Smaller than grain of salt-handbag sold for $63K

A miniscule handbag measuring 657 by 222 by 700 microns was sold for $63,000 at a sale hosted by online auction house, Joopiter on Wednesday.

The barley microscopic fluorescent yellowish-green handbag is based on a popular Louis Vuitton design, the OnTheGo tote, which is currently sold at full size for between $3,100 and $4,300. However, it is made by New York art Collective, MSCHF, not Louis Vuitton itself.

MSCHF’s bad is narrow enough to pass through the eye of a needle and is smaller than a grain of sea salt, and was made using two-photon polymerization, a technology used to 3D-print micro scale plastic parts.

The handbag was sold with a microscope equipped with a digital display so the bag can be viewed.

“Previous small leather handbags have still required a hand to carry them, they become dysfunctional, inconveniences to their wearer, Microscopic Handbag takes this to its full logical conclusion. A practical object is boiled down into jewelry, all of its putative function evaporated; for luxury objects, usability is the angels’ share,” said MSCHF in the auction listing.

MSCHF has been dropping irreverent art projects that poke fun at, while also profiting from, consumer capitalism. The group, founded in 2016, was also behind the pair of cartoonish rubber boots that went viral recently, and was worn by Doja Cat and Janelle Monáe.