PARIS: A Hermes handbag once belonging to Jane Birkin will be auctioned in Abu Dhabi on December 5, following the record-breaking sale of the original for over $10 million (about RM42.3 million), Sotheby’s said Tuesday.
Nicknamed the “Birkin Voyageur”, the estimated value of the late actor’s black leather bag hovers between $230,000 and $430,000.
Gifted to Birkin by Hermes in 2003, it is one of four the celebrity owned after auctioning the original to raise money for an AIDS 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 euros ($10.1 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 Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s global head of handbags and fashion.
The Birkin Voyageur stands out with a handwritten note in French from the actor herself, inscribed on the inside: “My Birkin bag, my globetrotting companion”.
The bag will be displayed in Abu Dhabi from December 2 until December 5. – AFP
