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.
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.
“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.
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.