French actress Jane Birkin’s Birkins, the bags that held her entire world, are now being used to make someone else’s world a little better. The fact that Hermès bags sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars only adds weight to the generosity behind these gestures. The bag in question is a Birkin 35 in black Box calf leather with gold-tone hardware, set to be auctioned by Orne Enchères for an estimated $115,000 to $140,000.
As is famously known, Jane used this Birkin as an everyday companion, running errands, traveling, and carrying everything she needed in hand. After years of use, she gave this deeply personal bag to her best friend of six decades, photographer Gabrielle Crawford, whom she met in 1964, reported Vanity Fair. Crawford has kept it ever since. This bag, filled with memories and moments, is now being auctioned to help fund the future Jane Birkin Foundation.
Who better than a best friend to understand your habits? Crawford shared that the Hermès Birkin became a sort of mobile warehouse, saying, “Gifts from all over the world were attached to the handles, bells, Japanese lucky charms… It weighed a ton. But she and it were inseparable. She never forgot it.” It feels very much as if this Hermès Birkin was, in its own way, Jane’s most faithful companion. The 35 × 28 cm arm candy was one of the first bags Hermès offered to Jane Birkin, who famously stored her entire life inside her bags. Birkin herself joked that carrying the hefty accessory gave her tendonitis, yet she still loved it.
In total, Hermès gifted her five bags, all of which she eventually sold for charity. When auctioned, the proceeds from this sale will support the future Jane Birkin Foundation, conceived to continue her humanitarian work after her passing in 2023. The auction will take place on December 15 at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. It remains to be seen whether this black beauty lands anywhere near the range of the original Birkin prototype that sold for an astonishing $10 million, becoming the most expensive handbag and the second most valuable fashion item ever sold at auction.
This sale has already sparked a renewed frenzy for Jane Birkin’s Birkins. Just days before the Drouot event, the “Birkin Voyageur,” another personal bag used by Birkin between 2003 and 2007, will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in Abu Dhabi. Featuring Birkin’s handwriting, it carries an estimate of $240,000 to $440,000.
