FLOAT 100 · Handbags · No. 22
Hermes Constance 18, Epsom, Black
A small flap bag closed by a single metal letter, named for a baby born just as the first one was released, became the third icon of Hermes, and in black Epsom with a palladium H it is the version collectors treat as the default.
- Year
- current
- Maker
- Hermes
- By price in handbags
- 23 of 100
Create a free account to see every recorded price and every grade.
Create a free account- Maker
- Hermes, Paris
- Model
- Constance, designed by Catherine Chaillet and named for her daughter
- Created
- Hermes dates the commission to 1967; other accounts say 1959 or 1969
- Size
- 18 cm wide, the size also called the Mini Constance
- Leather
- Epsom, a rigid calfskin with a heat-pressed grain, introduced in 2004
- Color
- Black (Noir, color code 89), one of the house's earliest colors
- Hardware
- Palladium H clasp with a spring mechanism
- US boutique price
- $8,750 for Epsom in 2024; about $9,700 for leather in 2026
- Current asks
- $14,410 for a 2025-dated bag in excellent condition, seen October 1, 2026
A bag named for a newborn
Hermes tells the story this way. In 1967 Jean-Louis Dumas, then a young executive in the family firm and later its chairman, asked a designer to create a new bag. The designer, who was pregnant at the time, named it after her new daughter, Constance. Other accounts name the designer as Catherine Chaillet and say the baby was her fifth child, born at the same time the first Constance bag was released.
The date is less settled than the story. Hermes's own page dates the commission to 1967. At least one auction house guide says the Constance debuted in 1959, and one dealer's history says it was created in 1969. The 1959 date is hard to square with the account that Dumas commissioned it: according to his biography, he did not join Hermes until 1964. This page follows the company's 1967 date and notes the others.
Hermes describes the Constance as an urban bag with a quietly sporty spirit, made for women with a confident stride. Its visibility rose when Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was often photographed carrying one, and one guide records 'O-bag,' after Onassis, as an unofficial nickname.
Dumas and the house he built
Jean-Louis Dumas was born in Paris in February 1938, a descendant of the founder, Thierry Hermes, and a grandson of Emile-Maurice Hermes. He spent a year in New York as an assistant buyer before joining the family company, founded in 1837, in 1964 at age 26. He became managing director in 1971 under his father, Robert Dumas, and chairman in 1978, a post he held until 2006.
Under Dumas, Hermes acquired brands such as the bootmaker John Lobb and the silversmith Puiforcat, and the Birkin bag, created in 1984, came out of his tenure. The Constance belongs to his earlier years at the company, when he was still learning the business from his father.
Like the house's other quota bags, the Constance is made by hand. One auction house guide says a single artisan makes each Constance, and that each takes about 14 to 18 hours.
1967
If Hermes's date is right, the Constance was commissioned in a year of upheaval and spectacle. The Six-Day War began on June 5. In late May the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and on June 25 some 400 million people watched Our World, the first live international satellite broadcast, which featured the band's debut of 'All You Need Is Love.'
In Montreal, Expo 67 opened in April and drew more than 50 million visitors in six months. In November NASA launched the first Saturn V rocket, and in December Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant in Cape Town.
How to read a Constance 18 in black Epsom
The H is the bag. Hermes calls the clasp a first for the house: the letter itself opens and closes the bag, by means of a spring mechanism hidden on each side of the metal bar attached to the flap. On this configuration the H is palladium-plated, a cool silver tone. The strap slides, so the bag can sit at the hip or on the shoulder.
The 18 is the smallest standard size in regular production apart from the tiny Micro Constance 14, and it is often called the Mini Constance. One auction house guide calls it the original size of the bag and by far the most popular with collectors. Measurements vary by catalog: one guide gives about 18 x 14 x 4 cm, and recent auction listings for black Epsom examples give 18 x 15 x 5 cm and 18 x 15 x 6 cm. A 2025 example measured 7.25 inches at the base, 5.75 inches high and 1.75 inches deep, with drops of 10.5 and 20 inches. Interiors vary too: Constance bags have been made with one or two compartments, and some come with a separate mirror.
Epsom is a rigid calfskin with a semi-matte surface and a pressed cross-hatch grain. Hermes added it in 2004 to replace Courchevel leather. Its stiffness keeps the Constance's flap crisp, and one auction house guide names Epsom among the most sought-after leathers for the model today. Noir, color code 89, was one of the few colors Hermes offered when it began selling handbags.
A dealer cataloging a Constance should note the size as well as actual measurements, the number of compartments, the strap length, the hardware finish and whether the mirror is included. One dealer's guide warns that a date stamp is part of the record but not an authentication test on its own.
Retail, resale and the record books
In October 2024 an auction house guide listed the US boutique price of a leather Constance 18 at $8,750 in Epsom and $10,000 in chevre goatskin. By 2026 the same house put a leather Constance 18 at about $9,700 at retail. Its 2026 guide notes that the Constance, though a quota bag, is generally more attainable than the Birkin or Kelly.
On the resale market, the same house said in 2024 that a pristine leather Constance 18 sold for around $15,000 to $17,000 depending on color, and that the markup over retail is smaller than for the Birkin and Kelly because demand is lower. In 2026 it reported that unit sales of Constance bags fell about 15 to 20 percent in 2025 compared with the year before, as collectors shifted toward smaller formats, limited editions and the Birkin and Mini Kelly.
Specific results for this exact configuration are scattered. On September 21, 2023, a 2018 black Epsom Mini Constance 18 with palladium hardware sold at an online auction in Hong Kong for HKD 100,800, above its HKD 50,000 to 80,000 estimate. On October 1, 2026, a 2025 example in excellent condition, with box, dust bag and mirror, was listed at $14,410 by a US reseller, and a Miami dealer's listing for a new 2025 example, now marked sold out, showed $14,500.
The top of the Constance market is far from black leather. The most expensive Constance a major auction house has sold was a 2023 Constance 24 in Himalaya crocodile, which brought HKD 762,000, close to $100,000. Limited editions such as the 2021 Sac Miroir Clouté, the 2021 Marble Silk and the 2019 Au Bout du Monde are the collectible end of the leather range.
The numbers
- Dimensions
- About 18 x 14-15 x 4-6 cm depending on catalog; one 2025 example measured 7.25 x 5.75 x 1.75 in with 10.5 in and 20 in strap drops
- Material
- Epsom calfskin in black (Noir, 89); interior in tonal leather
- Hardware
- Palladium-plated H clasp with concealed spring mechanism; sliding adjustable strap
- Production quantity
- Not published by Hermes
Timeline
Thierry Hermes founds the Hermes house in Paris.
Jean-Louis Dumas is born in Paris.
The year one auction house guide gives for the Constance's debut; Hermes's own account says 1967.
Dumas joins Hermes at age 26.
Dumas commissions a new bag; the designer names it Constance after her newborn daughter (Hermes's date).
Dumas becomes managing director under his father, Robert Dumas.
Dumas becomes chairman of Hermes, a post he holds until 2006.
Epsom leather enters the Hermes range, and a line of Constance wallets begins.
The elongated Constance Elan is introduced.
The limited-edition Constance Au Bout du Monde is released.
Limited editions include the studded Sac Miroir Clouté and the Marble Silk Constance.
A Constance 24 in Himalaya crocodile sells at auction for HKD 762,000, close to $100,000.
A 2018 black Epsom Mini Constance 18 with palladium hardware sells online in Hong Kong for HKD 100,800.
The Constance Elan is reintroduced for Spring-Summer 2024 in a slimmer form.
US boutique price for an Epsom Constance 18 is reported at $8,750.
US boutique price for a leather Constance 18 is reported at about $9,700.
A 2025-dated black Epsom Constance 18 with palladium hardware is listed at $14,410.
The world in 1967
Louis Leakey announces the discovery of pre-human fossils in Kenya.
Expo 67 opens in Montreal; it draws more than 50 million visitors in six months.
The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in the United Kingdom.
The Six-Day War begins.
About 400 million viewers watch Our World, the first live international satellite broadcast.
NASA launches the first Saturn V rocket, carrying Apollo 4 into orbit.
Christiaan Barnard performs the world's first heart transplant in Cape Town.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 21, 2023 | $12,889 | Sold at auctionAt an online auction in Hong Kong: HKD 100,800 (including buyer's premium), shown in USD at the Federal Reserve rate on the sale date (1 HKD = 0.1279 USD). |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $14,410 | Asking price, not a sale2025 black Epsom Constance 18, palladium H, excellent condition with box, dust bag and mirror; US reseller listing. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Hermes Constance 18, Epsom, Black is number 23 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 (22 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The clasp is the letter H itself, held shut by springs hidden on each side of the bar.
- Hermes says the bag is named for a baby: the designer named it after her new daughter, Constance.
- An unofficial nickname for the Constance is the 'O-bag,' after Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
- Epsom, the leather on this configuration, did not exist at Hermes until 2004, when it replaced Courchevel.
- One auction house guide says a single artisan makes each Constance in about 14 to 18 hours.
- The most expensive Constance one major auction house has sold, a Himalaya crocodile Constance 24, brought HKD 762,000, close to $100,000, in 2023.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026