--- title: Hermès Birkin Sold at Record Price at Christie’s Hong Kong Auction description: The diamond-encrusted bag sold for a staggering $221,846 canonical: https://time.com/3903022/hermes-birkin-christies-hong-kong-auction/ author: Megan Gibson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-01T11:48:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:20:31.518Z og:title: Hermès Birkin Bag Sold at Record Price at Auction og:description: But the luxury company sells other versions itself for much, much more og:url: https://time.com/3903022/hermes-birkin-christies-hong-kong-auction/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt266c82a8d2bf22e7/69885259f887dc16bee90b37/birkin-christies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: CHINA-HONG KONG-CHRISTIE-PREVIEW (CN) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hermès Birkin Bag Sold at Record Price at Auction twitter:description: But the luxury company sells other versions itself for much, much more twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt266c82a8d2bf22e7/69885259f887dc16bee90b37/birkin-christies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hermès Birkin Bag Sold for Record $221k at Auction > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Jun 1, 2015 11:48 AM UTC  Visitors view the displayed expensive bags during the preview of Christie's Hong Kong 2015 spring season in Hong Kong on May 28, 2015. Visitors view the displayed expensive bags during the preview of Christie's Hong Kong 2015 spring season in Hong Kong on May 28, 2015. Li Peng—Xinhua/Landov by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Jun 1, 2015 11:48 AM UTC A Hermès Birkin with diamonds set a record in Hong Kong on Monday as the most expensive handbag sold at an auction — ever. The bag was up for auction at Christie’s afternoon handbags and accessories sale and sold for 1.72 million Hong Kong dollars or $221,846, [reports the Wall Street _Journal_.](http://www.wsj.com/articles/hermes-birkin-bagged-for-record-price-at-christies-hong-kong-auction-1433149955?mod=e2tw) The Birkin was bagged by a phone bidder, whose identity is unknown. The latest luxury sale beat out the previous record holder, which was also a Hermès Birkin bag that sold for $203,150 at a 2011 Heritage Auctions sale in New York. The _WSJ_ points out that though a diamond and gold evening bag once owned by actress Elizabeth Taylor sold for $218,500 through Christie’s in New York in 2011, that bag was listed in the jewelry category. Hong Kong and China has been experiencing a slump in luxury item sales as both Gucci and Chanel have been slashing prices in that market in recent months. But the record-setting sale suggests there’s still an appetite for high-end accessories — at least at the auction block. Though the Hermès Birkin that was sold on Monday went for a hefty price, it should be noted that the luxury company has other versions of the Birkin that are priced [much, much higher](http://www.style.com/culture/style-map/2014/most-expensive-hermes-birkin). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3903022/hermes-birkin-christies-hong-kong-auction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3903022/hermes-birkin-christies-hong-kong-auction/"},"headline":"Hermès Birkin Bag Sold for Record $221k at Auction","datePublished":"2015-06-01T11:48:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:20:31.518Z","description":"The diamond-encrusted bag went to an unknown buyer for a staggering $221,846","url":"https://time.com/3903022/hermes-birkin-christies-hong-kong-auction/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Living","fashion","Style"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt266c82a8d2bf22e7/69885259f887dc16bee90b37/birkin-christies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Gibson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt266c82a8d2bf22e7/69885259f887dc16bee90b37/birkin-christies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CHINA-HONG KONG-CHRISTIE-PREVIEW (CN)","caption":"CHINA-HONG KONG-CHRISTIE-PREVIEW (CN)","creditText":"Li Peng—Xinhua/Landov","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3903022/hermes-birkin-christies-hong-kong-auction/","name":"Hermès Birkin Bag Sold for Record $221k at Auction"}}]}] ```