Crocodile-skin handbag sells for record USD 222,912 in H Kong

A fuchsia-coloured crocodile-skin Hermes bag has broken the record for the most expensive handbag sold at auction, selling for USD 222,912 at a Christie's auction in Hong Kong.
The shiny pink bag was sold to an Asian phone bidder in an auction that saw "fast-paced bidding from start to finish", Christie's said in a statement late yesterday.
The final price realised at the yesterday auction was around 15 per cent more than the auction house's estimate.
"With its 18k white gold and diamond hardware, Hermes Shiny Fuchsia Porosus Crocodile Diamond Birkin 35 dazzled the crowds, achieving a 1.72 million (Hong Kong dollar) record," Christie's said in the statement.

The bag, part of the "Birkin" series named after actress and singer Jane Birkin, who was born in Britain and is based in France, features a gold and diamond-encrusted clasp and padlock and is 35 centimetres in width and 25 centimetres in height.
At the same auction that saw some 300 designer handbags going under the hammer, a shiny black crocodile "Kelly" bag was sold for USD 145,000, breaking the record for the most expensive "Kelly" bag sold at auction.

The "Kelly" product line is named after the late Princess Grace of Monaco.
The auction house's Handbags and Accessories sale achieved USD 5.99 million in sales.

Designer handbags are the latest craze for collectors, taking global auction houses by storm and fetching record prices.
The previous record was set at the sale of another Hermes Birkin by an American auction house valued at around USD 203,000 in 2011.