At 4 p.m. sharp, the public sale begins. “Way more than a easy bag, the Birkin has developed from a easy accent to a timeless cultural icon,” the auctioneer tells the room. The bag is Lot 8, and solely preregistered purchasers are allowed to bid; they maintain the premium white paddles and sit within the two entrance rows. We begin with an Azzedine Alaïa black lambskin ensemble from the autumn 1983 assortment, which sells for $3,200. Subsequent, a draped black gown embroidered with hummingbirds from Alexander McQueen’s resort 2008 assortment, then extra Alaïa, and Vivienne Westwood. Conservation hums softly, rising as we get nearer to Lot 8. Lastly, we’re there.
Throughout 10 minutes, paddles rise at pace and fingers shoot up from the telephone financial institution. Bidding opens at €1 million ($1.7 million) to loud gasps; that single bid broke the earlier world report for a purse offered at public sale, set in 2021 by the Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28, which went for $513,040. 9 collectors emerge throughout the telephones, on-line, and within the room in a manic alternate of bids. Ultimately, the gavel comes down on a hammer value of €7 million ($8.2 million). After the charges and purchaser’s premium, the ultimate value is a staggering €8.6 million ($10.1 million). The bag was offered to a non-public collector from Japan, who bid through phone via Maiko Ichikawa, the top of Sotheby’s in Japan.
“The spectacular sale of the unique Hermès Birkin right now…is a startling demonstration of the facility of a legend and its capability to ignite the fervour and need of collectors in search of distinctive gadgets with distinctive provenance, to personal its origin,” says Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s international head of purses and vogue.
“I’m astonished on the consequence, however, as a passionate collector myself, I’m firstly profoundly moved by the best way different collectors have invested a lot fervor in making an attempt to accumulate what they clearly desired past phrases,” Benier, the vendor of the Birkin, says. “It made me relive my very own bidding battle, 25 years in the past, and the way uncooked and indescribable the sensation of profitable over this excellent bag was. I’m already very nostalgic on the considered understanding the bag is not mine however extraordinarily blissful it has discovered a brand new loving residence. I want the brand new proprietor as a lot happiness as I skilled with it.”
