It’s nearly impossible to walk inside an Hermès store and come home with a new Birkin bag. But if you wanted to get your hands on the original Birkin bag — the prototype made for the actress Jane Birkin — it is going up for auction. It will be sold as part of a Paris Fashion Icons sale, which Sotheby’s is holding on July 10.
The bag will be on view at Sotheby’s in Manhattan from June 6-10 and then transported — representatives would not say how, citing security concerns — to Sotheby’s Galleries in Paris, where it will be on view from July 3-9.
There is no public estimate for how much the bag might fetch.
“At this stage we will communicate it privately to potential bidders,” said Morgane Halimi, the global head of handbags and fashion for Sotheby’s. “Obviously it is a one-of-a-kind piece, completely apart from any other handbag, or any other Birkin. We are breaking records with Birkin bags on a regular basis at auction. We foresee it to be as unique as the Diana jumper or a worn jersey from the N.B.A. It has value because of what it is and what has happened because of that bag.”
This is the original bag made in 1984 for Ms. Birkin, who was an icon of French cinema. The story behind the bag has become something of a fashion legend. Ms. Birkin was on an Air France flight to London from Paris and had been upgraded to first class. The basket bag she carried, her signature for decades, was in poor shape. As she boarded the plane, the contents started to spill out: wallet, keys, business cards, diapers, cigarettes, glasses.
Her seatmate happened to be Jean-Louis Dumas, then the chief executive of Hermès, the luxury house founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès. Ms. Birkin and Mr. Dumas talked about how she needed a bag that could fit all of her necessities and they began to sketch out an idea on an airsickness bag. Their concept had two handles like a tote, and somewhat resembled a shrunken version of the Haut à Courroies luggage that Hermès made. Her custom bag became the prototype of the Birkin, which was named after her.
The bag became desirable partly for its rarity.
“There are a limited number of them created each year,” said Ms. Halimi. “There is the craftsmanship: you can repair it and restore it and cherish it. And then in a world of fast fashion and seasonal trends, it’s not going to be out of style anytime soon. If you are offered one to buy at Hermès, you feel like part of this small club.”
The Birkin has become a fixture in pop culture since its inception, name checked in many song lyrics and appearing as a plotline on a 2001 episode of “Sex and the City” that included the memorable line: “It’s not a bag, it’s a Birkin!”
This original bag is different in several ways from the commercially available Birkins. Its size is unique, with a height of just under 14 inches and a depth of just under 16 inches; its strap is not removable; the hardware is made of brass; the inner zipper is from a different manufacturer; the studs on the bottom are a different shape.
And one more detail: a nail clipper that Ms. Birkin had hung on the outside of the bag is included. She was known for not being precious with her Birkins. She covered some in stickers for political causes and frequently hung trinkets off them.
On social media, fans have taken to posting their own charm-laden bags or phones, which some call “Birkinifying.” Over the last year, imitations — or homages — to the bag have gotten notice online, including the Boatkin.
The original Birkin, though, has remained a subject of intense fascination. It was exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art as part of the show “Items: Is Fashion Modern?” that ran from 2017 to 2018, and again in 2020 at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum as part of the exhibition “Bags Inside Out.” Sotheby’s displayed it in the company’s Paris galleries in October 2024, and at Sotheby’s Maison, Hong Kong in April 2025. Thousands of people came to see the bag at the Sotheby’s showings, Ms. Halimi said.
Ms. Birkin, who died in July 2023, owned five Birkin bags over the course of her life, one of which sold for around $160,000 in a 2021 auction.
This prototype, which has the added value of being the original, was sold by Ms. Birkin at a charity auction for AIDS in October 1994. It went to auction again in May 2000, at Poulain-Le Fur, and was purchased by Catherine Benier, a prominent collector and the owner of the Les 3 Marches de Catherine B vintage shop in Paris, for an undisclosed price.
“Acquiring the first Birkin from Hermès was a dream of mine as a collector,” Ms. Benier wrote in an email. She said she had read about the 1994 auction but didn’t participate, and was determined to win the 2000 auction when she heard about it in advance. “I got the bag after fierce bidding between myself and other foreign bidders … It’s the jewel in my collection.”
Ms. Benier kept the bag stored, but the crowds who visited it last fall influenced her decision to sell. “A collection is only worth it if it’s shared,” she wrote.
She expects the bag to set records, but would not specify a desired number.
“Twenty-five years ago when I acquired it, it was already the most expensive bag in the world,” she wrote. “All these elements fuel the legend of the first Birkin bag, so certainly a price exists, but what is it? This bag is the object of a lifetime, it’s a legend, an icon. Does a legend have a price? Certainly.”
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