Perched atop the shelf of a glass enclosed cabinet, the Hermes bag received envious glances. After all, it was one of the most sought after bags at Heritage Auctions' Spring Luxury Accessories Signature Auction, held in New York last month. The 35cm ‘Blue Brighton Shiny Porosus Crocodile Birkin' bag featured palladium hardware and fought for attention amidst equally striking Chanels, Judith Leibers and Louis Vuittons.

And when the hammer struck, the Birkin was lapped up by a lady on the floor for $45,000 ($56,250 with all the extras)! It was the starting bid no doubt, but still, it ended up grabbing the top slot at the auction.

While art, jewellery, watches and wine auctions are often heard of, ‘Fair warning' for a sexy tote or a crystal clutch made for an interesting event. And it was evident by the number of people who bid at the floor, via live stream, phone, fax, mail and more. 1,168, bidders to be precise!

Auction highlights

Out of 635 lots on sale, which included bags (for the most part), apart from trinkets and watches, 90.86 per cent found new owners. The auction was divided into two sessions. The Signature Floor session that featured the exclusive pieces and the Signature session that saw the others (more bags, small jewellery, belts and plenty of interesting scarves).

The total price realized (PR) was $ 1,278,964 with 67.31 per cent of the total value sold. Out of the top ten bids, eight were Birkins! The Chanel Black Shiny crocodile Jumbo Classic Single Flap Bag with gold hardware featured seven and raked in $22,500.

The most interesting product under the hammer was Chanel's Limited Edition Cruiser bicycle with black quilted lamb skin seat and three detachable lambskin leather saddle bags. It won admirers as it welcomed guests who were walking up to the auction hall at the Ukrainian Institute of America. It was taken for $10,625.

Though Hermes was the marquee name at the auction with some very rare handbags, other brands on the table included Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chopard, Tods, Fendi, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Cartier, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Valentino, Alaïa, Loewe and prominent others.

What we loved

Then there were some pieces we couldn't help lusting after. The Hermes Bougainvillier Ostrich Birkin Bag had us tempted by its colour and so did the Salvatore Ferragamo Purple Ostrich Large Tote. Louis Vuitton's 2003 Extremely Rare Jewelry Box, limited edition by Takashi Murakami tempted me to flash my bidding card. And Judith Leiber's full bead blue, green and silver snake crystal minaudiere evening bag was a delight to behold.

The scarves were the highlight of the second session. There were kitschy as well as classic ones from Chanel, Cartier, Hermes and YSL. We particularly loved Cartier's set of three silk scarves and Hermes black, gold and pink ‘Splendeur des Maharajas' by Baschet silk scarf.

Did we see you wave your bidding card? Fair warning to that!

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW