A woman paid about £80 for a Dior bag in a Cotswolds charity shop without knowing if it was genuine; experts identified it as a rare 2003 Koi Saddle Bag, and it later sold for £7,870/Image: Kinghams Auctioneers
A Dior handbag bought for about £80 in a Cotswolds charity shop has sold for £7,870 at auction in Moreton-in-Marsh. She later took it to Kinghams auction house, where specialists identified it as a rare Koi Saddle Bag from Christian Dior’s autumn/winter 2003 runway collection, the Daily Mail reported. The bag was identified as a limited-edition Christian Dior Koi Saddle Bag designed by John Galliano for the brand’s autumn/winter 2003 runway season. The handbag had initially been estimated at between £800 and £1,200. The British designer held the position from 1996 to 2011 and became known for experimental designs during his career. The final price reached £7,870 at Kinghams, turning the charity-shop purchase into a substantial return for its owner.
Because she liked its design, without knowing whether it was genuine, the woman had picked up the bag. After specialists confirmed its identity and explained its significance, she decided to put it up for auction.
Kingham’s said the bag was made in extremely limited numbers and is highly sought after by collectors of archival luxury handbags. The auction house said the owner had brought the bag in specifically to establish whether it was genuine. Its limited production is a major factor behind its appeal among collectors, according to Kinghams. A spokesman for the auction house said some collectors regard the particular model as a “Holy Grail” handbag because so few were produced.
Its eventual sale price was more than six times the upper end of that estimate, driven by strong buyer interest. The bag was created during John Galliano’s time as Christian Dior’s creative director. The Koi Saddle Bag forms part of Dior’s Saddle Bag history, a line that became closely associated with Galliano’s work at the fashion house.
Because the bag had been found outside the specialist luxury market, sophie Osborne, Kinghams’ designer goods specialist, said the discovery was particularly notable.
“It was the auction of the year for me,” Osborne said. She added that discovering such a rare Dior and Galliano bag had been found in a charity shop was extraordinary and could prove to be the most significant find of her career. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.