Over the years I have worked with many different exotic leather skins, the most valuable and classic of which is crocodile and alligator. From these rugged hides some of the most elegant and expensive leather products can be made, from handbags and cases to jewelry boxes. One question that is often asked is “how do you tell the difference between crocodile and alligator skin?”
Crocodiles, alligators and caimans (a type of alligator) share many basic features and so are known collectively as “crocodilians” (or more correctly “crocodylians”)
It is important to identify the species that has been used for your product as caiman is inferior to crocodile and alligator which are considered to be the “mink of the exotic leather trade”. (It doesn’t help that caiman products have been known to be mislabeled as crocodile or alligator.) It is also interesting to hear that Europeans will tend to call all “alligator” crocodile and the Americans call “crocodile” alligator (alligators are from America). Today, due to steadily increasing skin costs, it is not unusual to see a bag with alligator or crocodile on the front and back and caiman on the sides with a caiman strap because as many as three skins may be used in making a handbag.
Distinguishing crocodilian leathers can firstly be done by looking closely at the scales. Both crocodiles and alligators have sensory organs called ISOs (integumentary sense organs) covering their head and jaws. They help the animal to direct the head toward pressure changes in the water (e.g. splashing water). Crocodiles have similar ISOs covering their entire body whereas alligators and caimans don’t. If you look at crocodile leather, you can see a small dimple on every scale, but not on alligator leather.
The single most distinguishing feature of alligator leather is the umbilical scar which is an elongated star shape with a webbing pattern in it. The alligator is the only crocodilian that has this feature and so it is often placed prominently on products to show the authenticity of the leather. This means that the patterning of the alligator scales is not as uniform and regular as the crocodile.
The belly is used for manufacturing crocodile and alligator handbags and leather goods because it is smooth and pliable. Crocodile and alligator are superior leathers compared to caiman which has a tendency to form cracks between scales when the leather surface is bent. The uniformity of the crocodile an alligator skin also allows dyes to distribute evenly in the leather whereas the bony deposits in the caiman skin causes dyes to be blotchy.
A cheap crocodile handbag probably means it is made from faux crocodile leather which has been made by embossing a croc pattern onto a genuine leather skin. Tell-tale signs are a repetitive pattern and shallow creasing between the tiles. Viewing the surface of the leather sideways, crocodile scales are not flat or plateaued but slightly sloped. The ridges between scales are also deeper. If looking at a piece of cut leather you will see that the scales are of the same pattern on the underside as they are on the top.
Crocodile and alligator are considered to be the most valuable classic exotic leathers in the world and continue to be integral to the world of luxury leather goods.
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