A diamond-encrusted crocodile-skin Hermes
handbag with white gold details has broken the record for the world’s most
expensive ever sold at auction, fetching nearly 300,000 US dollars at a
Hong Kong sale.
The rare Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Birkin 30 went to an
unknown
phone bidder late Monday for 2.32 million HK dollars (298,655 US dollars),
beating a pre-sale estimate of 2 million HK dollars, the auction house
Christie’s said.
“It was the world record price for any handbag sold at auction,” Bingle
Lee, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Christie’s, told AFP.
Designer handbags are increasingly seen as investment opportunities and
are
the latest craze for collectors, taking global auction houses by storm and
scoring record prices.
The new record beat one set last year, also in Hong Kong, when a
fuchsia-coloured Hermes bag sold for 222,912 US dollars.
The handmade bag — described by the London-based auctioneers as the
“rarest, most sought-after” — is encrusted with diamonds, while the buckle
and trademark mini Hermes padlock are made of 18 carat white gold.
“It is believed that only one or two of the Diamond Himalayas are
produced
each year, globally, making it one of the lowest production runs for
handbags,” Christie’s said in a statement issued before the sale.
The bag was made in 2008 and is from Hermes’ iconic “Birkin” series named
after actress and singer Jane Birkin, who was born in Britain and lives in
France.
A smaller Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Birkin 25 handbag will go
under the hammer on Wednesday with an estimate price of 1.3 million to 1.5
million HK dollars.
The auction was part of the firm’s 30th anniversary sales to mark its
presence in Asia, with a range of luxury goods on offer, including Chinese
paintings, watches and wine. (AFP)
Image: Christies