Fashion royalty is going up for grabs. Sotheby’s just revealed that the very first Birkin bag ever made, famously owned by the late actress and style icon Jane Birkin, will be auctioned during their Paris Fashion Icons sale on July 10th.
The bag, designed in 1984 after a legendary in-flight meeting between Birkin and Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas, sparked a global luxury craze.
“This is a rare moment in the world of fashion when an object transcends trends and becomes a legend,” said Marganne Halimi, Sotheby’s Global Head of Handbags and Fashion. “Jane Birkin’s Original Birkin bag is such a moment.”
Halimi called it “a true unicorn,” placing it alongside cultural treasures like Princess Diana’s Black Sheep sweater and Freddie Mercury’s regal costume. “The Original Birkin holds the potential to redefine records,” she added.
Unlike standard Birkins, this bag boasts unique features: a non-removable strap, brass hardware, different-size specs, and even Jane Birkin’s initials etched onto the front flap. It’s been publicly displayed only twice — at New York’s MoMA in 2018 and London’s V&A Museum in 2020.
The bag was gifted to a French AIDS charity in 1994, then purchased by Catherine Benier. “This bag is the object of a lifetime… a legend, an icon. Does a legend have a price? Certainly,” Benier told The New York Times.
Sotheby’s hasn’t dropped a public estimate, but anticipation is sky-high. The Original Birkin will be on display in Manhattan from June 6–10 before landing in Paris from July 3–9th.
