Actress Jane Birkin’s original Hermes Birkin has sold for £8.6million – becoming the most valuable handbag to ever be sold at auction.
The legendary bag, named after the British actress and singer, is now also the second most expensive fashion item to ever be sold, after it went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in Paris on Thursday.
The classic handbag was designed for Birkin, who starred in many French and British films from the 1960s onwards, and died in 2023.
Birkin happened to be seated next to Jean-Louis Dumas, then artistic director of Hermes, on an Air France flight in 1981.
Carrying all her items in a wicker basket, she complained to Dumas that the handbags of the day tended to be too small to fit all of her belongings.
Dumas and Birkin began sketching designs on the back of a sick bag, and by 1985, Hermes had produced a prototype and presented it to Birkin, requesting her permission to name the new style in her honour.
The leather bag has become a status symbol, worn on the arms of celebrities including Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham, Kylie Jenner and Jennifer Lopez.
Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s global head of handbags and fashion, said: ‘The spectacular sale of the original Hermes Birkin today at Sotheby’s Paris marks an important milestone in the history of fashion and the luxury industry more widely.
Actress Jane Birkin’s original Hermes Birkin has sold for £8.6 million – becoming the most valuable handbag to ever be sold at auction. The British-French actress pictured
Pictured: Sotheby’s auction featuring the original Birkin bag on Thursday
Actress Jane Birkin is pictured in France in 1960. Her handbag has sold for £8.6million in Paris
‘It is a startling demonstration of the power of a legend and its capacity to ignite the passion and desire of collectors seeking exceptional items with unique provenance, to own its origin.
‘The Birkin prototype is exactly that, the starting point of an extraordinary story that has given us a modern icon, the Birkin bag, the most coveted handbag in the world.
‘The sale of the original Birkin is also, ultimately, a celebration of the enduring spirit and appeal of its muse, Jane Birkin.’
The previous world record for a handbag was the Hermes white Himalaya niloticus crocodile diamond retourne Kelly 28, which sold in 2021 for $513,040 (£380,000).
The most expensive fashion item to ever be sold were the pair of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in the film The Wizard of Oz, which sold for $32.5 million (£24 million) in 2024.
Birkin’s legendary bag has arguably become the world’s most coveted and iconic fashion accessory since it was made in 1984.
Despite fashionistas around the world lusting over the chic accessory, Jane herself only ever owned one Birkin bag, which she used as an ‘old faithful’ garment until she sold it to charity.
Pictured: Former owner of the original Birkin bag Catherine B, who does not want to release her family name
Actress Jane Barkin holds her Hermes Birkin handbag during the France Film Festival 2010 press conference
Pictured: The iconic black leather bag that belonged to actress Jane Birkin
Forty years later, auction house Sotheby’s announced the original black leather bag would lead its Fashion Icons sale on 10 July.
The first ever of its kind, the historic accessory was on public display at Sotheby’s New York galleries from June 6 to June 12, before being moved to the Parisian auction in the city which was once Jane’s home.
Distinguished by seven unique design elements, the veneered bag, the first in a long ancestry of highly sought after Birkin accessories, was only exhibited publicly for the first time last autumn at Sotheby’s Paris Galleries.
Later displayed at Sotheby’s Maison in Hong Kong earlier this year, the purse drew in thousands of spectators from across the world, making it an accessory with legendary status.
Aesthetically speaking, the satchel is fairly unremarkable in comparison to today’s Birkin lines – with a large assortment of colours, patterns and styles now available to those willing to bear its six year waiting list – with a plain black leather design.
Jane’s initials are embossed onto the leather design, and the bag itself is covered in residue from stickers representing Unicef and Médecins du Monde. Unlike more modern versions, it also has a shoulder strap.
Overall the bag is in a somewhat tattered state suggesting it was well-worn and ‘loved’ by its late owner.
It’s different to the first Birkin bags created by Hermès, which were 40cm, and then 35 cms in size, the Original Birkin a hybrid of those two sizes with width and height of a Birkin 35 with the depth of a Birkin 40.
Other differences include the metal rings, which are closed on the Original and the hardware, which was first made of gilded brass before later being replaced by gold-plated hardware.
The zips are also unique. When it was first created, Hermès still purchased its zips from the ‘éclair’ company, but this changed in the 1990s when the brand began a partnership with the Riri company, which to this day still manufactures all the zips for the Birkin bags.
The bag’s feet, or bottom studs, are smaller on the Original Birkin than those eventually used on modern models.
Designed specially for Jane, who was never one to sport long painted nails, the Original also has a nail clipper hanging from a chain on the inside of the bag.
The first ever of it’s kind, the historic accessory will be on public display at Sotheby’s New York galleries from 6 – 12 June, before being repossessed at the Parisian auction in the city which was once home to Jane
Distinguished by seven unique design elements, the veneered bag, the first in a long ancestry of highly sought after Birkin accessories, was only exhibited publicly for the first time last autumn at Sotheby’s Paris Galleries
Jane’s initial, ‘J.B’ are embossed on the front and it and bears the residue of Unicef and Médecins du Monde stickers stuck on the front and sides by Jane. It also has a gold clasp and unlike subsequent versions, has a shoulder strap
The original ‘It’ bag – copies of which retailed for £1,500 (£4,800 in today’s money) – lasted Jane for ten years. When a replacement was required, Jane sold it to an unnamed buyer at auction in 1994 to support the fight against Aids
One of five Birkin bags gifted to Jane, she was known to hold the Original particularly close to her heart, always making sure to specify if she was carrying it over the others.
The original ‘It’ bag – copies of which retailed for £1,500 (£4,800 in today’s money) – lasted Jane for ten years. When a replacement was required, Jane sold it to an unnamed buyer at auction in 1994 to support the fight against Aids.
Six years later it was back on the market, much to the delight of Catherine Benier, a collector of vintage Hermes and Chanel accessories and owner of Les Trois Marches de Catherine B, an exclusive Parisian vintage fashion boutique, who’d narrowly missed out on the bag previously.
She previously described the moment she finally got her hands on the bag. Awestruck by what leather item she’d seen so many times wrapped in the arms of Jane , she said: ‘I couldn’t imagine that this marvellous object didn’t belong to me.’
At the time of purchase, the fashion enthusiast told MailOnline she felt ‘indescribably joy’ when the hammer fell.
Refusing to disclose how much she’d paid for the honour of ownership – the figure thought to be well into six figures – Catherine said she would never use the handbag, nor would she part with it.
She claimed that she had already received repeated requests to purchase it, including eyewatering sums from the likes of Rihanna and others.
Despite having insisted she would never re-sell the bag, it would appear Catherine has changed her mind.
Later displayed at at Sotheby’s Maison in Hong Kong earlier this year, the fashion defining purse drew in thousands of spectators from across the world, reaffirming it’s status as a legendary accessory. Jane pictured in 2005
The bag was first conceived by a chance encounter between Jean-Louis Dumas, the one-time president of Hermes and the Jane Birkin, when the contents of her straw bag spewed out on the plane they were both taking
Muse to the renowned fashion piece, Jane only ever had one Birkin at a time and would wear the item to the point of near-collapse. Pictured in 2022
The bag was first conceived by a chance encounter between Jean-Louis Dumas, the one-time president of Hermes and the Jane Birkin, when the contents of her straw bag spewed out on the plane they were both taking.
‘I said, ‘The day Hermes makes one with pockets, I will have that.’
‘And he said, ‘But I am Hermes, and I will put pockets in for you.’
Jane sketched the bag she had in mind on a sick bag, handed it to her travelling companion – and the rest is history.
Accompanied by her daughter Charlotte, Jane laid out her desires for the perfect bag, her main concern being capacity.
She explained that she had previously found bags too small and often found herself carrying a large large wicker basket she had bought in Portugal in the late 1960s.
Over the next four decades, the Hermes Birkin would become the most desired fashion accessory in the world, with waiting lists of up to six years for some styles — the ‘Himalaya’, made from albino Nile crocodile skin, is the most highly prized — with buyers willing to pay more than £300,000 to get their hands on one.
As she recalled: ‘When everything fell out of whatever bag I had, the man next to me said, ‘You should have one with pockets.’
Jane only ever owned — and subsequently sold — five Birkins, all in plain black leather and personalised with stickers, worry beads, keys, luggage tags, bracelets and even a miniature harmonica dangling from its handles. Pictured in 1969
Muse to the renowned fashion piece, Jane only ever had one Birkin at a time and would wear the item to the point of near-collapse.
‘One is already quite enough,’ she told Vogue in 2011. ‘Any bag that’s with me will take the same course as I will. It will take the same airplanes and will be squashed in the same way and will be used as a cushion in the airports.’
The actress and singer kept her essentials — diary, phone, photographs of her three daughters and make-up — in her Birkin, but admitted she’d had to stop carrying ‘that rather trivial piece of heavy luggage’ in her latter years as it had contributed to her tendonitis.
She also confessed to using the bag as an umbrella, sleeping on it at airports — even giving her cat free rein to play inside.
Jane only ever owned — and subsequently sold — five Birkins, all in plain black leather and personalised with stickers, worry beads, keys, luggage tags, bracelets and even a miniature harmonica dangling from its handles.
‘She was bohemian,’ says Hermes expert Michael Tonello, author of Bringing Home The Birkin and founder of smart fashion retailer Respoke. ‘She didn’t care very much about luxury goods.’
Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s Global Head of Handbags and Fashion, previously said: ‘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.’
