Hermes Birkin 20 Faubourg Sellier 'Snow/Neige'

A store you can carry

Hermès has been based at 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris since 1880, when Charles-Émile Hermès moved the business there. In 2019 the house turned that address into a handbag. The Birkin Faubourg, sometimes called the House Birkin, reproduces the boutique's frontage in leather: three window panels, orange awnings and stonework, built into the body of a Birkin 20.

It was the first time Hermès translated its own storefront into a bag, and the first Birkin made in the 20 centimeter size. The construction is Sellier, the stiff, sharp-edged build with visible stitching, which gives the little façade its architectural shape. In place of the leather clochette that normally hangs from a Birkin's handle, each Faubourg comes with a tiny Hermès shopping bag.

The first two versions, Day and Night, came out in 2019: Day in warm browns and gold, Night in deep blues, each with a matte alligator flap. None of the sources consulted for this page names the designer behind the concept.

Winter on the Faubourg

In 2021 Hermès added two new interpretations, Midnight and Snow, also called Neige. Snow changes the recipe: the body is Béton matte alligator, a light cool gray, and the flap is white Togo calfskin. The windows are Bleu Brume chèvre, a pale silvery blue, with Craie Swift detailing. The hardware is palladium.

That full alligator body is why Snow sits at the top of the line. Guides describe it as the rarest Faubourg and the one that consistently brings the highest prices. Its reported retail price, about $48,000, compares with about $30,000 for Day, Night and Midnight. A European guide gives the retail figures as about €33,000 for Snow and €22,000 for the others.

Descriptions of the smaller leather elements vary from bag to bag and source to source. One example offered at auction in Hong Kong was described with white Swift and Clemence leather, Orange H Swift awnings and Bleu Brume chèvre Mysore windows; another was catalogued with white Togo, Blanc and Orange H accents and Craie Swift. One guide describes white Swift awnings and a white Sombrero base. A buyer should read each bag's own description rather than assume a single recipe.

From boutique to the auction room

Hermès does not publish production numbers for the Faubourg. Guides describe the quantities as extremely limited and say the bags are rarely available in boutiques; one repeats an unconfirmed rumor of 100 to 250 bags per colorway. Most buyers therefore meet the Snow on the secondary market.

Its prices there have moved a great deal. A private sale of $400,000 was reported in early 2022. In April 2023 a 2021 Snow was the most expensive Hermès bag of the year at one major auction house, selling in Hong Kong for $280,670. In March 2024 another sold at auction in Hong Kong for $256,000, and later in 2024 a 2021 example made $234,000 in Hong Kong and a 2022 example $227,000 in Paris.

One collector guide sums up the arc: early examples went above $300,000, and values have since settled closer to the $200,000 range. Even so, the Snow stays well above the Day, Night and Midnight versions, which generally bring $150,000 to $180,000 at auction.

How to identify one

A Snow Faubourg is a Birkin 20 in Sellier construction with a gray matte alligator body and a white calfskin flap, three pale blue windows, and a miniature shopping bag charm. The hardware is palladium; a black-hardware Faubourg is the Midnight, a different bag.

Published measurements differ slightly: one reseller lists 20 by 15 by 10 centimeters, while another lists the Faubourg at 20 by 17 by 11 centimeters (8 by 6.5 by 4.5 inches). Small differences are normal in a handmade Sellier bag.

Because of the alligator, resale examples are offered with CITES documentation for the skin, along with the box, dust bag, lock, keys and often the original receipt. One example listed for resale carried a Z date stamp.

Where it fits

The Faubourg turned the Birkin 20 from a novelty into a collecting category of its own. Later colorways followed: Rainy Days and a graffiti-faced Disco version in 2024, and a Rouge edition reported the same year. A Rainy Days Faubourg sold for $203,200 in Hong Kong in March 2025.

Among them, the Snow is the benchmark. One auction house says it has sold nearly $4 million of Birkin Faubourg bags since 2021, and more than $5 million of Birkin 20s of all kinds since 2022.

The numbers

Size

Birkin 20; listed as 20 x 15 x 10 cm by one reseller and 20 x 17 x 11 cm by another

Construction

Sellier

Body

Béton matte alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)

Flap

White Togo calfskin (one listing says Clemence)

Windows

Bleu Brume chèvre with Craie Swift detailing

Hardware

Palladium

Production

Not disclosed by Hermès; one guide repeats an unconfirmed rumor of 100 to 250 per colorway

Timeline

1. 1837

   Thierry Hermès founds the house in Paris.

2. 1880

   Hermès moves to 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, the building the Faubourg Birkin depicts.

3. 1984

   The Birkin is created after Jane Birkin meets Hermès chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas.

4. 2019

   Hermès introduces the Birkin Faubourg in Day and Night versions, the first Birkin in size 20.

5. 2021

   The Snow (Neige) and Midnight versions are released.

6. 2022

   A Snow Faubourg is reported sold privately for $400,000.

7. Apr 2023

   A 2021 Snow sells at auction in Hong Kong for $280,670.

8. Mar 2024

   A Snow sells at auction in Hong Kong for $256,000.

9. 2024

   A 2021 Snow brings $234,000 in Hong Kong and a 2022 Snow $227,000 in Paris.

10. 2024

    Hermès adds the Rainy Days and Disco Faubourg colorways.

11. Mar 2025

    A Rainy Days Faubourg sells in Hong Kong for $203,200.

The world in 2021

• Jan 6, 2021

  Supporters of President Donald Trump attack the US Capitol.

• Mar 23, 2021

  The container ship Ever Given wedges in the Suez Canal, blocking traffic for six days.

• Apr 19, 2021

  NASA's Ingenuity helicopter makes the first powered flight on another planet.

• Jul 2021

  The Tokyo Summer Olympics, postponed from 2020, are held.

• Aug 15, 2021

  The Taliban take Kabul.

• Dec 25, 2021

  The James Webb Space Telescope launches.

• 2021

  Hermès reports revenue of €8.962 billion, up from €6.682 billion in 2019.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Hermes Birkin 20 Faubourg Sellier 'Snow/Neige' is number 4 of 100 in the handbags entries of the FLOAT 100. 19 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (4 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The Faubourg was the first Birkin ever made in the 20 centimeter size.
• Instead of the usual leather clochette, the bag comes with a miniature Hermès shopping bag.
• On the Snow, alligator covers the body itself, not just the flap.
• Its reported retail price, about $48,000, is roughly $18,000 more than the other early Faubourgs.
• The building it depicts has housed Hermès since 1880, more than a century before the first Birkin.
• In 2023 a Snow was the single most expensive Hermès bag of the year at one major auction house.