I love the Fendi Lei, and have been really surprised at how few people (here or anywhere) have that bag! Hearing about how practical and durable it is really makes me think about putting it towards the top of my list again.
Let's Talk About the Price of Bags Across the Board, Are they Crazy or am I?
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I agree with you, I am really surprised at how few people have heard of this bag. This bag, and the leather is super fantastic. I actually get a lot of compliments on this bag and get a lot of stares when I am out - probably because it is so unknown. It is an expensive bag but really compared to other brands, I do feel Fendi has maintained its quality. The Lei is fantastic!!
I think with anything “luxury” it’s supply & demand and prices will keep rising until the market says otherwise.
LV just had a price hike but if you look at their website the popular styles are out of stock. People are buying regardless of the price hikes.
I’m very particular about what I purchase & really only buy one new “lux” bag every few years with a contemporary or SLGs filling the time in between. I just ordered a new LV but my last new one was 2014. I have not noticed or had quality issues. My 2014 Turenne is actually thicker it seems than my 2007 petit bucket.
My 2004 pm agenda is still in great shape. I guess I’m willing to spend more on items that stand the test of time. I’ve bought contemporary all leather bags that are done after a season or 2 because they just don’t hold up. (Ie. Kate Spade)
I remember my 1st coach bag - thick thick leather circa late 80s, early 90s was $198.00.
Now some of their bags are over $1000.00.
Prices are rising everywhere & people are willing to pay... except that coach goes on sale so I personally would never be willing to pay full price with them especially with their prices now.
I think very hard about my purchases. At least I know anything I invest in with LV won’t have a 50% slash in price later that I’d kick myself about & I try to choose bags that can still be used 10-20 years down the road because I expect them to last at least that long. It’s a lot of money for most and deserves much thought.
LV just had a price hike but if you look at their website the popular styles are out of stock. People are buying regardless of the price hikes.
I’m very particular about what I purchase & really only buy one new “lux” bag every few years with a contemporary or SLGs filling the time in between. I just ordered a new LV but my last new one was 2014. I have not noticed or had quality issues. My 2014 Turenne is actually thicker it seems than my 2007 petit bucket.
My 2004 pm agenda is still in great shape. I guess I’m willing to spend more on items that stand the test of time. I’ve bought contemporary all leather bags that are done after a season or 2 because they just don’t hold up. (Ie. Kate Spade)
I remember my 1st coach bag - thick thick leather circa late 80s, early 90s was $198.00.
Now some of their bags are over $1000.00.
Prices are rising everywhere & people are willing to pay... except that coach goes on sale so I personally would never be willing to pay full price with them especially with their prices now.
I think very hard about my purchases. At least I know anything I invest in with LV won’t have a 50% slash in price later that I’d kick myself about & I try to choose bags that can still be used 10-20 years down the road because I expect them to last at least that long. It’s a lot of money for most and deserves much thought.
Rather than that the Instagrammers have well-paying jobs, I suspect some just come from affluent families. Or, some return the merchandise after their shoots, else sell them like you say. My brother lives an hour away from San Fran; he has a masters from the #1 engineering school in the US, and started out earning right above six figures. Ten years since, and his salary doesn't quite match 200K. Not to mention lots of programmers from Stanford are all stressed/nervous about holding their jobs; earning 200K with a high school diploma is rather an extreme scenario that's far from the norm.
I've totally dumped Chanel for the inverse correlation between prices and quality, with quality trending Southbound so go figure the prices.
With Hermes - I'm learning to be content with quota bags cos at the end of the day, my lifestyle doesn't call for a Jamie Chua's type of Hermes collection - she is my spirit animal tho hehe . I also have a mental target set for my "building relationship slush fund" and If in my Darling SA's erudite perception, I am not spending enough - then I take it as it's just not meant to be. My prior attempts to offload luxury items was my rude awakening that buying handbags or jewelry for investment purpose is as good as being penny wise and pound foolish. Preloved market is so oversupplied that I am only buying to enjoy not buying to retain monetary value in the mid to long term. These astronomical prices are nothing but ri-damn-diculous!
With Hermes - I'm learning to be content with quota bags cos at the end of the day, my lifestyle doesn't call for a Jamie Chua's type of Hermes collection - she is my spirit animal tho hehe . I also have a mental target set for my "building relationship slush fund" and If in my Darling SA's erudite perception, I am not spending enough - then I take it as it's just not meant to be. My prior attempts to offload luxury items was my rude awakening that buying handbags or jewelry for investment purpose is as good as being penny wise and pound foolish. Preloved market is so oversupplied that I am only buying to enjoy not buying to retain monetary value in the mid to long term. These astronomical prices are nothing but ri-damn-diculous!
A related article and interesting read... (apologies for the length...I don't know how to make the extra lines less space hogging!)
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43239037
The handbag that costs as much as a house
By Dearbail JordanBusiness reporter, BBC News
The Himalaya Birkin, complete with white gold and diamond details, fetched a record breaking price at auction
How much is a handbag worth? Say £100? Maybe £500? Perhaps even £1,000?
How about handing over $380,000 (£279,000) for one bag - and a second-hand one at that?
For that price, you could buy a house in the UK (where the average dwelling costs £223,285, according to the Halifax) and still have plenty left over.
Yet astonishingly last year someone did pay that amount of money for a rare 2014 Himalaya Birkin - a matte white handbag by Hermes. It was fashioned from Nilo crocodile hide and adorned with 18-carat white gold and diamond-encrusted details.
While £279,000 is a record breaking price tag for this "holy grail" of handbags, it is a drop in the ocean when it comes to the increasingly lucrative market for buying and selling pre-owned luxury "arm furniture".
High-end bags have come a long way from the days when Princess Grace of Monaco used an Hermes Sac a depeches to hide her growing baby bump from the paparazzi. It was subsequently renamed the Kelly bag after the former Hollywood star.
Expensive handbags are now ubiquitous among celebrities such as reality TV personalities Kim Kardashian West and her mother Kris Jenner.
However, these bags are no frivolous trinkets.
Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian West are regularly spotted carrying luxury handbags
Auction house Christie's says the global pre-owned luxury handbag market has jumped from being worth £5.1m in 2011 to £26m in 2016.
Heritage Auctions believes that the worldwide secondary auction market for the "ultra high-end bags" is between $75m and $100m "and growing".
In investment terms, these assets can offer a huge return on your cash.
Investment bank Jefferies reckons that some bags can generate returns of about 30% a year.
Handbags made by Hermes, the French luxury goods house, are the most sought-after.
Rachel Koffsky, a specialist in handbags and accessories at Christie's, says Hermes handbags "have been crafted in the same way, in the same materials for decades, whereas many other brands have been inconsistent in production over the past 100 years".
She adds that the three best-known bags - the Kelly, the Birkin, made for the singer and actress Jane Birkin, and the Constance, named after the fifth child of Hermes designer Catherine Chaillet - "have remained virtually unchanged since they were designed".
However, Jefferies says: "Over the past 10 to 20 years, luxury brands have increasingly been able to raise the prices of their handbags and use more premium materials so in the future the top of the market is likely to become less dominated by Hermès."
Heritage Auctions says that as well as Hermes, Chanel's iconic flap bags "are always favourites for the paparazzi to catch on the celebrity arms of the world's most famous".
Ms Koffsky adds that, in the 1990s, two designers in particular were responsible for ushering in the "era of the It-bag" - Tom Ford at Gucci and Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.
These, along with the characters in the TV series Sex and the City, "brought collectable handbags into the mainstream".
It also means that the somewhat intimidating world of auction houses is opening up to a different kind of clientele.
Ms Koffsky says: "Handbags have a very wide appeal and is a category most consumers are more comfortable with when compared to traditional flat or even decorative art."
Jefferies says that handbags are the "most accessible category" at Christie's because of the lower cost of the lots, adding that 40% of the 712 buyers in that category were new to the auction house.
Tom Ford helped bring high-end accessories into the mainstream - this Gucci clutch bag was auctioned in 2014
Heritage Auctions says that there is no typical buyer. They can range from people who want to add to their existing handbag collection - or those who would like to start one.
Ms Koffsky says quite often buyers become sellers and vice versa.
She says: "At the top end of the buyer spectrum, we have collectors who count their handbags among their most valuable assets. On the other end, we have young and savvy shoppers looking for a vintage piece that will stand out from current trends, oftentimes it is significantly less than retail.
"Perhaps it is their first time buying at auction."
However, while handbags have attracted a new clientele, it isn't a world open to everyone.
A new Kelly or Birkin bag can cost about £7,000 each - if you can get your hands on one - while a new Chanel classic mini flap bag costs $3,300 (£2,392).
The Chanel classic flap bag is a favourite for the paparazzi to catch on the arm of the world's celebrities
Choosing a second-hand bag may snag a buyer a bargain but these are not accessories within everyone's grasp.
Flavio Cereda, an analyst at Jefferies, says that Hong Kong has become a hot spot for high-end handbags.
Forbes recently reported that the combined wealth of Hong Kong's billionaires soared by $60bn to $307bn last year - the biggest rise for a Forbes Asia 50 list.
Christie's said 46% of its luxury handbag auction sales were in Asia in 2017, followed by the US at 30% while Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for 24%.
It is no coincidence that those two rare Himalaya Birkins bags were auctioned in Hong Kong.
These are the type of handbags that make good investments, says Ms Koffsky.
"For a positive return on investment, numbered and limited edition pieces will stand out as they are only created in a very limited run," she says.
"The less pieces exist on the secondary market, the more that a collector will spend to get a hold of it."
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43239037
The handbag that costs as much as a house
By Dearbail JordanBusiness reporter, BBC News
The Himalaya Birkin, complete with white gold and diamond details, fetched a record breaking price at auction
How much is a handbag worth? Say £100? Maybe £500? Perhaps even £1,000?
How about handing over $380,000 (£279,000) for one bag - and a second-hand one at that?
For that price, you could buy a house in the UK (where the average dwelling costs £223,285, according to the Halifax) and still have plenty left over.
Yet astonishingly last year someone did pay that amount of money for a rare 2014 Himalaya Birkin - a matte white handbag by Hermes. It was fashioned from Nilo crocodile hide and adorned with 18-carat white gold and diamond-encrusted details.
While £279,000 is a record breaking price tag for this "holy grail" of handbags, it is a drop in the ocean when it comes to the increasingly lucrative market for buying and selling pre-owned luxury "arm furniture".
High-end bags have come a long way from the days when Princess Grace of Monaco used an Hermes Sac a depeches to hide her growing baby bump from the paparazzi. It was subsequently renamed the Kelly bag after the former Hollywood star.
Expensive handbags are now ubiquitous among celebrities such as reality TV personalities Kim Kardashian West and her mother Kris Jenner.
However, these bags are no frivolous trinkets.
Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian West are regularly spotted carrying luxury handbags
Auction house Christie's says the global pre-owned luxury handbag market has jumped from being worth £5.1m in 2011 to £26m in 2016.
Heritage Auctions believes that the worldwide secondary auction market for the "ultra high-end bags" is between $75m and $100m "and growing".
In investment terms, these assets can offer a huge return on your cash.
Investment bank Jefferies reckons that some bags can generate returns of about 30% a year.
Handbags made by Hermes, the French luxury goods house, are the most sought-after.
Rachel Koffsky, a specialist in handbags and accessories at Christie's, says Hermes handbags "have been crafted in the same way, in the same materials for decades, whereas many other brands have been inconsistent in production over the past 100 years".
She adds that the three best-known bags - the Kelly, the Birkin, made for the singer and actress Jane Birkin, and the Constance, named after the fifth child of Hermes designer Catherine Chaillet - "have remained virtually unchanged since they were designed".
However, Jefferies says: "Over the past 10 to 20 years, luxury brands have increasingly been able to raise the prices of their handbags and use more premium materials so in the future the top of the market is likely to become less dominated by Hermès."
Heritage Auctions says that as well as Hermes, Chanel's iconic flap bags "are always favourites for the paparazzi to catch on the celebrity arms of the world's most famous".
Ms Koffsky adds that, in the 1990s, two designers in particular were responsible for ushering in the "era of the It-bag" - Tom Ford at Gucci and Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.
These, along with the characters in the TV series Sex and the City, "brought collectable handbags into the mainstream".
It also means that the somewhat intimidating world of auction houses is opening up to a different kind of clientele.
Ms Koffsky says: "Handbags have a very wide appeal and is a category most consumers are more comfortable with when compared to traditional flat or even decorative art."
Jefferies says that handbags are the "most accessible category" at Christie's because of the lower cost of the lots, adding that 40% of the 712 buyers in that category were new to the auction house.
Tom Ford helped bring high-end accessories into the mainstream - this Gucci clutch bag was auctioned in 2014
Heritage Auctions says that there is no typical buyer. They can range from people who want to add to their existing handbag collection - or those who would like to start one.
Ms Koffsky says quite often buyers become sellers and vice versa.
She says: "At the top end of the buyer spectrum, we have collectors who count their handbags among their most valuable assets. On the other end, we have young and savvy shoppers looking for a vintage piece that will stand out from current trends, oftentimes it is significantly less than retail.
"Perhaps it is their first time buying at auction."
However, while handbags have attracted a new clientele, it isn't a world open to everyone.
A new Kelly or Birkin bag can cost about £7,000 each - if you can get your hands on one - while a new Chanel classic mini flap bag costs $3,300 (£2,392).
The Chanel classic flap bag is a favourite for the paparazzi to catch on the arm of the world's celebrities
Choosing a second-hand bag may snag a buyer a bargain but these are not accessories within everyone's grasp.
Flavio Cereda, an analyst at Jefferies, says that Hong Kong has become a hot spot for high-end handbags.
Forbes recently reported that the combined wealth of Hong Kong's billionaires soared by $60bn to $307bn last year - the biggest rise for a Forbes Asia 50 list.
Christie's said 46% of its luxury handbag auction sales were in Asia in 2017, followed by the US at 30% while Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for 24%.
It is no coincidence that those two rare Himalaya Birkins bags were auctioned in Hong Kong.
These are the type of handbags that make good investments, says Ms Koffsky.
"For a positive return on investment, numbered and limited edition pieces will stand out as they are only created in a very limited run," she says.
"The less pieces exist on the secondary market, the more that a collector will spend to get a hold of it."
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Well, it’s good to know that when I can afford a $300k bag, it will be a good investment.A related article and interesting read... (apologies for the length...I don't know how to make the extra lines less space hogging!)
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43239037
The handbag that costs as much as a house
By Dearbail JordanBusiness reporter, BBC News
The Himalaya Birkin, complete with white gold and diamond details, fetched a record breaking price at auction
How much is a handbag worth? Say £100? Maybe £500? Perhaps even £1,000?
How about handing over $380,000 (£279,000) for one bag - and a second-hand one at that?
For that price, you could buy a house in the UK (where the average dwelling costs £223,285, according to the Halifax) and still have plenty left over.
Yet astonishingly last year someone did pay that amount of money for a rare 2014 Himalaya Birkin - a matte white handbag by Hermes. It was fashioned from Nilo crocodile hide and adorned with 18-carat white gold and diamond-encrusted details.
While £279,000 is a record breaking price tag for this "holy grail" of handbags, it is a drop in the ocean when it comes to the increasingly lucrative market for buying and selling pre-owned luxury "arm furniture".
High-end bags have come a long way from the days when Princess Grace of Monaco used an Hermes Sac a depeches to hide her growing baby bump from the paparazzi. It was subsequently renamed the Kelly bag after the former Hollywood star.
Expensive handbags are now ubiquitous among celebrities such as reality TV personalities Kim Kardashian West and her mother Kris Jenner.
However, these bags are no frivolous trinkets.
Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian West are regularly spotted carrying luxury handbags
Auction house Christie's says the global pre-owned luxury handbag market has jumped from being worth £5.1m in 2011 to £26m in 2016.
Heritage Auctions believes that the worldwide secondary auction market for the "ultra high-end bags" is between $75m and $100m "and growing".
In investment terms, these assets can offer a huge return on your cash.
Investment bank Jefferies reckons that some bags can generate returns of about 30% a year.
Handbags made by Hermes, the French luxury goods house, are the most sought-after.
Rachel Koffsky, a specialist in handbags and accessories at Christie's, says Hermes handbags "have been crafted in the same way, in the same materials for decades, whereas many other brands have been inconsistent in production over the past 100 years".
She adds that the three best-known bags - the Kelly, the Birkin, made for the singer and actress Jane Birkin, and the Constance, named after the fifth child of Hermes designer Catherine Chaillet - "have remained virtually unchanged since they were designed".
However, Jefferies says: "Over the past 10 to 20 years, luxury brands have increasingly been able to raise the prices of their handbags and use more premium materials so in the future the top of the market is likely to become less dominated by Hermès."
Heritage Auctions says that as well as Hermes, Chanel's iconic flap bags "are always favourites for the paparazzi to catch on the celebrity arms of the world's most famous".
Ms Koffsky adds that, in the 1990s, two designers in particular were responsible for ushering in the "era of the It-bag" - Tom Ford at Gucci and Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.
These, along with the characters in the TV series Sex and the City, "brought collectable handbags into the mainstream".
It also means that the somewhat intimidating world of auction houses is opening up to a different kind of clientele.
Ms Koffsky says: "Handbags have a very wide appeal and is a category most consumers are more comfortable with when compared to traditional flat or even decorative art."
Jefferies says that handbags are the "most accessible category" at Christie's because of the lower cost of the lots, adding that 40% of the 712 buyers in that category were new to the auction house.
Tom Ford helped bring high-end accessories into the mainstream - this Gucci clutch bag was auctioned in 2014
Heritage Auctions says that there is no typical buyer. They can range from people who want to add to their existing handbag collection - or those who would like to start one.
Ms Koffsky says quite often buyers become sellers and vice versa.
She says: "At the top end of the buyer spectrum, we have collectors who count their handbags among their most valuable assets. On the other end, we have young and savvy shoppers looking for a vintage piece that will stand out from current trends, oftentimes it is significantly less than retail.
"Perhaps it is their first time buying at auction."
However, while handbags have attracted a new clientele, it isn't a world open to everyone.
A new Kelly or Birkin bag can cost about £7,000 each - if you can get your hands on one - while a new Chanel classic mini flap bag costs $3,300 (£2,392).
The Chanel classic flap bag is a favourite for the paparazzi to catch on the arm of the world's celebrities
Choosing a second-hand bag may snag a buyer a bargain but these are not accessories within everyone's grasp.
Flavio Cereda, an analyst at Jefferies, says that Hong Kong has become a hot spot for high-end handbags.
Forbes recently reported that the combined wealth of Hong Kong's billionaires soared by $60bn to $307bn last year - the biggest rise for a Forbes Asia 50 list.
Christie's said 46% of its luxury handbag auction sales were in Asia in 2017, followed by the US at 30% while Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for 24%.
It is no coincidence that those two rare Himalaya Birkins bags were auctioned in Hong Kong.
These are the type of handbags that make good investments, says Ms Koffsky.
"For a positive return on investment, numbered and limited edition pieces will stand out as they are only created in a very limited run," she says.
"The less pieces exist on the secondary market, the more that a collector will spend to get a hold of it."
Til then, I better plan on loving the bags I buy and taking a probable and predictable “hit” if I sell. 
Thanks for sharing!
A related article and interesting read... (apologies for the length...I don't know how to make the extra lines less space hogging!)
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43239037
The handbag that costs as much as a house
By Dearbail JordanBusiness reporter, BBC News
The Himalaya Birkin, complete with white gold and diamond details, fetched a record breaking price at auction
How much is a handbag worth? Say £100? Maybe £500? Perhaps even £1,000?
How about handing over $380,000 (£279,000) for one bag - and a second-hand one at that?
For that price, you could buy a house in the UK (where the average dwelling costs £223,285, according to the Halifax) and still have plenty left over.
Yet astonishingly last year someone did pay that amount of money for a rare 2014 Himalaya Birkin - a matte white handbag by Hermes. It was fashioned from Nilo crocodile hide and adorned with 18-carat white gold and diamond-encrusted details.
While £279,000 is a record breaking price tag for this "holy grail" of handbags, it is a drop in the ocean when it comes to the increasingly lucrative market for buying and selling pre-owned luxury "arm furniture".
High-end bags have come a long way from the days when Princess Grace of Monaco used an Hermes Sac a depeches to hide her growing baby bump from the paparazzi. It was subsequently renamed the Kelly bag after the former Hollywood star.
Expensive handbags are now ubiquitous among celebrities such as reality TV personalities Kim Kardashian West and her mother Kris Jenner.
However, these bags are no frivolous trinkets.
Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian West are regularly spotted carrying luxury handbags
Auction house Christie's says the global pre-owned luxury handbag market has jumped from being worth £5.1m in 2011 to £26m in 2016.
Heritage Auctions believes that the worldwide secondary auction market for the "ultra high-end bags" is between $75m and $100m "and growing".
In investment terms, these assets can offer a huge return on your cash.
Investment bank Jefferies reckons that some bags can generate returns of about 30% a year.
Handbags made by Hermes, the French luxury goods house, are the most sought-after.
Rachel Koffsky, a specialist in handbags and accessories at Christie's, says Hermes handbags "have been crafted in the same way, in the same materials for decades, whereas many other brands have been inconsistent in production over the past 100 years".
She adds that the three best-known bags - the Kelly, the Birkin, made for the singer and actress Jane Birkin, and the Constance, named after the fifth child of Hermes designer Catherine Chaillet - "have remained virtually unchanged since they were designed".
However, Jefferies says: "Over the past 10 to 20 years, luxury brands have increasingly been able to raise the prices of their handbags and use more premium materials so in the future the top of the market is likely to become less dominated by Hermès."
Heritage Auctions says that as well as Hermes, Chanel's iconic flap bags "are always favourites for the paparazzi to catch on the celebrity arms of the world's most famous".
Ms Koffsky adds that, in the 1990s, two designers in particular were responsible for ushering in the "era of the It-bag" - Tom Ford at Gucci and Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.
These, along with the characters in the TV series Sex and the City, "brought collectable handbags into the mainstream".
It also means that the somewhat intimidating world of auction houses is opening up to a different kind of clientele.
Ms Koffsky says: "Handbags have a very wide appeal and is a category most consumers are more comfortable with when compared to traditional flat or even decorative art."
Jefferies says that handbags are the "most accessible category" at Christie's because of the lower cost of the lots, adding that 40% of the 712 buyers in that category were new to the auction house.
Tom Ford helped bring high-end accessories into the mainstream - this Gucci clutch bag was auctioned in 2014
Heritage Auctions says that there is no typical buyer. They can range from people who want to add to their existing handbag collection - or those who would like to start one.
Ms Koffsky says quite often buyers become sellers and vice versa.
She says: "At the top end of the buyer spectrum, we have collectors who count their handbags among their most valuable assets. On the other end, we have young and savvy shoppers looking for a vintage piece that will stand out from current trends, oftentimes it is significantly less than retail.
"Perhaps it is their first time buying at auction."
However, while handbags have attracted a new clientele, it isn't a world open to everyone.
A new Kelly or Birkin bag can cost about £7,000 each - if you can get your hands on one - while a new Chanel classic mini flap bag costs $3,300 (£2,392).
The Chanel classic flap bag is a favourite for the paparazzi to catch on the arm of the world's celebrities
Choosing a second-hand bag may snag a buyer a bargain but these are not accessories within everyone's grasp.
Flavio Cereda, an analyst at Jefferies, says that Hong Kong has become a hot spot for high-end handbags.
Forbes recently reported that the combined wealth of Hong Kong's billionaires soared by $60bn to $307bn last year - the biggest rise for a Forbes Asia 50 list.
Christie's said 46% of its luxury handbag auction sales were in Asia in 2017, followed by the US at 30% while Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for 24%.
It is no coincidence that those two rare Himalaya Birkins bags were auctioned in Hong Kong.
These are the type of handbags that make good investments, says Ms Koffsky.
"For a positive return on investment, numbered and limited edition pieces will stand out as they are only created in a very limited run," she says.
"The less pieces exist on the secondary market, the more that a collector will spend to get a hold of it."
Thank you so much for sharing.
The reason why the article is so interesting to me is not because of the story but the media narrative, especially the commercial promotion as editorial including faux statistics.
Unfortunately, it's sensationalist articles like these that inflate market confidence and allow resellers and merchandise companies to continually hike prices way past inflation.
The prices are big news to the male financial investment big-wigs and journalists because they've been solely focused on traditional investments and male status symbols (watches, pens, etc) .
As anyone who decides to sell a used bag will know, even an Hermes, the most you can even hope for is to recoup your outlay minus charges. For Hermes customers this is not surprising news as this bag is Birkin + Himalaya croc + white gold hardware + diamonds. Even most H Himalaya Birkins with diamonds do not have white gold hardware but the usual palladium-plated normal metal. This is a very rare bag among rare bags. I doubt it will ever be used as a bag.
The reason why the "market jumped from £5.1m in 2011 to £26m in 2016" was because firstly Chisties didn't have handbag auctions before 2011 and have increased the number auctions around their branches globally and online since. Before then, handbags and other ladies leather goods were sold as part of 'Textiles and Fashion'. Chisties have good reason to publicise these handbag auctions as they are now owned by Kering (Gucci/Balenciaga/Bottega Veneta/YSL parent company).
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I enjoyed reading your perspective and readily agree! And when the article notes "In investment terms, these assets can offer a huge return on your cash. Investment bank Jefferies reckons that some bags can generate returns of about 30% a year."....it's amazing they can be so flippant and not even state something that along the lines of "past performance is not indicative of future results"!
I didn't know Christie's is owned by Kering. That is very interesting, too!
Thank you papertiger, you made my day with your analysis. Faux stats indeed! And I did not know the Christies/Kering link.
At the outset of the thread you asked if our shopping habits have altered. News: I am about to purchase my first proper vintage handbag (1950ies, black leather with suede lining). So maybe vintage will be the way forward for me.
At the outset of the thread you asked if our shopping habits have altered. News: I am about to purchase my first proper vintage handbag (1950ies, black leather with suede lining). So maybe vintage will be the way forward for me.