Jane Birkin’s beloved handbag ‘Le Birkin Voyageur’ to go under the hammer in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)

A one-of-a-kind black Hermès Birkin handbag once owned and personally inscribed by the late artist and style icon Jane Birkin will be auctioned in Abu Dhabi this December as part of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week, presented in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO).

Titled Le Birkin Voyageur, the bag is one of only four Birkins ever owned by Jane Birkin after she sold her original prototype.

Gifted to her by Hermès in 2003, the handbag will be exhibited at the St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort from December 2 to 5, ahead of a live auction on December 5.

Sotheby’s has placed its estimate between $230,000 and $430,000.

The upcoming sale follows the record-breaking auction in July of Jane Birkin’s original Hermès prototype, which fetched $10.1 million at Sotheby’s Paris, becoming the most valuable handbag ever sold. That milestone sale reignited global interest in Hermès and Birkin’s personal collection.

Described as a deeply personal artefact, Le Birkin Voyageur carries Jane Birkin’s handwritten notes and drawings inside, including the message “Mon Birkin bag qui m’a accompagné dans le monde entier” (“My Birkin bag, my globetrotting companion”), which inspired its name.

Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s Global Head of Handbags and Fashion, said: “To present not one, but two of Jane Birkin’s personal Hermès bags in a single year is nothing short of historic. This exceptionally rare example offers collectors an intimate connection to the woman at the origin of the world’s most iconic handbag.”

The bag, crafted in black box leather with distinctive closed bridges — a design feature made exclusively for Birkin — was last auctioned in 2007 to benefit the Human Rights Association and has remained in a private collection since.

The auction will take place during Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week, which will feature luxury auctions, exhibitions, and masterclasses across categories such as jewellery, timepieces, fine art, and collector cars, highlighting the emirate’s growing profile as a global cultural hub.