The original Birkin bag, has gone for €8.6m (£7.4m; $10.1m), beating all European records for the most pricey bag at auction.
The black leather bag was made for singer Jane Birkin in 1985 after she spilled her belongings while sitting next to the boss of luxury fashion house Hermès on a flight.
Her little clumsy episode became the inspiration for a fashion icon.
The prototype he made was sold to a private collector from Japan at Sotheby’s in Paris on Thursday in what became an “electrifying” 10-minute bidding war.
Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s global head of handbags and fashion, said the price was a “startling demonstration of the power of a legend and its capacity to ignite the passion and desire of collectors seeking exceptional items with unique provenance, to own its origin”.
She added: “The Birkin prototype is exactly that, the starting point of an extraordinary story that has given us a modern icon, the Birkin bag, the most coveted handbag in the world.”
The auction result will no doubt fuel the desire for the Hermes brand in a week when the Hermes family wealth has surpassed LVMH mogul Bernard Arnault.