Rare Hermès Bags Collectors Want

What makes a Hermès bag rare?

Every Hermès bag is made by hand, but some are much harder to find than others. Rare Hermès bags usually have at least one of these traits: a limited production run, an exotic skin, an unusual design, or a colour combination made for one client. The bags below are the ones collectors chase most.

The Hermès Birkin Faubourg

The Birkin Faubourg is one of the most famous Hermès special edition bags. It first appeared in 2019. The flap shows the Hermès flagship at 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, with windows, orange awnings and a clochette shaped like an orange shopping bag. All versions are Birkin 20 Sellier bags.

Editions include Day and Night (2019), Midnight and Snow (2021), and Disco and Rainy Days (2024). Sotheby’s lists them among the most sought-after Hermès bags at auction. The Snow edition is the most valuable.

The Himalaya Birkin

The Himalaya is made from Niloticus crocodile, dyed by hand to fade from smoky grey to white, like a snowy mountain. Some versions have white gold and diamond hardware. It is often called the rarest Birkin of all.

Other rare and special Hermès bags

• So Black Birkin and Kelly: black leather with black-coated hardware.
• Shadow Birkin: no hardware, with the straps and lock moulded into the leather.
• Kelly Picnic: a Kelly with a woven wicker body.
• Touch Birkin and Kelly: calf leather paired with exotic skin on the same bag.

Special orders: rare by design

A Hermès special order (HSS) is rare in a different way. A limited edition is the same for every buyer. A special order is built to one client’s choice of leather, colours, stitching and hardware. Many combinations exist only a few times. Each one carries the horseshoe stamp.

That is why special order bags are some of the most rare Hermès bags you can actually buy. They cost far less than a Faubourg or Himalaya, yet they are just as hard to find twice.

Find a rare Hermès special order

Browse our Hermès special order collection, see the special order colors 2026, or read about custom Birkin bags. Our concierge serves New York City clients and ships worldwide.