Clockwise from left: A 2010 cherry-red crocodile Hermès Birkin bag with silver palladium hardware; a limited-edition monogram canvas Louis Vuitton; Grace Kelly with her Hermès bag.

Clockwise from left: A 2010 cherry-red crocodile Hermès Birkin bag with silver palladium hardware; a limited-edition monogram canvas Louis Vuitton; Grace Kelly with her Hermès bag.

PURSES (2): CHRISTIE’S; KELLY: BILL INGRAHAM/AP

PursesArt houses auction vintage designer bags alongside masterpieces

Prized

ho can forget the Sex and the City episode in which power publicist Samantha approaches the counter of the Madison Avenue Hermès store and grovels for a coveted Birkin bag? Even when she tells the salesperson it’s for a celebrity

(Elementary’s Lucy Liu), she’s still put on the dreaded waitlist.Once written off by major auction houses as mere status

symbols, luxury accessories such as these have become a hot commodity in recent years. “Christie’s usually has fi ve specifi c handbag sales per year, four online-only and one live sale, and we offer between 70 and 100 lots per sale,” says Clare Borthwick, the house’s London-based vintage handbag and accessories specialist. Another house, Heritage Auctions, holds semiannual

events that attract far more deep-pocketed female bidders than do typical art and

antiques auctions.The market is as cutthroat for the

auction houses as it is for the bidders. When “bag whisperer” Matthew Rubinger, 26, who was director of the accessories category for Heritage, jumped ship to work for Christie’s earlier this year, the owners of his former company

brought a lawsuit against the auction house, Rubinger and two other former employees,

claiming Rubinger had breached his contract and walked away with a valuable client database.

How much is at stake? To date, the record is $125,000 for a one-of-a-kind crocodile and leather Hermès Kelly bag,

named after Grace Kelly, who was seldom seen without hers. (It was offi cially named

in her honor in 1977.) In addition to the coveted Hermès bags, Borthwick has seen

increasing interest in those from the houses of Diorand Céline, as well as from Louis Vuitton designer

collaborations such as Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton.Customers can be confi dent they are getting the real deal

rather than a forgery, says Borthwick: “We do not offer anything that we’re unsure about, and always seek advice when needed.” And unlike the lot of Christian Louboutin heels that Christie’s auctioned off with less success, “with bags, you don’t have to worry about whether or not they’ll fi t.” — Michele Shapiro

96 FEBRUARY 2015 | WATCH! cbswatchmagazine.com

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