Sotheby’s masterclass on Etihad flight, Digi Mart USA News: First and business-class passengers boarding a regular Etihad Airways flight to Paris in October did not realize they were sharing the A380 cabin with valuable cargo. Flight EY33, bound for Charles De Gaulle, also carried rare jewels and handbags worth a staggering $1.3 million.
As passengers settled into their seats on the upper decks, they received a written invitation to an exclusive masterclass hosted by Sotheby’s, one of the world’s oldest and best-known brokers of luxury goods. The surprise, one-off initiative featured two Sotheby’s specialists: Paul Redmayne, jewelry expert and senior vice president for luxury private sales, and Aurélie Vassy, director of handbags and fashion.
Vassy, described as a bag hunter, was involved in the record-breaking 2025 auction of the original Hermès Birkin belonging to Jane Birkin. The Birkin was conceptualized on a flight, when Birkin sat next to Hermès chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas and complained she could not find a travel bag big enough for her belongings.
The bags on this flight were smaller in scale. Displayed in the A380’s lobby were a limited-edition Quelle Idole Kelly Doll Picto from 2025, worth about $60,000; a shearling-lined, limited-edition Teddy Plush Mini Kelly II worth $50,000; and an Hermès Kelly Elan Folie in a bold “rose extreme” shade, fringed with ostrich feather detailing.
Vassy recounted the history of the Kelly bag. The first model was designed in the 1930s and was very simple.
Grace Kelly famously used the oversized bag to hide her stomach from photographers during the early days of her pregnancy, and fans rushed to Hermès stores to ask for “the Kelly,” and the name stuck.
“These three bags are new, but they keep the Hermès legacy,” Vassy said. “This is really the strength of Hermès, which is why so many people are collecting and buying these bags, and the prices continue to increase.” She pointed to the signature of the artisan who made the Teddy Plush, which she described as a testament to the craftsmanship behind Hermès bags.
Over the seven-hour flight, Vassy and Redmayne ran four separate sessions of the Sotheby’s Masterclass in the Sky, sharing their knowledge with 14 passengers. Redmayne brought a smaller but equally impressive collection of gems and opened with multiple-choice questions about where diamonds were first discovered and which country is the world’s largest diamond producer at present.
The answers he gave were Russia, followed by Botswana and Canada.
His lesson on diamond history turned to Taylor Swift, whose old mine-cut antique-style engagement ring has influenced jewelry trends since she first showed it in early 2025, generating demand for characterful old stones. Redmayne calls these stones the carpaccio of diamonds because of their shallower depth and more primitive cuts.
“They were cut under candlelight to be seen under candlelight,” he said.
The gems he brought on board reflected this trend. They included an 18k rose gold necklace with mixed-cut portrait, old cuts and step cuts, totaling 45.90 carats with a main diamond of 17.39 carats; a collection of 28 mixed-cut diamonds weighing 32.57 carats in total; and rings and a loose 9.36-carat stone.
Together, they created an unusually novel form of in-flight entertainment.
