Very the first Birkin bag gets an amazing price in an auction

Paris (AP), outlined in a Birkin’s first bag bag, the prototype for the essential fashion accessory, was sold for an amazing caught of 8.6 million euros ($ 10.1 million), including rates, on Thursday in Paris to become the second most valuable fashion element ever sold in an auction.

The winning offer of 7 million euros caused gasps and applauded the audience. The price crushed the previous auction record for a bag: $ 513,040 paid in 2021 by a Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Returne Kelly 28.

Now, the original Birkin bag, named for the actor, singer and fashion icon that Hermès created it, the deceased Jane Birkin, is in a new league. Only a fashion article has been sold at an auction for more: a pair of ruby shoes of “The Wizard of Oz”, which was sold for $ 32.5 million in 2024, Sotheby’s said.

Whistles in the auction room

The Paris auction room buzzed in advance when the sale began, with the auctioneer remembering the crowd that the bag was “totally unique” and “the most famous bag of all time.”

The tender began by 1 million euros, but increased rapidly, with the telephone bidders fighting at the end. With Sotheby rates included, the total price for the winning bidder of Japan was fruits of 8.6 million euros, said the auction house.

Edward Berthelot through Getty Images

From the initial price, the offers shot beyond 2 million euros, then 3 million, 4 million and 5 million, to amazed gasps. When the price increased from 5.5 million to 6 million euros in one time, there were whistles and applause.

The final offers were 6.2 million euros, then 6.5 million, then 6.8 million before the last winning offer of the Japanese buyer: 7 million euros.

Sotheby’s did not identify the buyer. Nine collectors who offer by phone, online and in the room competed in the battle of auctions of 10 minutes, with the private collector of Japan surpassing a last other remaining bidder at the end.

‘One of a kind’

Paris Fashion House Hermès exclusively commissioned the Birkin bag born in London in 1984, marking it with its JB initials in the front fin, under the lock, and delivered the single bag finished the following year, Sotheby’s said. The subsequent marketed version of Birkin’s Bag became one of the most exclusive luxury items in the world, with an extravagant price and with a waiting list of years.

The bag was born from a fortuitous encounter on a flight to London in the 1980s with the then head of Hermès, Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin reported in later interviews that the couple began to speak after she spilled some of her things on the floor of the cabin.

Birkin asked Dumas why Hermès did not make a larger bag and was drawn in a plane vomiting bag the type of warehouse he would like. Then an example was made for her and, flattered, agreed when Hermès asked if she could market the bag in her name.

Reporter associates through Getty Images

“There is no doubt that the original Birkin bag is a true unique in the type, a unique piece of the history of fashion that has become a phenomenon of pop culture that indicates the luxury in the most refined way possible. It is incredible to think that a bag initially designed by Hermès as a practical accessory for Jane Birkin has become the most desirable bag in history,” said Morgane Halimi, Sothebys.

The bag became so famous that Birkin once reflected before his death in 2023 at 76 years that his obituaries would probably say, “like the bag” or something. “

“Well, it could be worse,” he added.

Chic French height

Sotheby’s said that seven design elements in the leather prototype all artisanal black distinguish it from Birkins that followed.

He is the only Birkin with a non -rotating shoulder strap: appropriate for the occupied life and practicality of the singer, actor, social activist and mother, who was also known for his romantic relationship with the French singer Serge Gainsbourg and his duets that included the vaporous 1969 song “Je t’aime Moi Non Plus” (“I love you, me”).

His bag also had a united nail cutting, because Birkin “was never a long -painted nail,” Sotheby’s said.

The bag that Hermès made by hand for her, was developed in her Courroies model, also has golden brass hardware, lower bolts and other features that differ from commercial Birkins.

Birkin’s casual and windy style in the 1960s and early 1970s: long hair with bangs, jeans combined with white, knit minors and basket bags, still personifies the height of French elegance for many women around the world.

‘More than just a bag’

When Birkin talked with Hermès’s Dumas on London’s flight about what his ideal bag would be, he had been accustomed to carrying his things in a wicker basket, because he felt that the bags in the 1980s were too small, Sothebyby said. He traveled with his little daughter, Charlotte, and complained that he could not find an adequate bag for his needs as a mother, says Hermès.

Hermès then gave him four other Birkin bags. He maintained the prototype for almost a decade, before auctioning it for a beneficial organization in AIDS in 1994. He was auctioned again in 2000 and since then he had been in private hands.

The previous owner, who identified only as Catherine B., told journalists at the auction that the bag “has all the attributes of a star.”

“The price is the price of Hermès’s story,” he said.

Sotheby’s called “more than a simple bag.”

“Birkin has evolved from a practical accessory to become a timeless cultural icon,” he said. “His presence covers the worlds of music, cinema, television and the arts,” he added. “It is a basic element of the red carpet, a pillar of the fashion magazine and a piece coveted in celebrities, artists and stylists.”

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John Leicester reported from Le Pecq.