Hermès Quota Bags · Birkin, Kelly & Constance in Stock · London
A quota bag is not an Hermès term; it is the clients' word for the bags the House rations. As boutique clients and the trade consistently report, a customer is offered at most two a year from a short list — the Birkin, the Kelly, the Mini Kelly and the Constance — and only after a purchase history has been built with a sales associate. None of them is ever on a shelf. This gallery is the whole of that list as it stands in our London stock today, more than a hundred pieces, new, unworn and pre-owned, each inspected by hand — without a history, an allocation or a waiting list.
141 pieces in stock · £10,700 to £160,500 · Insured UK delivery
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NewLooking for one in particular?
Send us the size, colour and hardware you have in mind. We reply within the hour with what is here, more photographs of any piece above, or the time it would take to source it.
Walk into any Hermès boutique in London — Bond Street, Sloane Street, the concessions at Harrods and Selfridges — and you will find Picotins, Evelynes, Lindys and Garden Parties on the shelves and not a single Birkin, Kelly or Constance. Those three are kept in the back and offered, one at a time, to clients the sales associate knows. The word the clients invented for them is quota bag, because the offer is limited: as it is consistently reported, two per client per calendar year, of any size and leather, and only once a relationship exists. Hermès does not publish the rule. Everyone who shops there knows it.
How the offer works is simpler than the mythology. There is no fixed sum to spend and no formal list; there is an associate who remembers you, a wishlist noted on the system, and a bag that arrives on a day you may or may not be in the shop. Clients build a history in silks, shoes, homeware and jewellery; the pace at which a first Birkin follows depends on the boutique, the season and the associate. Some clients are offered a Kelly in a year. Some are still buying scarves in the third. A leather appointment for a special order is a further step, extended to clients with a long record.
Which bags count is the question we are asked most, and the answer is stable across boutiques. The Birkin in every size counts, including the 25 and the Sellier. The Kelly in every size counts, and so does the Mini Kelly. The Constance counts, including the Mini. Everything else is, in the trade's phrase, non-quota: the Kelly Pochette, the Kelly Cut, the Kelly Danse, the Kelly To Go and the Constance To Go, the Picotin, the Lindy, the Evelyne, the Bolide, the Herbag, the Garden Party. Non-quota bags can be bought from the shelf or offered without limit; quota bags cannot. This gallery contains only the rationed ones.
Because they are rationed at the source, the quota bags are the ones that change hands most on the secondary market. A client offered a Kelly 28 in a colour she did not want takes it rather than lose her turn, and sells it unworn. A collector rotates. An estate is settled. A client abroad uses an allocation in Paris on a piece she will never carry. Those are the bags that reach us — through a private network across the UK and Europe built over years — and they arrive with box, dustbag, receipt copies where they exist, and, for exotics, CITES papers. Store-fresh pieces here still have the film on the hardware.
Every one of them is inspected by hand before it is listed: the leather and its grain, the saddle stitching, the plating, the blind stamp for the year and the workshop, the interior, the accessories. A quota bag carries its history in small marks — a horseshoe beside the stamp for a special order, a symbol for the species of an exotic, a letter for the year — and we record all of them in the description. If a piece has been carried, the description says where and how much. If it has not, it says that too. Nothing here is described as new that is not.
Choosing between the three is a question of how the bag is carried, and it is worth deciding before you decide on colour. The Birkin is an open-top bag with two handles, carried in the hand or on the forearm — the working bag, the one that takes a day's things and a laptop in the 30 and 35. The Kelly closes with a flap, a turn-lock and a strap; it is the more formal object, worn on the shoulder or carried by its single handle, and in the 20 and 25 it is the evening bag. The Constance is the most compact of the three, a shoulder bag with the H clasp, the one that goes across the body and disappears under a coat. Each is in stock in several sizes and leathers, and each has its own gallery.
Sizes and leathers are the second decision. In the Birkin the 25 has overtaken the 30 as the size clients ask for; in the Kelly the 25 and the Mini lead, with the 28 the classic and the 32 the vintage size; in the Constance the 18 and the Mini are the bags of the moment and the 24 the original. Togo and Epsom account for most calf pieces, Swift and Chèvre for the smooth and the fine-grained, Box for the vintage Kellys, and alligator, crocodile, ostrich and lizard for the exotics. Black, Gold and Etoupe are the three neutrals that never fall out of favour; everything else is a season.
What we offer, plainly, is the list without the wait. Every quota bag here can be viewed by appointment in London, in daylight, with the alternatives beside it, or delivered insured, next day, anywhere in the UK; international shipping is arranged with full documentation. There is no purchase history to build and no allocation to be granted — you choose the bag, the size, the leather and the hardware, and it is yours the same week. For clients who have the boutique relationship, we are also the place a second, third or specific piece is found while the year's offer is spent.
Questions, answered
What is a Hermès quota bag?
The clients' term for the bags Hermès rations rather than sells from the shelf: the Birkin, the Kelly (including the Mini Kelly) and the Constance. As it is consistently reported by clients and the trade, a customer is offered at most two a year and only after a purchase history with a sales associate. Hermès does not publish the rule.
How many quota bags can you buy a year at Hermès?
Two per client per calendar year is the figure clients and the trade consistently report, of any size, leather or colour, once a relationship exists with the boutique. Everything outside the list — Picotin, Lindy, Evelyne, Bolide, Kelly Pochette, Kelly To Go — is not limited in the same way.
Which Hermès bags count as quota bags?
The Birkin in every size, the Kelly in every size including the Mini Kelly, and the Constance including the Mini Constance. The Kelly Pochette, Kelly Cut, Kelly Danse, Kelly To Go and Constance To Go are generally treated as non-quota, along with the Picotin, Lindy, Evelyne, Bolide, Herbag and Garden Party.
Can I buy a Birkin or Kelly without a purchase history?
Yes, from us. Every bag in this gallery is in stock in London and can be bought without a history, an allocation or a waiting list. You choose the model, size, leather, colour and hardware; the piece is inspected by hand before it leaves us.
Are the quota bags you sell new?
Some are store fresh — unworn, with the protective film still on the hardware and the box and dustbag with them — and some are pre-owned and described exactly. Each listing states which. Blind stamps are recorded so you know the year of every piece.
Can I see them in London before buying?
Yes. Every piece is available to view by appointment in London, with the alternatives on the table beside it. Elsewhere in the UK, delivery is insured and next day; internationally we ship with full documentation, exotics with their CITES papers.
Can’t find it? We’ll source it.
Tell us what you’re looking for — model, colour, leather, size — and our team will find it for you, usually within days.
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