfskin 226 made in 2012, in very good condition with corner wear and plating wear, was offered at $3,995 in June 2026 and later reduced to $3,595 before it sold out. A 2018-2019 black aged calfskin 226 with aged gold hardware was listed at $4,900 in New York. At the commemorative end, a 2005 limited-edition 50th-anniversary black aged calfskin 226 sold at an online auction in November 2015 for $2,500, above its $1,500 to $2,000 estimate.
Guides to the line agree on one point: the 226 is the most popular Reissue size. It is wide enough for a phone, wallet, keys and sunglasses, and still small enough to wear on the shoulder with the doubled chain.
The numbers
- Dimensions
- 19.5 x 28 x 7.5 cm (7.7 x 11 x 3 in) by Chanel for the 28 cm Large 2.55; other sources range 17-19.5 cm high and 6.75-9 cm deep
- Chain drop
- About 27 cm doubled and 49 cm single, by one guide; 11 and 19 in on one measured example
- Material
- Aged calfskin, diamond quilted, in black; burgundy leather lining
- Hardware
- Aged gold-tone metal: rectangular Mademoiselle turn-lock and all-metal flat-link chain
- Chanel reference (current US)
- A37587Y04634C3906, Large 2.55 Handbag, black and burgundy
- Production quantity
- Not published by Chanel
Timeline
Gabrielle Chanel opens her first shop, Chanel Modes, at 31 rue Cambon in Paris.
Chanel puts her first handbag with thin shoulder straps on the market, by a reference account.
Chanel returns to France from Switzerland to find fashion dominated by Dior's New Look.
Chanel makes her comeback and sets about updating her handbag.
The quilted leather handbag is presented to the public; its launch date gives it the name 2.55.
Gabrielle Chanel dies at 87, still designing.
Karl Lagerfeld becomes chief designer at Chanel.
Chanel releases the Reissue, a close copy of the original 2.55, for its 50th anniversary.
A black aged calfskin 226 later offered on the resale market is made.
A 2005 limited-edition 50th-anniversary black aged calfskin 226 sells at an online auction for $2,500.
Karl Lagerfeld dies; Virginie Viard is named creative director.
The 226 is recorded at $8,500 at US boutiques by one price guide.
A US price increase takes the 226 to $9,500, by the same guide.
Virginie Viard leaves Chanel.
Matthieu Blazy is appointed artistic director of Chanel.
Chanel's US site lists the black aged calfskin Large 2.55, the 28 cm size, at $12,600.
The world in 1955
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is established at a meeting in Bangkok.
The Salk polio vaccine receives full approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
Ray Kroc opens the first franchised McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Eight Communist Bloc countries sign the Warsaw Pact.
Actor James Dean is killed in a car crash near Cholame, California.
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott.
The Kyoto Protocol goes into effect, the same month the Reissue arrives.
The first YouTube video, Me at the zoo, is uploaded.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 25, 2015 | $2,500 | Sold at auction2005 limited-edition 50th-anniversary black aged calfskin 226, antiqued gold hardware; online auction, estimate $1,500-2,000. |
| Jun 13, 2026 | $3,995 | Asking price, not a sale2012 black aged calfskin 226, aged gold chain, Very Good condition; resale listing's earlier asking price, before a reduction to $3,595. |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $4,900 | Asking price, not a sale2018-2019 black aged calfskin 226, aged gold hardware; fixed-price listing in New York, shown as not available. |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $3,595 | Asking price, not a sale2012 black aged calfskin 226, aged gold chain, Very Good condition; last listed price on a resale listing shown as sold out. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Chanel 2.55 Reissue 226 is number 43 of 100 in the handbags entries of the FLOAT 100. 19 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (37 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The name is a date: 2 for February, 55 for 1955.
- Strictly, only the bags made in 2005 for the 50th anniversary are Reissues; the name stuck to every bag built to the original pattern since.
- The 2.55 has no CC logo on its lock. The rectangular turn-lock is called the Mademoiselle, a nod to the fact that Chanel never married.
- Chanel says the 2.55 is sewn like a garment, from the inside out.
- Chanel's US site does not use the number 226; the 28 cm bag is sold as the Large 2.55 Handbag, and the 24 cm bag collectors call the 225 is sold simply as the 2.55 Handbag.
- In 2021 alone the 226's US boutique price rose from $8,500 to $9,500, by one price guide's records.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026