London auction house Bonhams auctioned almost 300 lots of bags, accessories and clothing from the most sought-after brands on 20 July in its 'Designer Handbags and Fashion' auction. The star of the sale was a Birkin bag made of black Togo leather, which had once belonged to the namesake of this iconic accessory, actress and singer Jane Birkin.
The origin of the Birkin bag began in 1981 when Jane Birkin was sitting next to Jean-Louis Dumas, then managing director of Hermès, on a flight from Paris to London and was struggling with her impractical bag. They started a conversation and Birkin declared that she wanted to buy a practical Hermès handbag immediately, if only one finally came on the market.
As a result, Hermès worked on a sportier version of the Kelly bag, which had been established for years. Jane Birkin received one of the original editions as a gift from Hermès in 1984, which the brand named after her.
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In total, Jane Birkin received five Birkin bags from Hermès over the years. All of them were gradually auctioned off for charitable causes. This Birkin, which has now been auctioned at Bonhams, was first auctioned off by Jane Birkin at a charity auction on eBay in 2014, the proceeds of which went to Anno's Africa. The charity organisation Anno's Africa was founded after the early accidental death of Birkin's nephew Anno Birkin to give children in the most vulnerable countries of Africa an arts education.
"It was such an honour to offer this incredible piece and we are thrilled with the result," said Meg Randell, Head of Bonhams Designer Handbags & Fashion department. "Jane was known for really using her bags and customising them to make her namesake accessory her own, and it is said her cat even slept in this one – so it's not surprise it attracted so much attention since we let the cat out of the bag, and achieved such an incredible result."
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The bag went up with an estimated price of £15,000-20,000, but it was the most expensive item at the auction when it sold for £119,000, including buyer's premium, increasing its upper estimate fivefold. But is this Birkin bag the most expensive in auction history?
The answer is no. The most expensive Birkin bag in auction history is an extremely rare Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Birkin 25 with palladium hardware, which sold in November 2020 at Christie's 'Handbags & Accessories' auction in Hong Kong for HKD 3 million (£204,160).
