Jane Birkin’s original Hermès Birkin bag fetches €8.58 million at auction

The original Birkin handbag, which was custom-made in 1984 for the late actress and singer Jane Birkin, sold at Sotheby’s Paris on Thursday for a record-setting €8.58 million (around $10 million), becoming the most expensive handbag ever auctioned. PBS reported that five bidders vied for the one-of-a-kind bag over more than ten heated minutes before a private Japanese collector secured the piece via phone.

The iconic bag, made from black Box leather with gilt-brass hardware and engraved with Jane Birkin’s initials, emerged from a serendipitous airplane encounter between Birkin and Hermès executive Jean‑Louis Dumas. Birkin had lamented to Dumas that she couldn’t find a stylish yet practical bag large enough to carry daily essentials—including space for baby bottles—leading him to sketch the prototype on an air sickness bag mid-flight.

The handbag, People Magazine reports, had been worn daily by Birkin for nearly a decade before being donated to an AIDS charity in 1994 and later entering private hands. Its well-worn condition—complete with Birkin’s nail clipper and sticker remnants from charitable causes—underscores its historical and personal significance.

Sotheby’s global head of handbags, Morgane Halimi, hailed the sale as a milestone in fashion history: “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.”