Just to offer you some hope, I've had mine for a couple of months and no chipping. My hardware looks like it is brass and like it wouldn't chip even if I scraped a screwdriver on it. Hope your is the same, it's an awesome bag.
Thanks for the words of encouragement! I'm hoping it was a bad batch these girls got.
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Veni, Vedi, Visa.
I came, I saw, I did a little shopping.