Jailed Vietnamese tycoon's Birkin bags sells for more than $550K

Two luxury handbags confiscated from jailed Vietnamese businesswoman Truong My Lan person sold for than $535,000 (£399,000) successful a authorities auction.

Both recovered caller owners successful conscionable 30 minutes of bidding - 1 of the achromatic Hermès Birkin bags unsocial fetched $440,144, with different selling for $94,858.

Hermès's exclusive Birkin bags tin beryllium worthy hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The disgraced tycoon is serving a beingness condemnation for embezzling from a large Vietnamese slope and has been ordered to instrumentality $27bn successful reparations.

Truong My Lan was sentenced to decease successful April 2024 aft a tribunal recovered that she had secretly controlled Saigon Commercial Bank, the country's 5th biggest lender, and taken retired loans and currency implicit much than 10 years done a web of ammunition companies, amounting to a full of $44bn.

The condemnation was commuted to beingness successful situation past June, aft Vietnam abolished the decease punishment for a scope of crimes.

During her trial, Truong My Lan had tried to clasp connected to her 2 Hermès bags, telling the tribunal that she had bought 1 of them successful Italy and the different was a acquisition from a Malaysian businessman. She said she wanted to permission the bags arsenic "keepsakes" for her children and grandchildren.

In January, Ho Chi Minh City's Civil Judgment Enforcement Agency said that it was seeking experts to appraise the worth of 2 crocodile tegument Hermès Birkin bags seized from Truong My Lan.

The bags were among 1,200 seized assets to beryllium sold astatine the Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center connected Monday, according to section media.

The container that sold for the lesser terms was a size 30. The much costly container - a size 25, was embellished with rhinestones connected the clasp and trim - went for astir 7 times the starting bid.

Nicholas Parnell, laminitis of Agency Parnell, a wholesale luxury manner agency, said the terms of Birkin bags had been expanding year-on-year "for a agelong time".

"It is 1 of 1 of the astir sought-after bags and that has been achieved chiefly by Hermes restricting entree to people," helium said.

Parnell said the handbags themselves were "pieces of art" and "extremely rare" and were considered investments by galore people.

"It becomes thing you cherish and clasp connected to," helium said.

"The terms is rather limitless successful a mode due to the fact that determination are truthful galore peculiar editions."

Auction location Sotheby's advertises the bags for tens of thousands of dollars each.

Sotheby's Paris sold the archetypal Birkin container for €8.6m (£7.4m; $10.1m) successful July 2025, making it the astir invaluable handbag ever sold astatine auction astatine the time.