Meet the $300,000 Handbag

By Meghan Nesmith June 6, 2016

The New York Times reports that last week, someone paid $300,168 for a handbag. A handbag. $300,168 for a handbag.

Oh, I’m sorry, for a Birkin.

$300,168.

$300,168!!!!

This particular b̶a̶g̶ Birkin was a “12-inch Hermès Birkin matte Himalayan crocodile handbag, with white-gold hardware set with 245 F-color diamonds weighing close to 10 carats.” It was sold to a private collector at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong.

It was sold for $300,168.

You might be thinking, “Well, that sounds insane,” but you would be wrong, you parasite, you pleb. After all, “Lizard skin is having a moment right now.” Also, a Birkin isn’t a bag, it’s a car:

“There is just something about a Birkin,” he said. “It’s like owning a Mercedes-Benz: When you close the door of a Mercedes, it sounds different than a Toyota. And that’s what Hermès customers know and buy into. To many of our customers, to own this bag is to achieve a sense of competence like nothing else.”

Oh, sorry, no, it just sounds like a car. A $300,168 car-like bag.

Then again, I’m relying on a dormant 401K to get me through retirement, and I use grocery store totes to lug my stuff around, so what do I know?

It might seem ridiculous to some to treat a handbag as an investment, but for a Birkin collector like Emily Chan, a Hong Kong-based investment banker, it is one worth making. She owns more than 50 of the bags, purchased as a V.I.P. customer from the Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo boutiques, as well as on secondary markets, via auctions. “Birkins are both an investment and a fashion accessory to me,” she said. “Birkins are like currency: You can cash out any time.”

I’ll rue the day I scoffed at this when I’m trying to trade my 2007 Zara pleather purse for the last of the world’s clean drinking water.

Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.