In its first market appearance in twenty-five years, Jane Birkin’s original Hermès Birkin bag created a sensation at Sotheby’s in Paris this afternoon, selling for €8.6 million / $10.1 million and becoming the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction.
After weeks of anticipation, the bidding opened at €1 million ($1.7 million) — prompting a gasp from the room. With that single bid, the world record for a handbag — set in 2021 by the Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28 at $513,040 — was instantly eclipsed.
What followed was an electrifying 10-minute bidding battle between 9 determined collectors, with bids coming in over the phones, online, and in the room. In the end, the handbag that changed fashion history was met with applause as it sold to a private collector from Japan.
More than just a bag, the Birkin has evolved from a practical accessory to become a timeless cultural icon. Its presence spans the worlds of music, film, television and the arts; it is a red carpet staple, a fashion magazine mainstay, and a coveted piece in the wardrobes of celebrities, artists and stylists alike.
The black leather bag was made for singer Jane Birkin in 1985 after she spilled her belongings while sitting next to the boss of luxury fashion house Hermès on a flight.
She asked why they didn’t make bigger bags, so he sketched out the design for a new, more practical but still highly desirable item on the aeroplane’s sick bag.
The prototype he made was sold to a private collector from Japan at Sotheby’s in Paris on Thursday, far surpassing the €439,000 (£378,000; $513,000) previous record sale.
The auction house said there was an “electrifying” 10-minute bidding war between “nine determined collectors”.
Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s global head of handbags and fashion, said the price was a “startling demonstration of the power of a legend and its capacity to ignite the passion and desire of collectors seeking exceptional items with unique provenance, to own its origin”.
She added: “The Birkin prototype is exactly that, the starting point of an extraordinary story that has given us a modern icon, the Birkin bag, the most coveted handbag in the world.”
The €8,582,500 total includes commission and fees. Sotheby’s did not publish a pre-auction estimate.
After creating the bag for the Anglo-French singer and actress, Hermès put the bag into commercial production, and it remains one of the most exclusive status symbols in fashion.
Some styles cost many tens of thousands of dollars and have waiting lists of years, with owners including celebrities like Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham and Jennifer Lopez.
The original has some unique features, such as Birkin’s initials on the front flap, a non-removable shoulder strap, the nail clippers she kept attached to the strap, and marks where she put stickers for causes she supported, such as Médecins du Monde and Unicef.
Birkin, who died in 2023 at the age of 76, owned the original bag for a decade and donated it to an auction to raise funds for an Aids charity in 1994.
It was later bought by Catherine Benier, who has a luxury boutique in Paris, who owned it for 25 years before selling it on Thursday.
