A preview at Heritage Auctions headquarters on Park Avenue.
Hermès’s 35-cm Epsom leather Birkin.
Who knew your closet could be a profit center?
Given the prices luxury handbags are earning at auction, the term “investment fashion piece”—which once just referred to a quality item you could wear for years and years—takes on entirely new meaning.
“For the right bag at auction, you can get back entirely what you paid for it, and a lot more,” says Matthew Rubinger, director of luxury at Heritage Auctions[1] in New York. One vivid example—a 35-cm alligator Birkin bag in Matte Pink (5P) sold for $104,500 at Heritage’s Spring Luxury & Fine Jewelry Auctions last April, more than double what the original owner paid for it. “With these results, we’re changing the way people look at shopping,” says Rubinger. “They’re beginning to see the investment side to what they put in their closet.”
Rubinger says that clients spending $50,000 or more for a bag in the primary retail market are now strategizing as they might for a jewelry purchase. “They’re stopping to think as to what will hold its value.”
The answer to that question in many instances is Hermès[2] , whose bags have shown the greatest appreciation, claiming the top 10 spots at Heritage’s spring sale with Birkins (after the pink crocodile) selling from $89,500 for a 30-cm white crocodile piece to $74,500 for a one-of-a-kind 35-cm rose crocodile. “There seems to be no limit to what people will pay for some of the rarer Birkins or Kellys,” Rubinger says, adding that Hermès’s bags with exotic, unusual colored or lighter skins get bid up quickly. “The Petiteh collection, a tiny Birkin, a tri-color one will also do extremely well.”
Bags from other top luxury brands sell briskly, even if the appreciation multiple isn’t as high as for Hermès. Again, rarity impacts value. Rubinger explains that while a black Chanel[3] flap or 2.55 bag in good condition will sell for slightly less than retail, the brand’s lizard or crocodile bags can go for anywhere from 100 to 120 percent of their original price. Limited edition Louis Vuitton[4] , like the Stephen Sprouse bag, is a good investment, as are its “show bags,” those pieces created especially for runway presentations or signature ad campaigns.
Rubinger says that his buyers include women wanting a particular bag and hoping to avoid a wait list for it, collectors, and museums, as well as the fashion brands buying back key pieces for their archives and museums. “A surprising number of luxury brands weren’t archiving over the years,” Rubinger says.
Five or six years ago, it was all about the “it” bag, “but today, people are looking at luxury handbags as more than something to wear for a season or two,” Rubinger points out. “They’re seeing the investment potential, and purchasing accordingly.” 445 Park Ave., 212-486-3500
References
- ^ Heritage Auctions (ha.com)
- ^ Hermès (www.hermes.com)
- ^ Chanel (www.chanel.com)
- ^ Louis Vuitton (www.louisvuitton.com)
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