Original Birkin bag auctioned for 7 million euros

Today, Thursday, July 10, 2025, the original Jane Birkin from Hermès was auctioned at Sotheby’s in Paris. For a staggering seven(!) million euros. Experts had high expectations: it was predicted that the record amount of $500,000 would be surpassed and that it could possibly become the most expensive bag ever sold. But this amount is more than fourteen times higher. The owner, until this afternoon, is Catherine Benier. She bought the bag in 2000, and the purchase price has never been made public.

The proceeds from the auction, a meager seven million euros, go directly to Catherine Benier. Notably, yesterday PETA UK (the world's largest animal rights organization) made a call via a press release to Catherine Benier to donate a portion of the proceeds to wildlife charities, as compensation for the animal suffering caused in the production of Birkins (such as crocodile leather).

Timeline
1984: Jane Birkin received the prototype from Hermès, which she then used daily for nine years.
1994: Jane Birkin auctioned the bag and donated the entire proceeds to the French AIDS fund.
2000: The bag was auctioned again and bought by Catherine Benier.
2025: Auctioned for €7 million, but this proceeds, as far as we know, does not go to a good cause. The buyer is unknown / anonymous.

In 1984, singer-actress Jane Birkin sat next to Jean-Louis Dumas, then CEO of Hermès, on a plane. Jane complained that she couldn't find a bag that was both chic and practical – one where she could just throw her things in. Dumas filled that gap and immediately sketched a bag in the clouds that would later become the iconic Birkin bag.