A Hong Kong billionaire just sold $3.2 million worth of Hermès and Chanel handbags at auction.
The auction, hosted by Sotheby's, included 77 handbags from the collection of Joseph Lau, a property developer worth roughly $6 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. Titled "the Visionary Collection of Joseph Lau," the auction was part one of a two-part event, the second of which will take place in July, according to Sotheby's.
The collection included one Chanel bag and 76 Hermès bags, including both the iconic Birkin and Kelly styles. The highest bid went to a "Bleu Jean" crocodile Birkin bag produced in 2006, which features 18K white gold and diamond hardware — the bag sold for 1.52 million HKD, or about $194,000, according to Sotheby's website.
Other top sellers included a rose mini Kelly bag and another blue crocodile Birkin, both of which sold for 1,206,500 Hong Kong dollars, or about $154,000.
Collections of luxury handbags like Lau's could be a smart investment, as their volatility is low and returns could reach mid-single-digits, according to a 2022 Credit Suisse study.
And Lau is a prolific handbag collector: He's purchased over 1,500 Hermès bags as gifts over the years, and his family still owns more than 1,000, a representative for Lau told Bloomberg. Lau's collection includes several bags designed by legendary designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, who served as creative director for Hermès from 2004 to 2010. The bags produced during Gaultier's tenure are "highly coveted," according to Sotheby's.
Lau's collection extends beyond handbags to diamonds — including a $53 million 12-carat blue diamond — and art by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bloomberg reported.
In 2014, Lau was convicted of money laundering and bribery by a Macau court and sentenced to five years in prison, but he's avoided serving time by avoiding travel to the island, which doesn't have an extradition pact with Hong Kong. Lau has auctioned off other pieces in his collection over the years, including $20 million worth of art and fine wine.
Take a look at some of the top sellers from Lau's most recent auction: