A handbag is a better investment than the stockmarket...

Last month a Birkin bag broke records and became the most expensive handbag in the world. The rare Himalayan crocodile Birkin with white gold detailing and 245 diamonds was bought for an estimated $415,000 by an anonymous buyer at a Christie's auction in Hong Kong.

So what is it about this handbag that makes it worth as much as the average family home? Amy Croffy from the Sydney Morning Herald tells us more...

Birkin bags are a better investment than the American stock market!!

A normal Birkin bag will retail for over $10,600, but they are considered a solid investment and have increased in value by 500 per cent over the past 35 years. A recent study found that Birkin bags have performed better than both the American stock market and the price of gold in the last 35 years. According to the website Baghunter, the annual return on a Birkin bag is 14.2% compared to the S&P 500 index, which has increased by 8.7% a year, and gold, which is -1.5%.

“As a status symbol for the elite and ultra-rich, the main factor affecting the secondary market for Birkins is desire," Bag Hunter explains why it holds its value. "All signs point to that desire remaining as strong throughout 2016 as it has been since the bag was released in 1985, with media outlets fawning over celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Victoria Beckham who regularly sport their Birkin bags in paparazzi pictures.”

The Birkin was designed as an in-flight handbag.

The classic shape was originally created in 1985 for Jane Birkin, after the chief executive of Hermès  Jean-Louis Dumas sat next to her on a flight and heard her complain about her struggle to find the perfect leather weekend bag. "I remember it well," Birkin has previously said to The Telegraph. "I'd been upgraded by Air France on a flight to London, and was sitting next to a man. I'm not quite sure what type of bag I had with me - my husband, Jacques Doillon, had reversed his car over my basket, crushed it on purpose not two days before. Little did he know that on this airplane journey, when everything fell out of whatever bag I had, the man next to me said: 'You should have one with pockets'. I said: 'The day Hermès make one with pockets I will have that', and he said: 'But I am Hermès and I will put pockets in for you'."

So how do you buy a Birkin?

In 2001, an entire episode of Sex and the City was dedicated to Samantha's attempt to skip the five year waiting list for a Birkin bag. And in the words of Carrie Bradshaw, "it wasn't even her style." This bag is all about status, and 15 years later the process hasn't got any easier as now there is a six year waiting list. There are numerous theories about how you can do a Samantha and skip the wait. 

Michelle Goad, CEO of luxury personal shopping app P.S. Dept., revealed to Bloomberg a way to speed along the process: "The key to getting [a Birkin] is to find someone who has a relationship with one of their associates, [which means they've] bought one in the past… You have to have a purchase history at the store to just get started, then they meet with you, assess how serious you are about spending, and then you go on their list."

The long waiting list is partly because of the incredible level of detail which goes into creating a Birkin bag - it is thought to take at least 48 hours to make by hand. 

So there you have it….if you want to avoid the waiting list yet still want something that's handmade (yes all NIKKI WILLIAMS handbags are made by hand), then it's as easy as clicking a button! 

Our version of the perfect travel bag ;)