The Birkin bag's namesake Jane Birkin is auctioning off one of her Birkin bags on eBay tomorrow to raise money for the Red Cross's relief efforts in Japan. The bag is about as special as handbags can get, because Birkin has only actually owned four of the style in her life, and this is her third to auction for charity. The shockingly low number of Birkins that have been in her possession is not due to her privileged position as the bag's inspiration being lost on her. "I never have more than one bag at a time. I think one is already quite enough," she tells Vogue.com. "Any bag that’s with me will take the same course as I will. It will take the same airplanes and will be squashed in the same way and will be used as a cushion in the airports."

But for the $2,000 starting bidding price of this bag, you're getting something more than a bag that has been touched by and might still smell like Jane Birkin. You're getting something that might have been touched by and hopefully doesn't still smell like her cat.

“There’s no fun in a bag if it’s not kicked around, so that it looks as if the cat’s been sitting on it—and it usually has. The cat may even be in it! I always put on stickers and beads and worry beads. You can get them from Greece, Israel, Palestine—from anywhere in the world. I always hang things on my bags because I don’t like them looking like everyone else’s.”

So if you were wondering what it felt like to be a fabulous rich fashion lady, now you know, to at least one of them, a Birkin bag is a giant cat toy.

Jane Birkin’s Birkin: Buy It Now [Vogue.com]