In its first market appearance in twenty-five years, Jane Birkin’s original Hermès Birkin bag created a sensation at Sotheby’s in Paris this afternoon, selling for €8.6 million / $10.1 million and becoming the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction.
After weeks of anticipation, the bidding opened at €1 million ($1.7 million) — prompting a gasp from the room. 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 9 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 a private collector from Japan.
