Were Hermès Birkin made for Jane Birkin? Origin discussed as singer’s original Hermès bag sells for whopping $10 million
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Hermès Birkin bag was originally created for Jane Birkin. Her well-worn original just sold for an astonishing $10 million.A black leather-covered Birkin bag came up for auction with an unprecedented price tag of 8.6 million EUR (10 million US dollars) making it the most expensive handbag ever sold on auction. The auction sheet ended at €7 million ($8.2 million) pre-fees.
It is not just a Birkin, but the first one that Hermes has ever designed which was custom-made specifically to the British actress and singer Jane Birkin, after whom it is named.
Between 1985 and 1994, it became her daily business accessory, not knowing that in the future it would become an epitome of the highest status of luxury.
This week, Sotheby made the history bag eligible at the block, as it was sold via an exclusive online auction with powerful names, such as Alexander McQueen and Christian Dior.
The original Birkin sets a new benchmark for luxury collectibles
Interest in the original Birkin was so intense, that even preliminary bidding broke the records set before the historic auction started, with the hammer reaching approximately $1.08 million USD.
We could see that the vibe during the broadcast was suggestive that this was not your average auction; the shock was evident on gasps that were audible when the final result was literally going up.
A total of nine avid bidders competed fiercely over a high-tension 10-minute standoff, in the process of contesting the piece, but it was a focused Japanese collector who made his point to win the day, according to Sotheby.
Morgane Halimi, the head of the global handbags and accessories department at Sotheby, said the moment will go down in history as one of the most iconic in the world of luxury fashion, as well as one that makes the world of collectors go crazy over rare products with a rich history tied to them.
But this sale even surpassed the most lavish Birkin models to ever be sold, a model that was studded with diamonds, aka a Himalaya Birkin that sold in 2022 in excess of $450,000 and a crocodile-skin version that fetched close to $390,000 in 2021.
The previous title of the most expensive handbag in the world was held by a diamond-studded Kelly bag, which fetched slightly more than half a million dollars.
But it has changed hands, or travelled, through a series of anonymous owners since Jane Birkin lost it in 1994 in order to donate the proceeds to AIDS research.
The iconic handbag has even appeared before the public eye on special occasions, despite the fact that it has changed hands numerous times as it can be seen in high-ticket display, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
It was last sold at an auction 25 years ago, bought by its former owner, Catherine B, who since then revealed that auctioning off the item triggered flashbacks in her mind of the sizzling bidding war she was engaged in to own it.
Birkin herself, who died in 2023 aged 76, joked about her unwanted legacy, admitting to an interviewer, Christiane Amanpour: despite everything she had done in film and music, she could end up being remembered as the middle-aged model representing an iconic, spacious handbag that carries her name and remains one of the most in-demand assets in the fashion universe as the ultimate status symbol.
A humble beginning for an iconic status symbol
The iconic handbag that Jane Birkin herself carried is actually a much more intimate, practical story than the well-kept creations that are today viewed as luxury investments by collectors.
Sotheby points out the fact that this initial Birkin was rather different to all subsequent derivations, in the dimensions, in the metal fittings, in the usefulness of the adjustable shoulder strap, and even in the initials inscribed on the flap, J.B.
The most distinctive items of all, however, are the remnants left by the daily life of Birkin: the two humanitarian stickers that are faintly visible on the weathered leather, and the small silver nail clippers that she used to carry with her all the time in order to have her nails done in a moment.
Decades before the Birkin attained the status symbol that could outperform stocks and gold in value, its origin lay in the fact that Birkin wanted something bigger to use instead of her basket that tipped over onto the Hermes chairman Jean-Louis Dumas during a flight in 1984.
It was Birkin, who drew a sketch in an airplane bag which prompted Hermes to design a bag that was practical and refined.
Auction houses such as Sotheby are now commanding ridiculous prices for these bags but Birkin never considered her bag to be one she could not tamper with, she is the one who used her bag as a workhorse being overstuffed with the stuff of her children and all her necessities.
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TOPICS: Jane Birkin, Hermès bag