When I have the opportunity to upgrade our home decor from our current line of “We’ll live like this until the kids get older,” I have some ideas of styles that I’d like to try. Until then, I admire the homes of friends with older kids or the living rooms in magazines that would cost a few thousand dollars to reproduce. But I never, in my wildest dreams, would have even considered a $1,000 tin can to display on a shelf.

This is one of the items in the new Everyday Objects line by Tiffany & Co. so of course it’s not just a tin can, it’s made from “sterling silver and shining vermeil.”

The line also includes a $250 sterling silver Crazy Straw, a set of two Paper Cups (made from bone china) for $95, a $1,500 Paper Clip Bookmark made from 18k gold and a sterling silver Ball of Yarn for $9,000.

Every day, my news feed is filled with tragic stories about people or families facing difficult challenges or experiencing tragedies and I wish I was in the financial situation to be able to send a significant contribution to help. So when I think of somebody spending $450 to buy a sterling silver ruler or $425 protractor made from sterling silver and American walnut, it breaks my heart a little.  The line is marketed that it “transforms utilitarian items into handcrafted works of art.” How about just using a $1 ruler from the Dollar Tree and using the other $424 to provide school supplies for children whose family can’t afford to buy them?

I guess if you look at this as art and sure, artists need to make a living, too, then it’s justifiable, but something about this rubs me the wrong way – maybe it’s the fact that these are called “Everyday Objects” and being sold at Tiffany & Co. There’s nothing “everyday” about Tiffany & Co. for the majority of people in the world.

It’s definitely an alternate reality from the world I live in. With three young boys living here, you may occasionally find different color LEGO blocks on the floor. They are not from a $1,500 set of Tiffany & Co. Building Blocks made from sterling silver and American walnut.  The upside of that is that if one of them gets sucked up in the vacuum cleaner, it’s not that big of a deal and it’s not the equivalent of more than a month’s worth of groceries.