Sotheby’s announced a record-shattering auction result in Paris on Thursday: the original Hermès Birkin bag designed for actress and singer Jane Birkin sold for a staggering €8.58 million (approximately $9.15 million, inclusive of fees).
This extraordinary hammer price crowns the Birkin as the most expensive handbag ever sold at auction and the second-highest price achieved for any fashion item in history.
Previously, the handbag auction record was held by a diamond-encrusted, rare Himalayan crocodile skin Hermès Kelly bag, which fetched HK$40 million (around $5.1 million) at Christie’s in 2021. The all-time record for a fashion item remains the original ruby slippers from *The Wizard of Oz*, which sold for $32.5 million last year.
Pre-auction estimates had placed the rare prototype bag’s likely value between €1 million and €2 million. Initial bidding started at a surprising €1.7 million, drawing gasps from the room. After a competitive 10-minute battle involving multiple bidders, a private collector from Japan secured the piece with a winning bid of €7 million, reaching the final price with fees included.
The astronomical price tag for a bag conceived in the 1980s is inextricably linked to its exceptional origin story. The iconic design was born from a chance 1981 encounter between Jane Birkin and then-Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas aboard a Paris to London flight.
Reportedly frustrated by the predominantly small handbags of the era, Birkin often carried a wicker basket. After spilling her possessions during the flight, she sketched her vision for a larger, functional “bag half the size of a suitcase” onto an airplane sickness bag and asked Dumas why Hermès didn’t make such a piece. This led Hermès to create the custom prototype, delivered to Birkin in 1984. Delighted, Birkin subsequently granted permission for Hermès to commercially produce and name the ubiquitous Birkin design after her.
Affectionately aware of the bag’s enduring fame, Birkin herself reportedly quipped before her death in 2023 that her obituaries might simply read something like “She was like the bag.”
Beyond its cultural cachet, the Birkin has also demonstrated remarkable performance as an alternative asset class. A 2016 study revealed that between 1980 and 2015, Birkin bags consistently appreciated at an average annual rate of 14.2%*, outperforming the S&P 500’s average nominal return of 11.66% over the same period, even accounting for market downturns. (*Past performance is not indicative of future results).
The trajectory of this particular prototype adds to its mystique. Birkin owned the debut model for about a decade before auctioning it in 1994 and donating the proceeds to an AIDS charity. It then entered the collection of Paris-based collector known pseudonymously as “Catherine B” in a private 2000 sale.
Sotheby’s highlighted distinctive features setting this original prototype apart from later commercial iterations: it’s the sole Birkin featuring a non-detachable strap and includes a uniquely practical inclusion—a nail clipper attached to the bag. The “J.B.” initials of Jane Birkin are also embossed on the front flap.
“This astonishing result powerfully demonstrates the potency of legend and its unique ability to ignite collector passion and desire,” commented Morgane Halimi, Head of Sotheby’s Global Handbags and Fashion Department. “Collectors are intensely seeking singular pieces of unparalleled provenance, driven by the aspiration to possess the very origin of an icon.”
Original article, Author: Tobias. If you wish to reprint this article, please indicate the source:https://aicnbc.com/4454.html
