Jane Birkin’s original Birkin bag breaks records with $10 million sale in Paris auction

July 10, 2025

08:04 PM

3 min read

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Bids opened at €1 million and quickly escalated, with nine collectors driving up the price to gasps and applause at the Paris auction house.

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investment

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July 10, 2025

08:04 PM

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Success·Fortune IntelligenceJane Birkin’s original Birkin bag breaks records with $10 million sale in Paris auctionBY Ashley LutzBY Fortune IntelligenceBY Ashley LutzExecutive Director, Editorial GrowthAshley LutzExecutive Director, Editorial GrowthAshley Lutz is an executive editor at Fortune, overseeing the Success, Well, syndication, and social teams

She was previously an editorial leader at Bankrate, The Points Guy, and Insider, and a reporter at Bloomberg News

Ashley is a graduate of Ohio University's Scripps School of Journalism

SEE FULL BIOBY Fortune IntelligenceFortune IntelligenceFortune Intelligence uses generative AI to help with an initial draft, thereby bringing you news faster while maintaining our high standards of accuracy and quality

These stories are edited by Fortune's senior editors to verify the accuracy of the information before publishing

SEE FULL BIO Jane Birkin, and her Birkin

ALAIN JOCARD,JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP via Getty ImagesThe world of luxury fashion witnessed a historic moment as the original Hermès Birkin bag, once owned and used by the late British actress and singer Jane Birkin, sold for a staggering $10 million at Sotheby’s Paris

The sale, which took place on July 10, 2025, shattered previous records and cemented the Birkin’s as the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction

A Legendary Bag With a Storied Past The bag: This was not just any Birkin—it was the very first totype, custom-designed for Jane Birkin in 1984 after a chance encounter with Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight

As Birkin told Vogue in 2012, she famously sketched her ideal bag on an airplane sickness bag, leading to the creation of what would become the world’s most coveted handbag

Personal touches: The well-worn black leather bag bears Birkin’s initials on the front flap, a pair of silver nail clippers she kept for convenience, and the faded outlines of stickers from Médecins du Monde and UNICEF—details unique to her personal use and never replicated in later editions

A piece of fashion history: Birkin carried the bag almost daily from 1985 to 1994 before auctioning it for charity

It has since changed hands among private collectors and appeared in major museum exhibitions

The auction: A 10-minute bidding war Fierce competition: The auction opened at €1 million and quickly escalated, with nine collectors bidding online, by phone, and in the room

Gasps and applause filled the Paris auction house as the price soared past previous records

Final price: The hammer came down at €8. 6 million ( $10. 1 million), with the winning bid placed by a private collector from Japan

Record-: The sale more than doubled the previous auction record for a handbag, which stood at $513,040 for a Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28

Jane Birkin, who passed away in 2023, once joked that her legacy would be forever tied to the iconic bag that bears her name

Standard Birkin bags are notoriously difficult to acquire, often requiring years on a waiting list, and retail for over $10,000, but the original totype’s direct link to its creator and its visible signs of use made it a unique piece of fashion history

The Birkin’s value has consistently risen over the years, outperforming traditional investments the S&P 500 and gold, making it a prized asset for collectors