The most egregiously over priced item of the week brings us back to a Chanel item posted on eBay. Usually we joke that La Maison Chanel perceives their items to be worth more than their weight in gold, but this time the Coco inflation is just too high for any serious collector.
In 2008, Karl Lagerfeld designed a “limited edition” run of gold and silver coins to mark Coco Chanel’s 125th Birthday. The coin has a portrait of Mademoiselle Chanel on the one side and a giant five on the back. The coin is made of 5 oz of pure gold and is selling on Ebay for, drum roll please… $24,999.
The five digit price may seem more reasonable than, lets say a $30,000 croc bag, only for the fact that the gold is worth $7890. (At the close of business Thursday gold was trading at $1578 an ounce.) That would make the Chanel premium 300% the metal value.
To find the true value of this coin we called several experts raging from coin dealers to vintage fashion experts and couldn’t find a single appraisal that came anywhere near the price of this eBay seller. The highest valuation came from a notable high-end jewelry dealer who suggested a range value from $7000 to $9000, “if the right person could be found to appreciate the value of Chanel,” he said.
In the spirit of full disclosure, we must point out that in 2008 gold was trading at about $815 oz and the coin was offered to VIP customers for €5900 or about $7500. All things considered, it really wouldn’t have been a tragic investment, but we would stay far away from this purchase now unless you’re a commodity speculator who predicts gold rising to $5000 oz.
