$10M Buyer of the Original Birkin Bag Discusses the Purchase Process

The businessman who spent $10 million to own Jane Birkin’s original Birkin bag is speaking out.

Japanese businessman Shinsuke Sakimoto won the nine-way bidding war for the prized Hermès bag, telling CNN that the staggering purchase was hard to stomach.

“It was the most expensive purchase I’ve ever made for a single item,” Sakimoto, the CEO of luxury resale company Valuence Holdings, told the outlet. “It was very exciting, but it really made me sick to my stomach.”

The 43-year-old formerly played in Japan’s top soccer league before retiring from the sport at the age of 22. In 2004, he opened his first luxury resale store in Osaka, before founding Sou (which would become Valuence) seven years later.

Sakimoto participated in the auction from his office in Tokyo, communicating with an in-person representative over the phone. Speaking with CNN, the businessman described the 10-minute ordeal using sports terminology, a reflection of his past athletic career.

“Hit back in three or five seconds,” he recalled telling his representative as the bidding neared his price limit. “I had to be aggressive.”

He continued, “We were almost at the upper limit, but in those few minutes we were strategizing how to inflict psychological damage on our opponents and force them to give up.”

Sakimoto said that the night before the auction, he dreamed about placing the winning bid.

“We went into this process with a lot of faith,” he recalled. “And in a sense, we were chosen by the fashion gods to own the first Birkin.”

The $10 million bid broke the record for the most expensive handbag ever sold at auction. Sakimoto told CNN that the item was well worth the investment, estimating that the publicity generated from the milestone would be “several billion yen,” or eight figures in U.S. dollars, in “advertising value” over the next decade.

“It was certain that the winning bid would break the record, which meant it would be reported all over the world,” he said. “Everyone agreed and understood that this was a good investment.”

Sakimoto explained that the purpose of winning the Birkin is “not to make it the personal property of the wealthy, but to create a new ownership model — for companies like ours and society to share, together.”

“We want to preserve it in the future and share it with everyone,” he added.

In early June, Sotheby’s announced that Jane Birkin’s ‘The Original Birkin’ handbag would be auctioned off as part of their Paris Fashion Icons sale on July 10 in Paris. It was designed in 1984 after then-Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas had a chance encounter with the actress Jane Birkin while flying to London from Paris.

At the time of the announcement, Marganne Halimi, Sotheby’s Global Head of Handbags and Fashion, said the opportunity to purchase the bag was a “rare moment in the world of fashion when an object transcends trends and becomes a legend.”

“Jane Birkin’s Original Birkin bag is such a moment,” Halimi added in a statement shared with PEOPLE.

“A true unicorn in the world of fashion and accessories, this iconic handbag stands shoulder to shoulder with other exceptional items with similarly dazzling provenance — such as Princess Diana’s symbolic Black Sheep Sweater and Freddie Mercury’s Crown and Cloak, both of which set outstanding benchmarks for items of their kind,” Halimi continued.

“Like them, the Original Birkin holds the potential to redefine records, but above all, our priority is ensuring it finds a new home worthy of its iconic status and legendary history,” she added.