The original Hermès Birkin bag that was designed for the actress Jane Birkin was sold at auction in Paris on Thursday for more than $10 million, becoming the most valuable fashion item sold at auction in Europe, according to Sotheby’s. The sale surpassed even a hat that had belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte.
“Today, the Birkin has become a veritable fashion icon,” said the auctioneer, Aurélie Vandevoorde, before the bidding started. It is, in fact, “the most famous bag of all time.”
Guests at the auction — many carrying their own Birkins — estimated that the prototype bag would sell for roughly $1 million to $2 million. But the bidding opened at $1.7 million, prompting gasps from the room. Within seconds, higher bids started flying in. As the price ticked up, the room erupted into cheers and claps. In the end, the bag went to a private collector from Japan, with the final price of 8.6 million euros ($10.1 million) including a buyer’s premium.
The prototype, made in 1984, is marked with Ms. Birkin’s initials and includes a nail clipper that the actress had hung on the outside of the bag. It is also crafted differently than the ones sold today.
And, of course, it carries with it the storied beginnings of the Birkin. According to fashion legend, Ms. Birkin was on an Air France flight to London from Paris when the contents of her tattered basket bag — wallet, keys, business cards, diapers, cigarettes, glasses — spilled out onboard. Her seatmate happened to be Jean-Louis Dumas, then the chief executive of Hermès, who witnessed this and discussed with Ms. Birkin ideas for a bag that could fit all of her necessities. They began to sketch it out together on an airsickness bag.
The final price for the prototype surprised even the current owner of the bag, Catherine Benier, who had purchased it at an auction in 2000 for an undisclosed price. The bag was previously sold by Ms. Birkin at a charity auction for AIDS in 1994.
“I am astonished at the result but, as a passionate collector myself, I am first and foremost profoundly moved by the way other collectors have invested so much fervor in trying to acquire what they clearly desired beyond words,” Ms. Benier, the owner of the Les 3 Marches de Catherine B vintage shop in Paris, said in a statement. “It made me relive my own bidding battle, 25 years ago.”
“I’m already very nostalgic at the thought of knowing the bag is no longer mine but extremely happy it has found a new loving home,” she added.
The previous auction record for a handbag was also for an Hermès bag: a white crocodile Kelly that sold for $513,040 in 2021, according to Sotheby’s.
The original Birkin, however, fell short of the most expensive fashion accessory ever sold at auction: the ruby red slippers from the Wizard of Oz, worn by Judy Garland, which fetched over $32 million last year.
Alisha Haridasani Gupta is a Times reporter covering women’s health and health inequities.
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