Start Slideshow
A purse is a purse is a purse. You put stuff in it, and you use it to carry that stuff with you as you go about your business. But some purses are more expensive than others because people enjoy the idea that theirs is made with a different material — or simply that it costs more. Chanel just finished fighting a years-long legal battle with resale platform What Goes Around Comes Around to make sure that the reputation of its bags stayed good enough that people would continue to pay lots of money for them. Some Hermès customers, a clientele so wealthy that the company spends more money on events for them than it does on advertising, are so eager to get their hands on the company’s pricy Birkin bags that they opened a class action lawsuit to do so. But the bags they want don’t even scratch the surface of the rarified heights of some these purses, which are among the most expensive ones ever made.
Advertisem*nt
Previous Slide
Next Slide
Louis Vuitton’s Millionaire Speedy
Price: $1 million
Music star Pharrell Williams was recently installed as the creative director of the menswear division at Louis Vuitton. One of the first products he developed was a high-end take on the company’s Speedy bag, which might normally cost about $1,500 or so. But instead of regular leather or the typical Louis Vuitton cotton-canvas, his version sports crocodile leather, a big gold chain strap, and diamond-encrusted accessories.
Advertisem*nt
Previous Slide
Next Slide
Hermès’s Ginza Tanaka Birkin
Price: $1.6 million
A regular Hermès Birkin, an asset class par gold in some quarters, will typically set you back five figures because of its expensive materials and small numbers. But the company once collaborated with jewelry company Ginza Tanaka to create an even fancier version made of platinum and 2,182 diamonds.
Advertisem*nt
Previous Slide
Next Slide
Hermès’s Sac Bijou Birkin
Price: $2 million
Another eye-wateringly expensive Hermès creation was one crafted by its head of jewelry, Pierre Hardy. The tiny Sac Bijou Birkin is made of a rose gold netting inlaid with 2,712 diamonds. It was made to be worn as a bracelet, though it is functional, in that it open and closes, and presumably holds very small things. Sotheby’s says that only three were ever made.
Advertisem*nt
Previous Slide
Next Slide
Mouawad’s 1001 Nights Diamond Purse
Price: $3.6 million
The Guinness World Record for most expensive bag offered to the public is the Mouawad “1001 Nights” diamond purse, which the jewelry company behind it says contains 18-karat gold and incorporates 4,517 diamonds: 105 yellows, 56 pinks, and 4,356 colorless with a combined weight of 381.92 carats — a sixth of a pound.
Advertisem*nt
Previous Slide
Next Slide
Debbie Wingham’s Golden Egg
Price: $6.7 million
In 2019, designer Debbie Wingham designed a custom purse for an anonymous client that was jaw-droppingly expensive. The Daily Mail reported that its emu egg — yes, an actual emu egg — casing was covered in diamond dust and featured nearly 8,000 diamonds (three of which were 3-carat pink diamonds) set in platinum and 24 carat gold among other features, including $40,000 Cartier earrings used as fasteners and a lining made from a silk Hermès scarf.
Advertisem*nt
