The Hermes Birkin is the most coveted and hardest to secure handbag in the world. It was created in 1984 and named after the singer and actress Jane Birkin, whom Hermes Chief Executive Jean-Louis Dumas sat next to on a flight from Paris to London in 1981. Ms. Birkin had complained that it was difficult to find a leather weekend bag that she liked after the content of her straw traveling bag fell out as she was placing the bag in the overhead compartment.

The Birkin is immediately recognizable by its shape, its thin straps with metal plates on the end of each strap (one engraved “Hermes”) that meet on a center toggle, its double rolled handles and its bell shaped key fob (clochette) and matching numbered lock. It is an outstanding piece of workmanship. Each bag takes at least 48 hours to produce and each is hand sewn, buffed, painted and polished by an Hermes skilled craftsman in one of Hermes' factories.  The leathers come from a variety of tanneries and each bag is individually crafted, so each handbag is likely to have its own unique details.  Every Birkin features a date stamp, which is a letter that signifies the year of production, and a craftsman stamp, which is a series of letters, numbers and/or symbols designating the specific person(s) who hand produced the bag.

Birkins come in 25cm, 30cm, 35cm and 40cm sizes. In addition to a wide range of leathers, Hermes Birkins are produced in exotic skins such as ostrich, lizard, alligator and crocodile. The bag is typically accented by palladium or gold plated hardware. The rarest of Hermes Birkins are accented with diamonds on hardware and lock.