Owning the rarest, well-designed and durable bags is a worthwhile investment, with resale prices astronomically rising after several years and doubling in prices.
The more limited and unique the item is, the more costly it retails in the market which makes its value 10x higher than others, with luxury brands manufacturing only one to three items with a unique design, rare material, gold and diamonds added to the decoration, this results in highly priced handbags that only the high earners or A-list celebrities can afford.
I stumbled on a video on Instagram where Quavo gifted his girlfriend Saweetie a Hermes Birkin bag and it felt like she just got the best thing in the world. Well, it’s worth would make any woman do what she did or maybe more to celebrate it.
So, I went in, did a little digging of the most expensive handbag in the world.
- Debbie Wingham’s Upcycled Egg Bag
USD $6.7 million
This tops the list as the most expensive handbag in the world and literally owns the hashtag #worldsmostexpensive. Wingham started with an emu egg, coated it with blue-diamond dust, then covered the results in a cobweb of 24K gold. But she didn’t stop there. One of the client’s cast-off Hermès scarves became the bag’s lining. A pair of the client’s $40,000 Cartier earrings became its clasp. And when that still wasn’t enough, Wingham glopped yet more diamonds, including three pink diamonds that cost $1.5 million apiece. This isn’t her first, she has specialized in stunts like a $75 million cake and $15.1 million high heels.
- Mouawad 1001 Nights Diamond Purse
USD 3.8 Million
From the Lebanese jeweler that brought you the multimillion-dollar bejeweled bras on the Victoria’s Secret runway, this purse is a record holder of world’s most expensive handbag in 2010 and 2011. The 18-karat gold handcrafted bag features 105 yellow diamonds, 56 pink diamonds, and 4,571 colorless diamonds. The success of this bag took about 8,800 hours for artisans to create this masterpiece, which was sold last year at Christie’s auction preview in Hong Kong.
- Hermes Kelly Rose Gold
USD 2 Million
Hermès announced that it planned to make only three of this bag because each bag takes approximately two years to make.
The bag which was meant to be a purse is made of solid rose gold embossed to look like crocodile, this six-inch Kelly has a functioning flap, pull strap, handle, and padlock, with 1,160 diamonds totaling 33.94 carats.
So far, only 12 of such bags were ever created, which adds up to its worth.
- Hermes Birkin Bag by Ginza Tanaka
USD 1.4 Million
one fascinating this about this bag, it bears no resemblance whatsoever to a regular Birkin except for the price tag. Created by the Japanese jewelry designer Ginza Tanaka whose store has long been a landmark of Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district. The bag is Made entirely of platinum that boasts of 2,000 shimmering diamonds, including an 8-karat stone as a centerpiece that can be detached and used as a brooch and the 8-carat glittering diamond strap when detached can be worn as a necklace or bracelet. Whoever owns this, gets his/her money’s worth.
- Hermes Chaine’d Ancre Bag
USD 1.4 Million
The Hermes Chaine d’ Ancre Bag is more bracelet than a bag. With its ancho-shaped chain link, the bag is rendered in white gold. This sac-bijou from Pierre Hardy is studded with 11,303 diamonds and only 3 of such bags were ever created.
- Hermès Himalaya Birkin Bag in Niloticus Crocodile- USD 500,000
This bag is made from a species of freshwater crocodiles primarily found on the River Nile, the design evokes images of the Himalayan Mountains, featuring the rich brown colors that portray the mountains and white colors, p
ortraying the clouds and snow-capped tops which is then processed to evoke the subtle coloration of snow-capped Himalayan peaks meaning Hermès is able to produce only one or two Himalaya Birkins per year.
Only very few celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Marjorie Harvey, Kim Kardashian, Heart Evangelista-Escudero can boast of the Himalaya Birkin. A pro sports bettor known as Vegas Dave, who bought a 35 centimeter Himalaya Birkin with 18K white-gold, diamond-studded hardware on the secondary market in 2019 and now carries his “money bag” everywhere, swearing he won’t part with it for a penny under $2 million.
- Lana Marks’ Cleopatra Clutch
USD 400,000
The Cleopatra Clutch by Lana Marks costs between USD 100,000 and 400,000 and is a favourite among high-profile celebrities since it was originally meant for A-list celebrities attending the Academy Awards. This clutch designed in Northern Italy is adorned with jewels such as natural pink diamonds and blue diamonds that are perfectly cut to create a stunning design. Only a single piece of this bag is produced each year with a new color and design. The most expensive among the handbags is owned by the Chinese actress and singer Li Bingbing whose version came personalized with her name written in pink diamonds and pink gold and featured 1,600 white diamonds that amount to 40 karats, to match her gown.
- Chanel “Diamond Forever” Handbag
USD 261,000
This bag has a chain made of white gold and a linked-C lock covered in 334 diamonds that weighs 3.56 carats in white gold. The handbag, made of fine crocodile leather with an 18-karat gold chain that can be used as a strap and is detachable may look simple but yet elegant is produced in a limited edition of 13. The demand for this bag was so great that Chanel had to ration the worldwide supply, releasing only five to the United States.
- Fuchsia Diamond-Studded Hermes Birkin
USD 222,000
A fuchsia Birkin became the most expensive handbag ever auctioned when it was sold in Hong Kong in 2015.
The eye-catching fuchsia bag is 18-carat white gold diamonds studded, it became the most expensive handbag during an auction of Christie’s when it was sold in Hong Kong for 1.72 million Hong Kong dollars.
- Hermès Birkin Bag in Shiny Rouge Porosus Crocodile 30 cm Birkin Bag
USD 203,150
This 30-centimeter Birkin was the most expensive bag ever auctioned at a Heritage Auction in Dallas in 2011. One of the priciest handbags in the world, the Hermes Exceptional Collection made of prized Porosus hide, from a saltwater crocodile native to Australia and Southeast Asia, the bag was coveted by collectors because of the skin’s small, symmetrical scales, which Hermès accented with 18K white-gold hardware covered in diamonds.
Handbags, clutches, purses etc. are more than just carriers for some women, they are means for self-expressions, display of wealth or as a status symbol accessory in showcasing their exuding individuality.
What’s more fascinating is the resell value because of the gold, diamonds, and rare material.
As cars, footwears, wristwatches are to men, so are some handbags and purses to a woman.
