A Hermès Rouge Porosus crocodile Birkin 35 handbag sold for £18,000 at Fellows' Designer Collection auction on October 10, setting a house record for a handbag sold at the firm.
The 2009 version came complete with maker's rain protection cover, dust bag and box.
French fashion brand Hermès limits the number of new Birkin bags it makes available and customers have to wait up to six months to even buy one, making the Birkin all the more desirable at auction by allowing buyers to ‘jump the queue’.
Fellows sold four Birkin bags on October 10, including an apple green Swift Birkin 35 for £7600.
Jane Birkin Fashion Icon
The Birkin was introduced in 1984, named after fashion icon, actress and singer Jane Birkin.
A small Birkin bag from Hermès currently costs more than £7000 and many of its exotic-skin styles reach well into five figures.
The world’s most expensive handbag sold at auction was a Himalayan crocodile Birkin with white gold detailing and 245 diamonds. It was bought for $300,168 by an anonymous buyer at a Christie's auction in Hong Kong earlier this year.
At Fellows’ third designer collection auction earlier this week it sold 29 Hermès bags as well as other bags from designers Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton.
The Chanel bags sold for between £900 and £1800.
Bids for the bags came via the telephone, from thesaleroom.com and in the room.
Its next Designer Collection auction will be held on December 9 at its Birmingham saleroom and it is currently accepting consignments.
