(10 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paris, France – 10 July 2025
1. Mid of the original Birkin bag
2. Wide of auctioneer and audience
3. Mid of audience
4. Mid of auctioneer finalising the winning bid of 7 million euros and applause
5. Wide left pan of auctioneer and audience
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s Global Head of Handbags and Fashion Department:
"It’s been bought by a Japanese collector and the total ‘hammer’ and BP (buyer’s premium) price is 8.6 million euros."
7. Mid of audience
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s Global Head of Handbags and Fashion Department:
"I think it’s the craftsmanship. I think it’s the design. I think it’s an icon of our time. It’s definitely… it tells the story of the Birkin and it tells how the Birkin was born. It’s not every day that you can meet the origin of a myth and this is one. So yeah, it just carries everything that can make people dream."
9. Wide of Catherine B., previous owner of the original Birkin, hugging people
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Catherine B. Seller of the Birkin Bag:
"For me, the price is a bit utopian, a bit extraordinary. I am happy obviously, and I am happy that there are still people in France who are capable of investing millions of euros in pieces like this bag."
11. Mid of Catherine B.
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Catherine B. Seller of the Birkin Bag:
“This bag is like my son. So you know when… your son goes to university, you say ‘congrats, you will be the best’ so now I can tell, you will be the best. It will be perfect for your second life. We do many things together but now it’s time to say goodbye. So, have a long life, my son.”
13. Mid of audience
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Daniel Wesson, Bidder:
"It didn’t go as planned. We were bidding on the bag. Our budget was around $2.2 million. We thought it was gonna sell for under $2 million. Blows my mind what went on here today. It really is history in the making and speaks to the brand of Hermes, the quality, the craftsmanship, the heritage that even for a bag that’s 50 years old, 40 years old, that it commands such a high price. $8.2 million US dollars is insane. Crazy, absolutely wild."
15. Wide of Wesson speaking to a journalist
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Daniel Wesson, Bidder:
"No, the bag has tears in it. The bag is… it’s not the most beautiful bag. You have glue falling off of it but, it’s more about the sentiment than it is the material, what it is materially, for sure."
17. Close focus on Birkin bag
18. Mid of the Birkin
STORYLINE:
The unique and original Birkin bag that fashion house Hermès made for actor and singer Jane Birkin has sold for 8.6 million euros ($10.1 million), including fees, at auction in Paris.
The winning bid of 7 million euros drew gasps and applause from the audience.
The price crushed the previous auction record for a handbag — $513,040 paid in 2021 for a Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28.
Sotheby’s didn’t identify the buyer.
“It’s been bought by a Japanese collector and the total ‘hammer’ and BP (buyer’s premium) price is 8.6 million euros,” said Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s Global Head of Handbags and Fashion Department.
Nine collectors bidding by telephone, online, and in the room competed in the 10-minute auction battle, with the private collector from Japan beating a last remaining other bidder at the end.
Paris fashion house Hermès exclusively commissioned the bag for the London-born star in 1984.
The subsequent commercialized version of Birkin’s bag went on to become one of the world’s most exclusive luxury items.
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