ORIGINAL JANE BIRKIN BAG SELLS FOR RECORD BREAKING $10 MILLION DOLLARS

An Hermès Birkin has just made fashion history. On July 10 in Paris, the very first Birkin bag ever made, designed specifically for Jane Birkin herself , has just sold for a record $10.1 million at Sotheby’s. It’s not just the most expensive Birkin ever auctioned. It’s now the most expensive handbag ever sold.

The bag dates back to 1984, the result of a now-famous encounter between Birkin and Hermès executive Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin, traveling with a straw basket that tipped over mid-flight, complained that she couldn’t find a leather bag that was both elegant and practical. Dumas responded by sketching one on an airplane sick bag. That sketch became the prototype that was delivered to her a year later, and it’s that exact piece that just went under the hammer.

In the lead-up to the auction, rumors swirled online after a leaked email exchange surfaced just a day before the sale. A hopeful bidder had reached out to Sotheby’s asking if €100,000 might be enough to participate. The response: “I assure you 100k will not be enough.” Another line from the email made it even clearer how high the stakes were: “1.6 million euros will grant you a paddle.” It was the first clear sign that this wouldn’t be a standard handbag sale.

The auction began at €1 million and quickly turned into a frenzy, with nine bidders fighting it out in under ten minutes. A private Japanese collector ultimately won with a final price of €8.6 million, which totals $10.1 million after fees. The figure more than doubled the highest auction record for any previous Birkin.

What makes this particular piece extraordinary is its condition as well as its charming backstory. This was not a collector’s item sealed in glass. Birkin used it constantly for over 20 years with its scuffed and softened leather, and the tarnished brass hardware. Her initials, “J.B.,” are still visible inside. Her nail clippers, a charm she famously carried, remain attached. Stickers from UNICEF and Médecins du Monde are still stuck to the outside, faded but intact. It also predates many of the now-standard features of later Birkin bags. This version includes a shoulder strap, a nonstandard zipper, smaller studs, and fully closed metal rings. These details, and their departure from the commercial models that followed, add to its uniqueness.

The sale comes a year after Jane Birkin’s death in July 2023 and just weeks after an exhibition in Paris celebrating her cultural impact and the history of the Birkin bag itself. The timing made this auction feel especially loaded as it was both a tribute and a final chapter to a style legacy that began almost by accident.

More than a status symbol, the Birkin has come to represent a certain type of luxury storytelling, and this sale reinforces how deeply personal style, especially when it’s worn into history, can become something worth millions.