Hermès Birkin sells for world record US$208,000 in Hong Kong – yet it wasn’t the priciest handbag at auction
- The handbag, from the label’s So Black collection, beat the previous record for a So Black Birkin, set in Hong Kong last year; bidders were from 20 countries
- The most expensive handbag sold at the Christie’s auction this week was another Hermès Birkin, a matt white crocodile skin Himalaya
A rare, limited-edition, black Hermès Birkin bag sold for a world record HK$1.625 million (US$208,000) at auction in Hong Kong this week – though it wasn’t the most expensive handbag on the block.
The bag was sold at Christie’s for four times its presale low estimate of HK$400,000. The auction attracted bidders from 20 countries in four continents.
The previous world auction record for a Hermès So Black series handbag was set in Hong Kong in May 2018, when a 2010 Hermès matt black Niloticus crocodile So Black Birkin 30 with black hardware sold for HK$1,375,000.
The total value of sales as this week’s auction was HK$45.6 million, with 57 per cent of the lots sold fetching prices above their high estimates.
The highest priced handbag in the sale was a matt white crocodile skin bag from the Hermès Himalaya collection, which sold for HK$2 million.
