FLOAT 100 · Handbags · No. 10
Hermes Kelly 25 Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile (matte white)
A saddle-bag descendant in crocodile dyed to look like snow sliding off a mountain, the Himalaya Kelly 25 once sold for more than four times its high estimate and set a record for any Kelly, and it still leads the auctions it appears in.
- Year
- current
- Maker
- Hermes
- By price in handbags
- 9 of 100
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Create a free account- Maker
- Hermes, Paris
- Model
- Kelly 25, usually in Retourne (turned-out stitching) construction
- Leather
- Matte Niloticus (Nile) crocodile, shaded from smoky gray at the edges to pearly white at the center
- Hardware
- Palladium on the standard version; diamond-set white gold versions are a separate, costlier variant
- Size
- About 25 cm wide, 18 to 19 cm high, 9 to 10 cm deep, depending on the catalog
- Himalaya Kelly debut
- 2013 in 25, 28 and 32 cm by one account; another says 2014
- Who could buy one
- Made in extremely limited numbers and offered to the house's top clients
- Kelly record
- A 2019 example sold for HK$3,375,000 in Hong Kong on November 27, 2020, then a record for any Kelly
- Latest result
- $125,000 for a 2021 example at auction in Dallas, October 9, 2025
From a saddle bag to a princess's shield
The Kelly began as horse gear. In 1892 Hermes, founded in Paris in 1837 by Thierry Hermes as a harness and saddlery workshop, introduced the Haut a courroies, a large leather bag for carrying a rider's boots and saddle. In the 1930s Robert Dumas, son-in-law of Emile-Maurice Hermes, developed a smaller version for women, and it launched in 1935 as the Sac a Main de Voyage, a travel handbag.
Hollywood gave it a name. In 1954 costume designer Edith Head bought Hermes accessories for the film To Catch a Thief, starring Grace Kelly. In 1956 Kelly, by then Princess of Monaco, was photographed using the bag during her pregnancy; the picture ran in Life magazine and set off enormous demand. Hermes officially renamed the bag the Kelly in the late 1950s.
The way it is made has hardly changed. A Kelly takes 18 to 20 hours of work and is handmade by a single craftsman, and Hermes leather workers train for about 18 months with the Kelly as the main focus. As of 2010 it was the house's best-selling handbag among 32 styles.
How a crocodile hide becomes a mountain
The word Himalaya describes a color, not a place. The bag is made from Nile crocodile, and the hide is dyed so that a smoky gray fades into a pearly white, meant to recall snow, ice and rock on the Himalayan peaks. The dyeing is time-consuming and becomes much harder as the shades lighten; one account describes the skin being dried, descaled, depigmented and then redyed to build the gradient, and the exact method is described as a carefully guarded secret.
The finish is matte, hand-buffed with felt wool, and no two Himalayas are identical. Hermes had experimented with gradient skins before: from 1994 to 2008 it made Natura Vert Celadon, a shiny pale green ombre alligator, which a specialist guide calls the forerunner of the Himalaya.
The Himalaya Birkin came first and was at first known mainly to dedicated Hermes collectors. That changed in 2010, when Jean-Paul Gaultier, then designing women's ready-to-wear for the house, sent a Himalaya Birkin down the runway. Collector demand pushed Hermes to make a limited number of Himalaya Kellys for top clients. A specialist guide dates the Himalaya Kelly to 2013, in 25, 28 and 32 cm, with a 35 cm size added later; a 2023 newspaper report says the Kellys were released in 2014 to top buyers and VIP clients. Accounts agree that the Kelly is rarer than the Birkin in this finish.
What to look for
Published auction descriptions are consistent. A 2019 Kelly 25 sold in Hong Kong in 2020 was matte white Himalaya Niloticus crocodile in Retourne construction with palladium hardware, measured 25 x 19 x 9 cm, and came with a clochette, lock, keys, felt protector, exotic-skin card, rain protector, shoulder strap, two small dust bags, a dust bag and the box. A 2022 example offered in Paris that year measured 25 x 18 x 10 cm, was lined in chevre (goat) leather, and came with strap, clochette, lock, two keys, rain protection, felt pouch, dust bag and box.
The hardware matters. The standard Himalaya Kelly carries palladium; a separate and much costlier version has an 18k white gold clasp and padlock set with diamonds. When a market report or listing quotes a Himalaya Kelly price, check which version it is before comparing.
Because the leather is Crocodylus niloticus, cataloged under CITES as II-B, every sale carries wildlife trade conditions. Catalogs warn that several countries prohibit the import of crocodile, and sellers in Paris have required pickup in the city and left export and import compliance to the buyer.
A record, a peak and a correction
The Kelly 25's high point came quickly. On November 27, 2020, in Hong Kong, a 2019 Himalaya Retourne Kelly 25 with palladium hardware, estimated at HK$600,000 to HK$800,000, sold for HK$3,375,000, a record for any Kelly. Reports converted it at about $420,000, citing a rounded HK$3.3 million. The next year a diamond-set Himalaya Kelly 28 brought HK$4,000,000, about $510,000, in Hong Kong and became the most expensive handbag sold at auction at the time.
Prices then cooled. In May 2022 another 2019 Kelly 25 with palladium hardware sold in Hong Kong for HK$1,638,000, about $208,000. In September 2022 a 2022 example estimated at EUR 100,000 to 120,000 sold in Paris for nearly three times its estimate; one report gives EUR 352,800, or $346,802, and a specialist review of the year describes it as selling for over $380,000. A specialist guide puts later non-diamond Himalaya Kellys mostly between $140,000 and $230,000 in 2023 and 2024.
Larger sizes have sold for less. A 2021 Himalaya Kelly 32 led a sale in Dallas on October 5, 2023, at $118,750; a 2021 Himalaya Kelly 28 sold for just over $180,000 in 2023; and a 2022 palladium Himalaya Kelly 28 brought $128,000 in Paris in 2024. In September 2025 a Himalaya Kelly 28 with palladium hardware sold in Hong Kong for HK$762,000.
The Kelly 25 still leads the rooms it appears in. On October 9, 2025, a 2021 matte white Himalaya Kelly Retourne 25 with palladium hardware sold for $125,000 in Dallas, the top lot of a sale that totaled $2,401,279. The department's director called it 'flawless, timeless and effortlessly graceful' and 'the perfect size.'
Why the small one wins
Market commentary consistently names the Kelly 25 and Kelly 28 as the most sought-after Himalaya sizes, and the Kelly 25 as the one that commands the highest premium. One specialist calls the Himalaya Kelly 'The Rarest Handbag in the World' and the Himalaya Birkin the holy grail of a handbag collection.
No production figure has been published. Sources describe the Himalaya Kelly as made in the most limited numbers and reserved for top clients, and as rarer than the Himalaya Birkin, because the dyeing takes so much work and time.
The numbers
- Dimensions
- 25 x 19 x 9 cm (2019 example) or 25 x 18 x 10 cm (2022 example)
- Material
- Matte white Himalaya Niloticus crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus, cataloged as CITES II-B); chevre goat lining
- Hardware
- Palladium; diamond-set 18k white gold on the separate diamond version
- Construction
- Retourne on the examples sold 2020-2025
- Production quantity
- Not published; described as made in extremely limited numbers for top clients
Timeline
Thierry Hermes founds a harness and saddlery workshop in Paris.
Hermes introduces the Haut a courroies, a bag for a rider's boots and saddle.
Robert Dumas's smaller women's bag launches as the Sac a Main de Voyage.
Grace Kelly, now Princess of Monaco, is photographed with the bag during her pregnancy.
Hermes begins Natura Vert Celadon, a gradient alligator made until 2008 and seen as the Himalaya's forerunner.
Jean-Paul Gaultier sends a Himalaya Birkin down the runway.
The Himalaya Kelly appears in 25, 28 and 32 cm, by one account; another gives 2014.
A 2019 Himalaya Kelly 25 sells for HK$3,375,000 in Hong Kong, a record for any Kelly.
A diamond Himalaya Kelly 28 brings HK$4,000,000 in Hong Kong, then the top price for any handbag at auction.
A 2019 Himalaya Kelly 25 sells in Hong Kong for HK$1,638,000, about $208,000.
A 2022 Himalaya Kelly 25 sells in Paris for nearly three times its estimate.
A 2021 Himalaya Kelly 32 leads a Dallas sale at $118,750.
A Himalaya Kelly 28 with palladium hardware sells for HK$762,000 in Hong Kong.
A 2021 Himalaya Kelly 25 tops a Dallas sale at $125,000.
The world in 1954
Edith Head buys Hermes accessories for Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief, starring Grace Kelly.
A chance meeting between Hermes chief Jean-Louis Dumas and Jane Birkin leads to the Birkin bag.
Jean-Paul Gaultier becomes head of women's ready-to-wear at Hermes.
Hermes says the famous Birkin waiting list will no longer exist.
Animal welfare campaigners denounce slaughter conditions for the alligators used in exotic-skin Birkin bags; Jane Birkin asks Hermes to remove her name until practices improve.
Video footage from three Hermes-owned crocodile farms in Australia is released by campaigners.
Jane Birkin's original Birkin sells in Paris for EUR 8.6 million, about $10.1 million.
Hermes reports EUR 16 billion in revenue for the year.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 27, 2020 | $420,000 | Sold at auction2019 Himalaya Retourne Kelly 25, palladium, sold in Hong Kong. The lot record gives HK$3,375,000 (estimate HK$600,000-800,000); news reports converted a rounded HK$3.3 million to about $420,000. Record for a Kelly at the time. |
| May 23, 2022 | $208,000 | Sold at auction2019 Himalaya Retourne Kelly 25, palladium, sold in Hong Kong for HK$1,638,000. |
| Sep 2022 | $346,802 | Sold at auction2022 Himalaya Retourne Kelly 25, palladium, sold in Paris for EUR 352,800 per one report; estimate EUR 100,000-120,000. A specialist review describes the same 2022 sale as over $380,000. |
| Oct 9, 2025 | $125,000 | Sold at auction2021 matte white Himalaya Kelly Retourne 25, palladium, top lot of a sale in Dallas. |
A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.
By reference price, Hermes Kelly 25 Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile (matte white) is number 9 of 100 in the handbags entries of the FLOAT 100. 19 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (10 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The Kelly's ancestor carried a rider's saddle and boots.
- 'Himalaya' names the white-to-gray color gradient, not where the crocodile comes from.
- The 2020 record Kelly 25 sold for more than four times its high estimate.
- Hermes made a pale green gradient alligator, Natura Vert Celadon, from 1994 to 2008, years before the Himalaya.
- No two Himalaya bags are identical; the matte finish is hand-buffed with felt wool.
- A Kelly is built by a single craftsman over 18 to 20 hours.
- The Himalaya Kelly is described as even rarer than the Himalaya Birkin.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026