What would you buy with $200,000? A house? A fleet of cars? A purse? An anonymous purse aficionado purchased a $203,150 purse at a Heritage Auction this week, setting a new record for the world’s most expensive purse purchased at public auction.
So what does a $203,150 purse look like? Heritage Auctions said that the record breaking purse was a Hermes Crocodile Birkin handbag with solid 18K white gold diamond hardware.
Matt Rubinger, director of luxury accessories at Heritage Auctions said:
“This is an extraordinary example of one of the world’s most exceptional handbags, and this was certainly an exceptional price, exceeding our highest expectations at every corner.”
Heritage Auctions expected the purse to fetch around $80,000.
The record breaking Hermes Crocodile Berkin handbag was certainly the talk of the auction, but it wasn’t the only purse to bring in big money. The Daily Mail reports that Heritage Auctions also sold a blue crocodile version with palladium hardware sold for $113,525, a red crocodile Birkin with palladium hardware for $95,600 and a Himalayan crocodile Birkin with palladium hardware for $80,663.
Rubinger says that most of these high-end purses aren’t sold in stores and that the people who buy them hardly ever actually use them. Rubinger said:
“If you walked into Hermès today you couldn’t get these bags – not even if you were Oprah Winfrey… Most of the bags were bought by collectors who never used them, or only used them once. And many women simply don’t have enough space in their closets for all their accessories.”
What would you do if you had $200,000 to waste? Would you buy a $203,150 purse?
