Already among some of the most expensive bags in the world, an “original Birkin” is now sold to a Japanese bidder for a staggering €8.58 million

The “Original Birkin” is not the British-French actress/singer Jane Mallory Birkin. It is a bag. This is no ordinary bag. It’s an Hermès offspring. And it’s no ordinary Birkin. It’s the very first made for Ms Birkin, after whom the nondescript bag was named. It was auctioned by Sotheby’s Paris two days ago, and was snapped up in the ten-minute session for €8.58 million (or about S$12.84 million), including fees, by an initially unnamed private collector in Japan that was later identified as Valuence Japan, operator of “brand buy-back specialty stores” (seller of secondhand merchandise) Nanboya and Allu. The company, whose president and group CEO is identified as Shinsuke Sakimoto, has explicitly stated that the acquisition is not for the purpose of reselling it. Valuence told the Japanese media that “Ms Jane Birkin’s embodiment of freedom and originality deeply resonates with our group’s philosophy. We hope the bag can be a symbol of empowerment, diversity and confidence.”

The historic acquisition was facilitated at a Sotheby’s Fashion Icons auction which was described as an “electrifying” bidding battle. The opening bid of €1 million alone instantly eclipsed the previous world record for a handbag at an auction. The final sale price cemented this Birkin as the most valuable handbag ever sold at an auction and the second most valuable fashion item ever auctioned and bought, trailing only the ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz, which sold in 2024 for a not shoddy $32.5 million. The price the Original Birkin was able to fetch firmly puts it in the league of valuable artworks sold this year, such as Pablo Picasso’s divisive ‘Nu assis dans un fauteuil’ (oil and Ripolin on canvas) auctioned for £7,116,000 (about S$12.33 million) at Sotheby’s London just last month.

The opening bid of €1 million alone instantly eclipsed the previous world record for a handbag at an auction

As quickly as the winning bidder for Ms Birkin’s Original Birkin was identified, reports began to emerge that “a source with knowledge of the sale” claimed that the newly-wedded Lauren Sánchez, known for her own collection of Birkins, was one among the anonymous nine who placed bids for the bag, but was not successful in the end. However, “her representatives” later denied that she had bid on that Birkin. They described the story as “completely false”. Sotheby’s maintained it policy by not identify any of the nine collectors who participated in the bidding. It is possible that camp Sánchez’s swift denial was to discourage people from entertaining the thought that the woman, married to the fourth richest man in world Jeff Bezos in a flashy Venice celebration, could be outbid in a handbag war.

That the Original Birkin was able to command such a mind-boggling price is a culmination of Hermès renown craftsmanship and artificial scarcity, pervasive A-list endorsement, and the perceived investment value. By now, the origin story of the Birkin is as overheard as the bag is over-coveted. But, perhaps, it bears repeating. There was the chance encounter in 1981 on a flight from Paris to London between Ms Birkin and Jean-Louis Dumas, the then-executive chairman of Hermès. There was the wicker bag that Ms Birkin was known to carry frequently, its contents famously spilled out when she was trying to remove it from the overhead cabin. As fate would have it, Mr Dumas eagerly sketched a practical carryall to show her after she complained that it was difficult for her to find a bag she needed. The bag was made and gifted to her, and the rest became history, unlike that of any other bag’s.

The ‘Original Birkin’: A Timeline

As widely reported, Ms Birkin used what Hermès gave her as an everyday carryall. She happily stuff it with personal affects and even slapped charity stickers on them. According to Sotheby’s, “she often held [it] close, cradling it with both arms and carrying it everywhere she went. The bag’s worn condition tells the story of years of dedicated use.” The actress was never overly concerned with her appearance, she was partial to a rather tomboy appearance, even preferring neatly-trimmed nails over long overly-manicured ones, which may explain the presence of a nail clipper fastened to a chain that was secured to the base of the hand strap inside the bag for quick retrieval. Whether she anticipated the Birkin’s impending popularity, it is not clear. But she was not precious about it. To her, the bag was to be used.

Unlike Ms Birkin, the modern user of the bag treats it with utmost care and prefer keeping that surfaces pristine for fear that the slightest scuff would devalue the bag. Most women (and men) need to keep it in a near-new state, meaning that even the traps to be held must be protected by a silk slip, known as a Twilly (which marvelously rhymes with silly), wound tightly over it so that a barrier is formed between hands and handles. Tactile qualities are unimportant since no direct contact is preferred. It is not clear if this sterile, multi-million dollar artifact and its display is the “empowerment, diversity and confidence” that Valuence Japan was referring to. Or if the act of acquiring such an expensive symbol of ugly materiality that the Birkin has regrettably become is a form of corporate virtue signaling that continues to reinforce the bag’s exalted status.

While Jane Birkin had a significant and respected career in music and film, particularly in France, the Hermès Birkin bag elevated her to a level of global household-name recognition that her media career, even critically acclaimed as it was, couldn’t quite achieve on its own. In a way, the Birkin bag attained a meme-like status before the Internet truly popularised the concept. Her bag’s story, its price, and its mystique became cultural shorthand for ultimate luxury, rendering the Birkin name less associated with a person than an accessory. It was the bag that became instantly recognisable to a vast global audience, even if they knew nothing about her impressive artistic output. Ms Birkin was undoubtedly a talented artist and a style icon before the bag, but the marketing prowess Hermès wielded for the Birkin through the years indelibly cemented her name in the annals of global popular culture in a way that the effects of her music and acting could not match up. This, then, is the bittersweet truth: Hermès’s marketing might, specifically around the Birkin bag, propelled the Ms Birkin’s name into a global stratosphere of recognition, but in doing so, it largely overshadowed her extensive and impactful career as an artist.

Despite the historic value of the Original Birkin, and the bag’s legendary durability, Ms Birkin did not keep it until her death in 2023. Instead, she donated the bag in 1994 to an auction to support AIDS research, specifically benefiting the French AIDS charity Association Solidarité Sida. This action further illuminates the disconnect between the person and the commercial juggernaut that her namesake bag became. While the Birkin bag transformed into a symbol of extreme wealth and elitist exclusivity, Ms Birkin herself was renowned for her bohemian, down-to-earth style, and her strong commitment to humanitarian causes. Selling the bag for charity was perfectly in line with her philanthropic spirit, demonstrating that she valued its potential to do good more than its status as a personal possession. The Sotheby’s auction was conducted on behalf of Catherine Benier, a private collector and the founder of the Paris vintage boutique Les 3 Marches. She had reportedly kept the bag for 25 years. It was finally time to reap the financial benefits of the Original that Jane Birkin never did.

Photos: Sotheby’s. Graphics: Just So