A black leather handbag once carried by Jane Birkin has become the most expensive bag ever sold at auction, fetching a staggering €8.58 million (approximately $10 million) during a Sotheby’s sale in Paris on Thursday.
The Hermès Birkin bag, custom-made for the late British-French singer and actress in the 1980s, attracted intense interest from collectors around the world.
A prolonged bidding war, conducted via telephone, lasted more than 10 minutes before the final hammer came down.
The winning bid came from Valuence Japan, a Tokyo-based reseller of high-end designer goods, which stated that it had no intention of reselling the iconic piece. Instead, the company plans to preserve and exhibit the bag as a “piece of global cultural heritage,” citing its historical significance and the enduring legacy of its namesake.
The sale eclipses the previous record set by a rare Hermès Himalaya Kelly bag, which fetched approximately $510,000 at a Christie’s auction in 2021. The dramatic leap in value underscores the soaring demand for ultra-rare luxury items, particularly those with cultural and celebrity provenance.
What to know
This original Birkin was first conceived in 1984 after a chance encounter between Jane Birkin and then-Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight. The actress famously lamented the lack of a stylish yet functional handbag large enough for her needs. In response, Dumas asked her to sketch her ideal design, which she did, using an airplane sickness bag. A year later, Hermès delivered the result: a structured, spacious leather tote that would become one of fashion’s most iconic accessories.
- Although the Birkin bag has since become a commercial juggernaut, generating waitlists that span years, Birkin’s personal prototype was never reproduced. It features unique design elements not found in other models.
- Birkin sold the bag in 1994 to support AIDS-related charities. It changed hands again in 2000 and has, until now, been held in the private collection of a woman known publicly only as “Catherine B,” who revealed before the sale that she kept the item stored under tightly controlled conditions.
“Today, it’s the most sought-after bag that everybody dreams about,” she said in an interview prior to the auction, noting that she occasionally took the bag to fashion events, but otherwise safeguarded it meticulously for the past 25 years.
- Hermès International SCA, which produces the bag, has seen its designs appreciate rapidly on the resale market, with some fetching significantly more than retail prices due to scarcity and enduring allure.
- Sotheby’s did not publish a pre-sale estimate for the piece, reflecting both the unpredictability of collector interest and the exceptional nature of the item.
Jane Birkin, who died in 2023 at age 76, leaves behind a legacy of style and substance and now, a handbag whose cultural cachet is as long-lasting as the woman who inspired it.
