Rare Hermès Kelly 25 bag to sell for more than US$500,000 at Sotheby’s, and could set a new auction record
- The Hermès bag, a white crocodile Himalaya with 18-carat white-gold hardware, will change hands in a private sale arranged by auction house Sotheby’s
- The bag’s clasp and the lock attached are studded with 258 diamonds. Earlier this year, a slightly larger Kelly 28 sold for US$513,000, also in a private sale
Auction house Sotheby’s is offering a rare handbag in a private sale for more than half a million US dollars.
The sale would be the latest sign that some ultra-high-end handbags are seeing such strong demand that they are reaching higher prices on the resale market than in stores amid limited production capacity at Hermès International.
The bag on offer, which was manufactured this year, is a white crocodile Himalaya with 18-carat white-gold hardware. Its clasp and the lock attached are studded with 258 diamonds.
Smaller handbags tend to be preferred by international buyers, which explains why this bag is worth more than the Kelly 28 on the resale market, said Aurelie Vassy, who is handling the private sale at Sotheby’s in Paris, France. Sotheby’s declined to disclose the exact price tag for the bag.
The Himalaya bags shot to fame in 2010 when fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier sent a model carrying an Hermès Birkin bag in mother-of-pearl white – reminiscent of a snowy mountain landscape – down the catwalk, according to a Sotheby’s post from March.
