Who would spend $10 million on an old handbag? This is a black Birkin bag, which was born in 1985 and is now 40 years old. Although it is well protected, there are many traces of life on the bag, including wear and tear, scratches, and yellowing in many places, especially the hand area. The leather has lost its luster and there are stains. The most obvious thing is that on the front of the bag, there are two white "stains" similar to those left after peeling off stickers.
No matter how you look at it, it's just a "tattered" old Hermès bag.
However, on July 10, this bag was sold at an auction in Paris for a transaction price of 7 million euros (plus handling fees, the total price is more than 10 million US dollars), becoming the most expensive handbag in history.
According to reports, the entire auction process was very intense. In the last round, nine buyers raised their prices all the way to win the bag. The price continued to soar, and it was finally purchased by the generous Japanese collector Shinsuke Sakimoto.
He was originally a football player, and this time his listed company paid for the expensive bag.
In fact, if you trace the history of this bag, you will find that it does have a great background.
It is the first-generation Hermès Birkin bag, an original bag customized by Hermès executive Dumas for actress Jane Birkin.
The two met by chance on the plane. At that time, actress Birkin expressed her thoughts to the manager: I am a young mother who needs a fashionable and practical bag.
After listening to Birkin's suggestion, Dumas casually drew a sketch on the barf bag - a rectangular handbag with a special space for a baby bottle, which is the prototype of the now popular Birkin bag.
After getting off the plane, I actually made this design and named it "Birkin". In 1985, Dumas gave Birkin a customized bag with Jane Birkin's initials "JB" printed on it. It is this bag that is being auctioned today.
It is said that this platinum bag has been used for 9 years. The two stains on the front of the bag are indeed left by the two stickers "World Doctor" and "United Nations Children's Fund".
In 1994, she auctioned the bag for charity. In 2000, the bag appeared on the auction market again and was subsequently bought by a French private collector. In 2023, Birkin passed away. This year is the third time this bag has entered the market.
Although this bag has a very special meaning, is it really worth so much?
In fact, this time the buyer himself felt that the price was ridiculously high, claiming: "It’s the most expensive item I’ve ever purchased, and while that’s exciting, it also makes me feel uncomfortable. "
I checked and found that the most expensive Birkin bag auctioned in the past was US$450,000, a diamond Himalayan Birkin bag auctioned in 2022; the most expensive one was the diamond crocodile leather Kelly bag of US$513,000.
Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a bag is already an unconventional shopping method, not to mention that the auction price this time has reached the level of tens of millions of dollars. The unprecedented price will shock anyone who buys it.
When Shinsuke Sakimoto was bidding, he didn't expect that the process would be so intense, with so many people vying to buy the bag.
It’s worth mentioning that $10 million is not the end point.
Because the bags are expensive, shipping and import duties are expected to add another $2 million to the cost.
Fortunately, this record-breaking auction will bring media exposure worth at least "billions of yen" to this Birkin bag and Shinsuke Sakimoto's company. Thinking of this, Shinsuke Sakimoto will feel better.
Finally, Shinsuke Sakimoto also said,The bag will not be resold or gather dust in a safe, it will be on public display and he hopes to share this precious bag with the world.