First-ever Birkin bag to be auctioned in July
The first-ever Birkin is set to be sold on July 10.
The first-ever Birkin bag, designed by French luxury brand Hermès for actress Jane Birkin, is set to be sold at auction in Paris.
This piece of modern fashion history is likely to spark a bidding frenzy.
The Birkin has become a modern design icon, so exclusive that Hermès only offers it to loyal clients, with prices starting at around $10,000 (approximately R170,000).
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Auction house Sotheby's, which is handling the sale of the Birkin prototype in Paris on July 10, declined to publicly specify a reserve price. Its value is difficult to forecast.
"The Original Birkin holds the potential to redefine records," Morgane Halimi, Sotheby's global head of handbags and fashion, said in a statement.
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the original Birkin bag owned by Jane Birkin will be auctioned via Sotheby’s next Month! pic.twitter.com/7A7lISlQyP
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The previous record sale price for a handbag at auction was set by a highly customised Birkin in Hong Kong in 2017.
The diamond-encrusted crocodile-skin Birkin 30 with white gold details fetched $510,000 (about R9 million) at Christie’s.
The seller of the original Birkin is Catherine Bénier, a well-known Paris-based handbag collector and dealer whose appointment-only boutique in the high-end 6th district of the capital has a cult following.
Bénier told The New York Times that the bag was the "jewel in my collection."
It has changed hands twice since being put up for sale by Birkin at an auction in 1994, where the proceeds went to an AIDS charity, Sotheby's said.
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A record-setting sale price for the prototype would be in keeping with the fashion world’s recent flashy aesthetics.
After years of so-called "quiet luxury" dominating catwalks, designers have embraced more ostentatious looks in recent seasons, a style some trend forecasters have dubbed "boom boom."
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The birth of the Birkin bag has become a modern fashion legend.
During a Paris to London flight, the singer and actress, who died in 2023, complained to a fellow traveller about not being able to find a bag suited to her needs as a young mother.
That fellow passenger happened to be Jean-Louis Dumas, then head of Hermès.
The result of their conversation was a spacious tote with room for baby bottles, created in 1984 and named the Birkin.
It is engraved with the initials J.B. and has several unique features, Sotheby’s said, including closed metal rings, a non-detachable shoulder strap, and a built-in nail clipper.
Its condition "reflects the many years of use by the actress and singer," Sotheby’s said.
A slightly differently sized version of the original has become the flagship product of the immensely profitable, family-owned French luxury leather goods maker ever since.
Produced in very limited numbers, the bag has maintained an aura of exclusivity and is beloved by celebrities from Khloé Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez to Victoria Beckham.
Frustrated fashionistas in America even sued Hermès in a class-action suit in California last year after they were refused access to the bags.
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Birkin also had a sometimes strained relationship with Hermès, once threatening to have her name removed from the bags due to the company’s treatment of crocodiles, whose skins are used for its products.
The former wife of French singing legend Serge Gainsbourg championed a host of causes, including animal rights.
The prototype Birkin will be exhibited at Sotheby’s in New York from June 6 to 12 before being put on show in the French capital ahead of the sale.
In addition to the Birkin bag, the Sotheby's "Fashion Icons" sale will feature runway pieces from designers including Christian Dior, John Galliano, Thierry Mugler, and Alexander McQueen.
Bidding will open online on June 26 and close on July 10.
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Image: Sotheby's