In a high-profile state-led auction held in Ho Chi Minh City, two ultra-luxury Hermès Birkin handbags seized from imprisoned disgraced Vietnamese businesswoman Truong My Lan have sold for a combined total of more than $535,000, after just half an hour of competitive bidding. The sale, part of a broader effort to liquidate thousands of Truong’s confiscated assets to cover court-ordered reparations, has drawn global attention for the extraordinary price fetched by the rare designer goods, highlighting the enduring hype and investment value of Hermès’ most exclusive product line.
Of the two Birkins sold on Monday at the Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center, the larger 30-centimeter model brought in $94,858, while a smaller, embellished 25-centimeter version—adorned with rhinestones on its clasp and trim—sold for an eye-watering $440,144, nearly seven times its original opening bid. The bags were among roughly 1,200 seized assets put up for auction as authorities move to recoup billions in stolen funds tied to Truong’s massive financial fraud scheme.
Truong My Lan, once one of Vietnam’s most high-profile business figures, was convicted in April 2024 for orchestrating a decade-long embezzlement scheme centered on her secret control of Saigon Commercial Bank, Vietnam’s fifth-largest lender. Over more than 10 years, she siphoned $44 billion from the bank through a complex network of shell companies, and courts ordered her to repay $27 billion in reparations to cover the missing funds. Originally sentenced to death, Truong’s sentence was commuted to life in prison in June 2024, when Vietnam abolished capital punishment for a range of financial and non-violent crimes.
Throughout her trial, Truong fought to retain ownership of the two handbags, telling courts she had purchased one during a trip to Italy and received the second as a gift from a Malaysian business executive. She argued the bags were intended to be passed down as personal keepsakes for her children and grandchildren, but courts ultimately ordered the assets seized as part of her reparations ruling. Back in January, Ho Chi Minh City’s Civil Judgment Enforcement Agency announced it would bring in independent luxury experts to appraise the rare crocodile-skin Birkins ahead of the planned auction, signaling the high value placed on the items.
Industry experts note that the extraordinary final price paid for the bags aligns with a years-long trend of rising values for rare Hermès Birkin bags, which have become popular alternative investment assets for wealthy collectors. Nicholas Parnell, founder of Agency Parnell, a leading wholesale luxury fashion agency, explained that Hermès’ intentional limited distribution strategy has kept demand far outstripping supply for the iconic line for decades. “It is one of the most sought-after bags and that has been achieved primarily by Hermès restricting access to people,” Parnell noted, adding that rare and custom Birkins are widely viewed as tangible works of art rather than just accessories. “The price is quite limitless in a way because there are so many special editions,” he said, noting that many collectors view the bags as long-term holdings that hold or gain value over time.
The auction sale comes just months after another historic Birkin sale that underscored the market’s sky-high appetite for rare examples: in July 2025, Sotheby’s Paris sold an original prototype Birkin bag for €8.6 million (equivalent to $10.1 million at the time), marking the highest price ever paid for a handbag at auction up to that point. Major auction houses including Sotheby’s now regularly list rare Birkins for tens of thousands of dollars, with special editions and custom pieces regularly selling for hundreds of thousands or even millions.