The original Birkin bag, which set the template for arguably the most coveted accessory in fashion history, has been bought for €8.6m (£7.4m; $10.1m), becoming the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction.
The black leather bag was made for singer Jane Birkin in 1985 after she spilled her belongings while sitting next to the boss of luxury fashion house Hermès on a flight.
She asked why they didn’t make bigger bags, so he sketched out the design for a new, more practical but still highly desirable item on the aeroplane’s sick bag.
The prototype he made was sold to a private collector from Japan at Sotheby’s in Paris on Thursday, far surpassing the €439,000 (£378,000; $513,000) previous record sale.
The auction house said there was an “electrifying” 10-minute bidding war between “nine determined collectors”.
Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s global head of handbags and fashion, said the price was a “startling demonstration of the power of a legend and its capacity to ignite the passion and desire of collectors seeking exceptional items with unique provenance, to own its origin”.
She added: “The Birkin prototype is exactly that, the starting point of an extraordinary story that has given us a modern icon, the Birkin bag, the most coveted handbag in the world.” (BBC)
The €8,582,500 total includes commission and fees. Sotheby’s did not publish a pre-auction estimate. (BBC)