Nothing is more timeless than a black bag. For decades a black Box Kelly was the standard bearer for handbags the world over. Today, with the Birkin reigning King over handbag world (and the Kelly as Queen, or maybe its a pair of Queens?) black is believed by many to be the best. It goes with everything and it will always be stylish and desirable, which is why a black Birkin or Kelly is typically where collectors start. On the secondary market, black bags occupy two spaces; one relatively high, sparsely populated with pristine examples, the other rather lower and larger, a result of the color’s decades long production run. Bags from the former category will always find buyers seeking a store-fresh Black Birkin or Kelly without the wait, and bags from the latter are perpetually available somewhere or other.
The options within ‘Black’ are many, involving size, leather and hardware. With hundreds of auction results for Black Birkins and Kellys to parse, the average values of specific variations begin to emerge. Black bags, when compared to all bag sold at auction, tend to mirror the market’s larger trends, but refining the data to one color strips it of any possible variance for that terribly personal of preferences. Unsurprisingly the results line up by size almost completely, with smaller sized bags averaging more at auction today than larger ones. There is one notable exception for both Retourne and Sellier Kellys where the 28cm size has overtaken the 25cm size.
Breaking apart the auction results for Black Birkins and Kellys by material, a clear hierarchy emerges. Among leathers, Epsom averages higher than the rest with Black Epsom bags averaging almost $19,000 over the last five years. Togo leather bags achieved the second highest average of over $15,750, with smooth leather bags (Swift, Gulliver, Jonathan, Novillo, Tadelakt, Sombrero, Evercolor) averaging nearly $15,600. Only five Black Chevre leather bags have sold in the last five years, averaging just over $12,500, and black Clemence bags have average just under $11,000, not much above the averages for Box and other Vintage leathers (Ardennes, Buffalo, Fjord, Vache Leigee) which all average under $9,500. The spread between these leathers is likely due to the corresponding age and therefore condition these various bags have.
The question of hardware is one with an ever-changing answer as Gold and Palladium have danced around each other for years, switching which averages more than the other regularly. The newest hardware, though, as taken Black Bags by storm. Rose Gold has only been on the auction market since 2019, and no black examples have yet sold in 2021, but the results we have are astounding. The three black leather bags with Rose Gold hardware that sold in 2019 averaged over $23,000 and all three sold the following year topped that, averaging nearly $27,650. While the difference between black leather bags with Gold and Palladium hardware has grown to a record $2,850, the jump to Rose Gold is over $8,500, making this one of the most exciting additions to these timeless designs.
Each year as Hermes produces more bags in new colors, Black will always remain. In closets around the world, black bags hold fast to their indefatigable relevance. As fail-safe gifts, treasured heirlooms, or personal trophies, timeless elegance is what this most-intense of colors bestows on it’s wearers.