In its first market appearance in 25 years, Jane Birkin’s original Hermès Birkin created a sensation at Sotheby’s in Paris on the afternoon of July 10, selling for £8.6 million / $10.1 million – becoming the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction. The extraordinary result also establishes new benchmarks for the most valuable fashion item sold at auction in Europe, and the most valuable luxury item ever sold at Sotheby’s Paris. The Original Birkin now takes its place as the second most valuable fashion item ever sold. (The previous auction record for a handbag is a White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28, which fetched $513,040 in November 2021.)
“The spectacular sale of the Original Hermès Birkin at Sotheby’s Paris marks an important milestone in the history of fashion and the luxury industry more widely. It is 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. 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 sale of the Original Birkin is also, ultimately, a celebration of the enduring spirit and appeal of its muse, Jane Birkin,” said Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s global head of Handbags and Fashion.
After weeks of anticipation, the bidding opened at €1 million ($1.7 million). 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 nine 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 private collector from Japan, bidding via telephone through Maiko Ichikawa, country head, Sotheby’s Japan.
The Original Birkin was exhibited publicly for the first time in continental Europe at Sotheby’s Paris Galleries last autumn, and at Sotheby’s Maison in Hong Kong earlier this year. Following an exhibition in New York last month, The Original Birkin then traveled back to Paris, where it was exhibited one last time ahead of its sale. This momentum ultimately translated into extraordinary global interest, with over 270 participants from 38 countries registering for the Fashion Icons auction, marking one of the most internationally diverse and enthusiastically followed fashion sales in recent history.