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| Ursula Andress and Catherine Deneuve |
We’re used to hearing about the history-making sales of sprawling art collections that once belonged to American banking dynasties and French couturiers, within the hallowed walls of Christie's auction house. It’s the place to go if you’re part of the one per cent that has a cool £342 million to spare on a Leonardo da Vinci or are looking to stock up on the finest bottles of Romanée-Conti. But in London this week it was handbags going under the hammer. Not just any old handbags, though; some of the rarest, most luxurious, most decadent – and most expensive – designs to have ever been made.
The Handbags and Accessories sale broke the European record for a bag sold at auction. A 2010 Hermès, matte Himalaya Niloticus crocodile Birkin 35 with 18k white gold and diamond hardware, went for an eye-watering £236,750, exceeding the estimate by over 60 per cent. It’s the third sale of its kind in just over a year from the auction house, which achieved notable success with the previous two in terms of customer growth (31 per cent new buyers: 30 per cent from Asia, 30 per cent from the US and 30 per cent from Europe).
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