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There's a new record for the most expensive handbag ever auctioned, and of course it's a Birkin. Not just any Hermès Birkin — it's a Himalaya Birkin. Even the name sounds rare.
Women's Wear Daily reports that the bag sold for a whopping $300,000 at auction on Monday at Christies' Hong Kong bureau, and it features diamond-encrusted white gold hardware.
Birkin owners have been touting the bag's resale value, but what makes this particular bag so special? Christie's handbag auction specialist Caitlin Donovan explained to Racked in an earlier interview that the Himalaya Birkin "is, of the bags that Hermès makes, the most rare, the most coveted, the most collectible." As the "highlight of our auction," she said, there are only a few produced each year. It's said to resemble the snowy mountaintops of the Himalayas, and there’s an intricate dyeing process required to get the crocodile skin that milky white color.
Then there are the jewels. "The cadena lock alone is comprised of 68.4 grams of 18-karat white gold and encrusted with 40 white round brilliant diamonds, totaling 1.64 carats," Jane Finds of 1stdibs told Vogue.com back in 2014.
But since $300,000 for a bag is daunting amount that's rather difficult to fathom, we brainstormed a few other ways to conceptualize such a cost — or, y'know, decide how to spend your money should you forgo the the Himalaya Birkin route:
- Rent Necker Island, Richard Branson's private island for five days.
- Buy this brand-new, three-bedroom house in South Carolina.
- Own a Ferarri that goes from zero to 60 mph in under three seconds (or opt for a Bentley).
- Order the tasting menu at world-renowned Danish restaurant Noma over 1,000 times.
- Get 150 of your friends "ultimate" VIP tickets to Justin Bieber's "Purpose" tour.
But look how purdy it is...