The world of luxury fashion witnessed a historic moment as the original Hermès Birkin bag, once owned and used by the late British actress and singer Jane Birkin, sold for a staggering $10 million at Sotheby’s Paris.
The sale, which took place on July 10, 2025, shattered previous records and cemented the Birkin’s status as the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction.
A Legendary Bag With a Storied Past
- The bag: This was not just any Birkin—it was the very first prototype, custom-designed for Jane Birkin in 1984 after a chance encounter with Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight. As Birkin told Vogue in 2012, she famously sketched her ideal bag on an airplane sickness bag, leading to the creation of what would become the world’s most coveted handbag.
- Personal touches: The well-worn black leather bag bears Birkin’s initials on the front flap, a pair of silver nail clippers she kept for convenience, and the faded outlines of stickers from Médecins du Monde and UNICEF—details unique to her personal use and never replicated in later editions.
- A piece of fashion history: Birkin carried the bag almost daily from 1985 to 1994 before auctioning it for charity. It has since changed hands among private collectors and appeared in major museum exhibitions.
The auction: A 10-minute bidding war
- Fierce competition: The auction opened at €1 million and quickly escalated, with nine collectors bidding online, by phone, and in the room. Gasps and applause filled the Paris auction house as the price soared past previous records.
- Final price: The hammer came down at €8.6 million (about $10.1 million), with the winning bid placed by a private collector from Japan.
- Record-breaking: The sale more than doubled the previous auction record for a handbag, which stood at $513,040 for a Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28.
Jane Birkin, who passed away in 2023, once joked that her legacy would be forever tied to the iconic bag that bears her name. Standard Birkin bags are notoriously difficult to acquire, often requiring years on a waiting list, and retail for over $10,000, but the original prototype’s direct link to its creator and its visible signs of use made it a unique piece of fashion history.
The Birkin’s value has consistently risen over the years, outperforming traditional investments like the S&P 500 and gold, making it a prized asset for collectors. News of the auction was previously reported by Business Insider and Artnet, among others.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
