Hermes Birkin 30 Togo, Rouge Casaque

A red named for racing silks

Hermes was founded in 1837 as a saddle and harness maker. The name of this red also points to horses: in French a casaque is a blouse or, in racing, the jersey a jockey wears.

Hermes has made many reds, and collectors keep them apart carefully. Rouge H, also called Rouge Hermes, is the emblematic house color, a dark red with a hint of brown that verges on burgundy. Rouge Vif is a cherry red with pink undertones often seen on vintage pieces. One resale guide dates Rouge Casaque to 2012.

How it reads depends on who is describing it. One resale guide calls it a more muted red. A dealer's guide calls it a neutral-to-cool true red, pure, strong and saturated, and the closest thing Hermes has to a flagship red. The color is the same; the eye, the leather and the light are not, which is part of why collectors care which leather a red comes in.

The bag underneath: a Birkin 30

The Birkin was created in 1984 after a meeting between Hermes chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas and the actress Jane Birkin, who complained on a flight that she could not find a leather bag big enough for her things. Dumas sketched a supple, roomy bag and named it for her. The first production Birkins came in 35 and 40.

The 30 is the next size down from the 35. One size guide gives it as 11.5 x 9 x 6 inches with a 4-inch handle drop; listings for 2013 Rouge Casaque examples measure 30 x 22 x 16 cm and 30 x 22 x 15 cm. Like every Birkin it is made by one craftsman, over 15 to 20 hours, and lined in goatskin of the same color as the outside.

Togo, introduced in 1997, is a calfskin with a natural pebble grain that resists scratches, which makes it a common choice for a Birkin carried every day. This example pairs it with palladium hardware, the silver-tone alternative to the gold-plated hardware Hermes used when the Birkin first launched.

Two years, three bags

Hermes does not disclose production quantities for its Birkins. A 2016 first-person account by a collector shows what the chase can look like. She had wanted Rouge Casaque from early on and named it one of her two "holy grail" colors. She asked for it on her wish list at her local store and whenever she traveled to Paris.

Her first Rouge Casaque bag was a Kelly 32 Sellier with palladium hardware, which she gave to a cousin because the size did not suit her. The second was a Birkin 30 in Clemence leather with gold hardware, which she passed to her mother because the gold did not work with her wardrobe. The third, after two years, was a Rouge Casaque Birkin in Epsom leather with palladium hardware, the one she wanted.

Her story makes the point that a red Birkin is not a single object. The same color comes in different leathers, sizes and hardware, and each combination is its own bag to a collector. The one on this page, Togo with palladium in the 30 size, is one of those combinations.

What Rouge Casaque Birkins have sold for

On December 11, 2025, at an online auction in New York, a 2013 Rouge Casaque Togo Birkin 30 with palladium hardware, graded 2 for condition and sold with its lock, one key and dust bag but without its clochette, brought $12,700 against an estimate of $8,000 to $10,000. The same sale included a limited-edition 2019 Sunset Rainbow Birkin 35 in four Epsom colors, Rouge Casaque among them, which brought $30,480.

A newer bag of the same description, a 2020 Rouge Casaque Togo Birkin 30 with palladium hardware, sold at an online auction in Hong Kong on July 14, 2026, for HKD 95,250 against an estimate of HKD 60,000 to 100,000. A larger 2017 Rouge Casaque Togo Birkin 35 with gold hardware sold in New York on June 17, 2025, for $8,820.

A 2013 Rouge Casaque Togo Birkin 30 with palladium hardware was also offered by a dealer in Huddersfield, England, described as excellent overall with clean corners, original protective stickers still on the hardware and its box, ribbon, lock and two keys. When checked on October 1, 2026, it was listed at $18,120.

How to identify one

Start with the stamp. From 1997 to 2014 Hermes framed its year letter in a square, and Q in a square means 2013; a 2012 bag carries P, a 2014 bag R. From 2015 the letters stand alone, so a 2020 Rouge Casaque bag carries a Y with no frame.

Then the leather and the metal. Togo shows a natural pebble grain, unlike Epsom, whose fine cross-hatched grain is embossed. Palladium hardware is silver in tone; a Rouge Casaque Birkin with gold hardware is a different configuration, priced on its own.

Finally the color itself, which is easy to confuse with its neighbors. Rouge H is darker and browner, toward burgundy, and Rouge Vif leans cherry with pink undertones. Compare a bag in daylight against a known reference before relying on a name in a listing.

The numbers

Dimensions

30 x 22 x 15-16 cm in listings; 11.5 x 9 x 6 in with a 4 in handle drop per one size guide

Material

Togo calfskin in Rouge Casaque; goatskin lining in the same color

Hardware

Palladium (silver-tone) lock, keys, clochette, turn-lock and feet

Date stamp

Q in a square (2013)

Production quantity

Not published by Hermes

Timeline

1. 1837

   Hermes is founded as a saddle and harness maker.

2. 1984

   Hermes creates the Birkin for Jane Birkin.

3. 1997

   Hermes introduces Togo leather and begins framing date-stamp letters in a square.

4. 2012

   Rouge Casaque comes out, according to one color guide.

5. 2013

   The example on this page is made, stamped Q in a square.

6. 2015

   Hermes drops the square around its date-stamp letters.

7. Aug 21, 2016

   A collector publishes her two-year hunt for the right Rouge Casaque Birkin.

8. Jun 17, 2025

   A 2017 Rouge Casaque Togo Birkin 35 sells for $8,820 at an online auction in New York.

9. Dec 11, 2025

   A 2013 Rouge Casaque Togo Birkin 30 with palladium hardware sells for $12,700 at an online auction in New York.

10. Jul 14, 2026

    A 2020 Rouge Casaque Togo Birkin 30 with palladium hardware sells for HKD 95,250 at an online auction in Hong Kong.

The world in 2013

• Feb 15, 2013

  A meteor explodes over Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring about 1,500 people.

• Feb 28, 2013

  Pope Benedict XVI resigns, the first pope to do so since 1415.

• Mar 13, 2013

  Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected Pope Francis.

• Apr 15, 2013

  Two bombs explode at the Boston Marathon.

• Jun 6, 2013

  Edward Snowden's disclosures of U.S. mass surveillance begin to appear.

• Jul 1, 2013

  Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.

• Nov 8, 2013

  Typhoon Haiyan strikes the Philippines, killing more than 6,000 people.

• Nov 12, 2013

  Francis Bacon's Three Studies of Lucian Freud sells for $142.4 million in New York, then a record for an artwork at auction.

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 30 Togo, Rouge Casaque is number 25 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 (21 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Casaque is the French word for a jockey's racing jersey.
• One collector went through a Kelly 32 and a Birkin 30 in Rouge Casaque before landing the Rouge Casaque Birkin she wanted.
• A 2013 Rouge Casaque Birkin 30 sold for $12,700 in 2025, beating its high estimate of $10,000.
• Hermes changed its date-stamp system in 2015, so a 2013 bag carries a letter in a square and a 2020 bag a bare letter.
• Rouge Casaque has appeared in limited-edition Birkins; a 2019 Sunset Rainbow Birkin 35 with a Rouge Casaque panel sold for $30,480.
• Togo, the leather on this bag, did not exist when the Birkin was created; Hermes introduced it in 1997.