$242K Hermes Bags Stolen In Midtown Auction House Smash-And-Grab: NYPD

MIDTOWN, NY — The newest fashion trend in Midtown is the smash-and-grab Hermes auction house bag, cops say.

Fashion-forward thieves smashed the window of the Heritage Auctions house on Park Avenue and East 57th Street last month and grabbed eight Hermes bags worth about $242,000, the NYPD said Tuesday.

The dramatic smash-and-grab occurred just before 4 a.m. on March 7, when three darkly clad people hopped out of a white Acura sedan, according to officials.

Video shows that as one person acted as lookout, two others went to work, swinging what appear to be orange-handled cross-peen hammers into glass display cases outside of the auction house's roll gate.

After almost a dozen swings, one of the display cases fell to the ground, giving the hammer smith a chance to swipe up several pricy bags, officials said.

The group then fled in the white Acura sedan, heading east on East 56th Street, police said.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).