Someone Paid a Cool $223,000 for a Birkin

Someone paid $223,000 for this crocodile Birkin. Photo: Christie’s

I’m pretty sure my parents bought our house in a beautiful town in Northern California for less than someone just paid for a Birkin bag in Hong Kong. The Business of Fashion reports that Christie’s sold the fuchsia purse for $223,000, smashing the previously held handbag record of $218,500—also for a Birkin, this one black, and previously owned by Elizabeth Taylor.

Though it wasn’t touched by Taylor, this lucky buyer’s crocodile skin bag does feature 24-karat gold and diamond encrusted hardware. Which is funny, given that Jane Birkin, the style icon for whom the iconic Hermes silhouette is named, probably wouldn’t have been caught dead carrying a diamond encrusted anything. The French singer was famously casual with hers, attaching trinkets and tying scarves around the handles. In 2011, she told Vogue, “There’s no fun in a bag if it’s not kicked around, so that it looks as if the cat’s been sitting on it- and it usually has. The cat may even be in it!”

Birkin’s donated two of the only four Birkin bags she’s ever owned to charity, if you’re wondering how she’d feel about this weekend’s jaw-dropping sale.