The original Birkin bag — made specifically for the singer and actress Jane Birkin — just sold for more than $10 million at Sotheby’s in Paris.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
It’s one of the most exclusive, coveted fashion accessories in the world – the Birkin bag, made by Hermes. The large, boxy purses come with long waitlists and even used bags can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
But if you think that’s a lot, well, the original Birkin bag just sold for more than $10 million yesterday at Sotheby’s in Paris.
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SHAPIRO: This first Birkin bag was made specifically for the late Jane Birkin, the British-born singer and actress who became a French icon. She died in 2023 at the age of 76. and her bag comes with quite a backstory.
SUMMERS: As Sotheby’s tells it, in 1981, Birkin was struggling to cram a wicker basket full of her belongings into an overhead bin on a flight. The contents of her basket, though, spilled into the lap of Jean-Louis Dumas, the head of Hermes.
SHAPIRO: The two struck up a conversation about how Birkin needed a bigger bag to lug her things around. And when Dumas asked her to draw a sketch, she drew one on the air sickness bag from the seat back pocket.
SUMMERS: A few years later, Hermes gifted a prototype of the bag to Birkin and asked if the company could put her name on it. And thus, the Birkin bag was born.
SHAPIRO: Jane Birkin carried her namesake black leather bag for almost a decade. In 1994, she donated it to raise funds for an AIDS charity.
SUMMERS: The legendary prototype was sold with marks and scratches and includes a few unique features from its original owner, like Birkin’s initials, J.B., stamped on the front flap and her dainty pair of nail clippers hanging from its strap.
SHAPIRO: Valuens Japan, a Tokyo-based reseller of design goods, said it paid the $10 million for the bag.
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