New BIrkin Breaks Auction Record

Another day, another handbag auction record. As you know from reading PurseBop, the famed auction house Christie’s has developed a sales division dedicated to the resale of handbags. We are talking handbags, not just masterpieces of art or one of a kind pieces of jewelry. No longer just an accessory tucked away in your closet, pre-owned bags are big business. PurseBop’s collaboration with Christie’s is well-documented and we’re seeing the results of Christie’s sales: record-setting Birkin prices.

Last May, a Birkin 30 Himalaya hit a new high at $380,000. That number was exceeded last month by the sale of another Himalaya for $383,582.

Read and click photo to access PurseBop’s coverage from June of the holy grails to watch that ultimately went on to break records.

This week another Birkin made history: a non-Himalaya Birkin garnered $117,394 during Christie’s Paris handbag auction from a buyer in Hong Kong following a bidding war, according to a New York Times report. To be fair, this was no ordinary leather Birkin but rather a metallic bronze chevre leather bag with gold hardware inspired by Leila Menchari’s window displays and produced only in 2005.

This beauty was one of our top picks here at PurseBop, visit the PurseBop Shop to see just how much we love it.

Suzy Menkes from Vogue admiring the record breaking non- exotic metallic Birkin.

The entire Christie’s Paris auction brought in $2,788,500. In the last six months, Christie’s has held several auctions of pre-owned handbags. In June, the UK auction brought in $2,778,588.36; November’s Hong Kong auction earned $5,235,501.83; and this month’s New York City online sale collected $1,358,125.

PurseBop shared an interactive quiz featuring some of our favorite picks from the Paris and NYC Christie’s auctions. Click to have some real handbag fun.

If you pay attention and do your math, that’s over $12 million dollars in sales of pre-owned handbags in roughly six months. That should tell you something about the popularity of purses and the strength of the market. After all, it’s not just Hermes Birkins that sell. In This or That we pitted against each other Birkins, Kelly’s, Constances and other bags to figure out which was best for a particular event. All of the bags were available at the Paris and NYC sale.

PurseBop’s feature for Christie’s on day versus night holy grail bags included Chanel and exotic newcomer Stalvey. While Hermes may draw the most attention, it is by no means the only option.