HONG KONG — Three versions of the most desirable handbag in the world will be offered at Christie’s Hong Kong this month. The trio of Hermès matte white Himalaya Niloticus crocodile bags – two Birkins and a Kelly – form part of an auction titled Handbags Online: The Hong Kong Edit that runs until Wednesday, September 20.
Made from Nile crocodile hide – typically complemented by white gold or palladium hardware – this deluxe Hermès product takes its name from the delicate gradation of the color achieved by a painstaking dying process. The smoky gray hue fading into a pearly white is thought to resemble the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas.
Many of the most expensive handbags sold on the secondary market are variants of the Himalaya Birkin or the Himalaya Kelly. The bag has a reported private sale record of $432,000 while in 2017, at a Christie’s Hong Kong auction, a 2014 Himalaya Birkin 30 with 18K white gold and diamond-studded hardware realized £293,000 (roughly $365,000).
The three Hermès Himalaya bags currently up for auction all have palladium hardware.
The Kelly, a Retourné 28 from 2014 with a condition grading of 1.5, has the highest estimate at HK$800,000-HK$1.2m ($104,000-$156,000).
The two Birkin bags both date from 2016 and are graded 2. The smaller 30cm bag is estimated at HK$450,000-HK$550,000 ($58,500-$71,500) while another made to the slightly larger 35cm wide specification is estimated at HK$300,000-HK$400,000 ($39,000-$52,000).
