10-year-old bag sold for $217,144 in London auction
London, June 13 : A 10-year-old second-hand Hermes Birkin bag has sold for $217,144 in London, a new European record for the most expensive handbag sold at an auction.
The 2008 Himalaya Birkin, with an 18-carat white gold diamond encrusted lock, exceeded its list price of 100,000-150,000 pounds on Tuesday, reports the BBC.
The record for a bag sold at auction - also a Hermes Birkin - is $380,000, set in Hong Kong in 2017. It is the "undisputed most valuable bag in the world", auction house Christie's said.
It was first time the bag had been offered in a European auction, said Matthew Rubinger, international director at the auctioneers. The niloticus crocodile bag was said to be in "grade 2 condition" with no obvious flaws.
It measures just 30 cm wide - smaller than the original Birkin handbag - and is made from nilo crocodile hide and features diamonds.
Its name refers to the colour gradient, said to resemble the snow-capped hills of the Himalayas. A 2006 blue version of the handbag sold for $133,608 at the same auction on Tuesday, the BBC reported.
New Birkin bags can start at around $9,350 each, but they are not easy to buy, with famously long waiting lists.
The French luxury fashion house Hermes designed what became known as the Birkin in 1981.
Named after the singer and actress Jane Birkin, it has become one of the most sought-after accessories in the world, but it began as a quest for the perfect holdall.
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'Ab kya hoga, ye rab jane...': Tharoor takes dig at failed US-Iran talks in Pakistan
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New Delhi (PTI): Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday took a swipe at the "failed" US-Iran peace talks in Pakistan with an Urdu couplet, saying only god knows now what will happen.
"Ab kya hoga, ye rab jane; Na woh mane, na ye mane (only god knows what will happen now as both sides did not agree)," Tharoor said on X, tagging a post-talks video clip of US Vice President J D Vance, who led the American delegation at the negotiations in Islamabad.
The United States and Iran failed to reach a peace deal at their historic 21-hour talks in Pakistan, leaving the fate of a tenuous two-week ceasefire in doubt, with both sides attempting to hold each other responsible for the collapse of the negotiations.
अब क्या होगा, ये रब जाने
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 13, 2026
ना वो माने, ना ये माने https://t.co/DYrXpa7C8h
Vance said the Iranian side did not accept Washington's terms for ending the war even as the US presented its "final and best offer".
Hours after the talks collapsed, US President Donald Trump said on social media that the negotiations with Tehran failed as "Iran is unwilling to give up its nuclear ambitions".
Trump said the US Navy will actively interdict any vessel in international waters found to have paid tolls to Iran for transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route that handles roughly 20 per cent of global oil and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas).
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the head of the Iranian negotiation team, said it is for the US to decide whether it can "earn our trust or not".
The Iranian foreign ministry, without elaborating, said the US side resorted to "excessive" and "illegal demands".
The failure to reach an agreement has dimmed the prospect of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to stabilise the global energy marke
