This Handbag Is Expensive, Not Very Practical

As handbags go, it's on the small side, as in "barely visible to the human eye," as CNN puts it. Nevertheless, the microscopic replica of a Louis Vuitton design has sold for $63,000 at the auction house Joopiter. CNN's line is not an exaggeration: The "bag" by the Brooklyn art collective known as MSCHF is all of 657 by 222 by 700 micrometers, per the New York Times. "Smaller than a grain of sea salt and narrow enough to pass through the eye of a needle, this is a purse so small you'll need a microscope to see it," the art collective boasts. (The sale included an actual microscope.)

The fashion label Louis Vuitton has nothing to do with the bag, though its OntheGo tote serves as its inspiration, right down to the tiny "LV" on the miniature version. "I think 'bag' is a funny object because it derives from something rigorously functional," Kevin Wiesner of MSCHF told the Times before the auction. "But it has basically become jewelry." The auction house Joopiter, which was founded by Pharrell Williams, has not revealed who bought the bag. (More strange stuff stories.)