A black leather Hermès Birkin bag previously owned by actress and style icon Jane Birkin sold at Sotheby’s for $2.9 million on December 5 at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort in Abu Dhabi. The bag, known as Le Birkin Voyageur, features an inscription written by Birkin in 2007 for a charity auction supporting the International Federation for Human Rights, along with a sketch of a reclining female nude. It had been in private hands since that auction and was sold as part of a 4-day luxury goods sale. The bag exceeded its estimate of $240,000-$400,000 but fell short of the record $10 million paid for the original Birkin prototype earlier this year.
The sale underscores the enduring cultural and market value of items tied to Jane Birkin, whose name became synonymous with the iconic handbag. The bag’s worn condition—missing lock, key, and clochette, with heavily scratched hardware—adds to its authenticity as a personal artifact rather than a pristine collector’s piece. This auction also highlights the growing market for celebrity-owned luxury goods and the intersection of fashion, philanthropy, and art-world collecting, as both this bag and the original prototype were sold for charitable causes.