Louis Vuitton Cardboard Jewelry Box

Cardboard Louis Vuitton Jewelry Box, 1989, 22 x 11 x 14 cm, ed.300/850, selling at Christie‘s I don’t know what I was expecting with an edition of 850, but I was still surprised to see how many Louis Vuitton cardboard jewelry boxes there are out there. They were made as invitations for the opening of a Vuitton building in 1989, and contain actual cardboard jewelry: brooches by Arman and César, and a necklace by Ben Vautier. The Arman is a stack of cardboard keys in resin; the César is a scrunched stack of gold-painted cardboard; and the Vautier is a cardboard mystery box on a cord that says “it might contain a diamond.” The example coming up at Christie’s this month is a little rough, so if you’re in it for the whole pristineness of it all, you might as well look around or wait—or spend your money on a Beyoncé wooden box instead. Or maybe this is exactly the cardboard box to buy for the jewelry itself, which, franchement, seems more interesting. More people should wear cardboard…