Original Bag Jane Birkin Hermès is sold for 7 million pounds at the Sotheby’s auction

The original Birkin bag, which installed the template for perhaps the most desirable accessory in fashion history, was purchased for 8.6 million euros (£ 7.4 million; $ 10.1 million), becoming the most valuable handbag, which was sold at auction.

The black leather bag was made for singer Jane Birkin in 1985 after she poured her things sitting next to the boss of the luxurious Hermes Fashion House.

She asked why they didn’t make big bags, so it sketched the design for a new, more practical, but still very desirable subject on the sick plane bag.

The prototype he made was sold to a private collector from Japan in Sotheby’s in Paris on Thursday, significantly exceeding $ 513,000 (378,000 pounds; € 439 000) pre -sale recordings.

The auction housed that there was an electrification of the 10-minute war between “nine decisive collectors”.

Morgane Halimi, the global leader of Sotby’s bags and fashion, said the price was “a strange demonstration of the force of legend and its ability to ignite the passion and desire for collectors who seek exceptional subjects with unique origin, possess its origin.”

She added: “Birkin’s prototype is exactly the starting point of the unusual story that gave us a modern icon, Birkin bag, the most desirable handbag in the world.”

A total of 8 582,500 euros includes commission and fees. Sotheby’s did not publish a preliminary assessment.

After creating a bag for the Anglo-French singer and actresses, Hermes put the bag in commercial production, and it remains one of the most exclusive status symbols in fashion.

Some styles cost a lot of tens of thousands of dollars and have wait lists, and owners, including celebrities such as Kate Moss, Victoria Bekham and Jennifer Lopez.

The original has some unique features such as Birkin’s initials on the front planning, the invincible strap, the nails she kept attached to the strap, and it is noted where she put the stickers for the reasons she supported, such as Médecins Du Monde and UNICEF.

Birkin, who died in 2023 at the age of 76, owned the original bag for a decade and donated it to the auction to raise funds for the AIDS charity in 1994.

Later, he was bought by Catherine Benier, who had a luxurious boutique in Paris, which had 25 years before selling it on Thursday.

Sotby said the previous record price for the handbag was set to the White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28 in 2021.