Jane Birkin’s original handbag sells for record €7 million at Paris auction
An auction officer displays the original Birkin bag created by Hermès for Jane Birkin in 1984, prior to its auction Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
The very first Birkin bag, famously conceived by Jane Birkin and sketched on an airplane sickness bag, has sold at auction in Paris for an astonishing €7 million (approximately $8.2 million).
The huge amount — which drew gasps and applause from the audience — crushed what auctioneer Sotheby’s had said was the previous auction record for a handbag. That was $513,040, for a White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28, News.Az reports, citing The Hill .
Now, the original Birkin bag, named after the actor, singer and fashion icon that Hermès created it for — the late Jane Birkin — is in a new league of its own.
The bidding started at 1 million euros ($1.17 million) and quickly became stratospheric, with telephone bidders fighting it out until the end. With Sotheby’s fees included, the total price for the winning bidder from Japan was a cool 8.6 million euros ($10.1 million), the auction house said.
Paris fashion house Hermès exclusively commissioned the bag for the London-born star in 1984 — branding it with her initials J.B. on the front flap, below the lock — and delivered the finished one-of-a-kind bag to her the following year, the auction house said. The subsequent commercialized version of Birkin’s bag went on to become one of the world’s most exclusive luxury items, extravagantly priced and with a yearslong waiting list.
The bag was born of a fortuitous encounter on a London-bound flight in the 1980s with the then-head of Hermès, Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin recounted in subsequent interviews that the pair got talking after she spilled some of her things on the cabin floor.
Birkin asked Dumas why Hermès didn’t make a bigger handbag and sketched out on an airplane vomit bag the sort of hold-all that she would like. He then had an example made for her and, flattered, she agreed when Hermès asked whether it could commercialize the bag in her name.
“There is no doubt that the Original Birkin bag is a true one-of-a-kind — a singular piece of fashion history that has grown into a pop culture phenomenon that signals 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, Sotheby’s head of handbags and fashion.
The bag became so famous that Birkin once mused before her death in 2023 at age 76 that her obituaries would likely “say, ‘Like the bag’ or something.”
“Well, it could be worse,” she added.
The Paris auction room buzzed with anticipation as the auction got underway, with the auctioneer reminding the crowd that the bag was “totally unique” and “the most famous bag of all time.”
From the starting price, the bids quickly surpassed 2 million, then 3 million, 4 million and 5 million, to astonished gasps. When the price jumped from 5.5 to 6 million in one swoop, there were whistles and applause.
The last bids were 6.2 million, 6.5 million, 6.8 million before the Japanese buyer’s last winning bid: 7 million. Sotherby’s didn’t identify the winner.
News.Az
