Jane Birkin’s original scholarship is awarded for over $ 50 million and breaks record

A piece of fashion history has just changed hands. The original Hermès Birkin, created in 1984 for actress and singer Jane Birkin, was auctioned on Thursday (10) by 7 million euros (about $ 45 million). With rates, the price ended up being 8.58 million euros (about $ 50 million) for those who bid the item.

The value broke the most expensive bag record ever sold in a auction, according to Sotheby’s, which organized the sale in Paris. Until then, the record belonged to a Himalaya Crocodile Diamond Birkin, made with crocodile leather and diamonds, awarded $ 425,000 in 2023 ($ 2.358 million in the current exchange rate).

The dispute for the item lasted about 20 minutes and had tense throws until an anonymous buyer took the play.

In addition to its historical value for the fashion world, the charm of the original scholarship is in the use: risks, scratches and signs of time, which, for experts, only make the piece more authentic. “It’s like buying a piece of fashion history,” said Sotheby’s curator Lucia Savi, in a statement.

The model was born after a Jane Birkin meeting with Jean-Louis Dumas, then Hermès CEO during a flight. Having bothered that she didn’t have a practical bag to carry everything she needed as a mother, the actress told her frustration to her armchair neighbor, who scribbled a makeshift design right there. Months later, she received the new bag at home.

Birkin has become a status symbol because it is almost impossible to get straight at the store. Even those who have money need to go through a Hermès shopping marathon to perhaps be considered to enter the waiting list.

No wonder the resale price of a Birkin reaches tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on material and rarity. In such cases, unlike Birkin’s number one bag, the good condition is important to raise the selling value.