Baghunter, an online platform dedicated to buying, selling, consigning and swapping luxury handbags, made headlines in January 2016 when it announced that Hermès’s famed Birkin bag was a better investment than gold. Updated research from the same company has confirmed that the design classic is continuing on its upward trajectory, having risen in value by 20 per cent in the last 18 months. According to Baghunter, the Birkin has outperformed both the stock and gold markets over this period, in spite of the fact that many analysts have declared both of these sectors to be in the midst of a bubble. Propping up this research is the fact that the Birkin has broken three new auction records over the past year: in April 2016, June 2016 and June 2017, as highlighted in an <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/luxury/birkin-the-handbags-that-are-worth-more-than-gold-1.53414">article </a>published in <em>The National </em>earlier this month. Etoupe, black and gold Birkins have been performing particularly well for investors, while limited-edition, bicolour, and exotic-skin Birkins are fetching up to 20 per cent more today than 18 months ago. <strong>Read more:</strong> “The recent record-breaking Birkin sales encouraged us to revisit our research study from January 2016,” says Evelyn Fox, chief executive of Baghunter. “What we found validates our original thoughts and conclusion from the January 2016 study – the Birkin is on an unstoppable upward trend and shows no signs of slowing down.” The study also looked at the performance of the S&P 500 and gold markets, both of which have enjoyed an excellent 18 months. However, while both markets have returned positive averages during this time, the Birkin still outperforms both with a slightly larger return. You can access the updated research study <a href="https://baghunter.com/pages/hermes-birkin-values-research-study-june-2017-update">here</a>.