Jane Birkin’s Hermes handbag up for auction in Abu Dhabi
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At the Sotheby’s auction house in 2025 is the Hermes Birkin bag (left) which belonged to British-French actress and singer Jane Birkin (right, in a 1990 photo).
PHOTO: AFP
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PARIS – A Hermes handbag once belonging to British-French actress and singer Jane Birkin will be auctioned in Abu Dhabi on Dec 5, following the record-breaking sale of the original for more than US$10 million (S$12.98 million), Sotheby’s said on Oct 21.
Nicknamed the Birkin Voyageur, the estimated value of the late celebrity’s black leather bag hovers between US$230,000 and US$430,000.
Gifted to Ms Birkin by Hermes in 2003, it is one of four she owned after auctioning the original to raise money for an Aids or acquired immune deficiency syndrome charity in 1994.
This one was first auctioned in 2007 to help a human rights organisation and ended up in a private collection.
“Selling her Birkin bags to raise funds for charities she cared deeply about... became a tradition for Jane Birkin, with Hermes replacing them every time,” Sotheby’s stated.
The first custom-made Birkin bag sold for almost €8.6 million (S$12.96 million) in Paris in July, making it the most expensive bag ever auctioned.
“To present not one, but two of Jane Birkin’s personal Hermes bags in a single year is nothing short of historic,” said Ms Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s global head of handbags and fashion.
The Birkin Voyageur stands out with a handwritten note in French from the actress herself, inscribed on the inside, “My Birkin bag, my globetrotting companion”.
The bag will be displayed in Abu Dhabi from Dec 2 until Dec 5. AFP
