FLOAT 100 · Handbags · No. 9
Hermes Kelly 28 Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile (non-diamond)
Hermes made the Himalaya Kelly only after collectors' hunger for the Himalaya Birkin forced its hand, and the 28 cm version, with plain palladium hardware, became the yardstick for how far the snow-white crocodile market rose and fell.
- Year
- 2022
- Maker
- Hermes
- By price in handbags
- 8 of 100
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- Hermes, Paris
- Model
- Kelly 28 Retourne, the middle of the three original Himalaya Kelly sizes
- Example tracked
- Made 2022, Blanc matte Niloticus crocodile, palladium hardware
- Leather
- Matte Niloticus (Nile) crocodile, shaded from smoky gray to pearly white
- Lining
- Gris cendre (ash gray) goatskin
- Size
- 28 x 22 x 11 cm, with shoulder strap
- Himalaya Kelly debut
- 2013 in 25, 28 and 32 cm, by most accounts; one gives 2014
- Price swing
- Over $200,000 for a Himalaya Kelly 28 in 2023; $128,000 for the 2022 example at auction in Paris in 2024
- Diamond version
- A diamond Himalaya Kelly 28 sold for HK$4,000,000 ($515,416) in 2021, then a record for any handbag
From saddle bag to Kelly
The Kelly began as riding gear. In 1892 Hermes, founded as a Paris harness workshop by Thierry Hermes in 1837, introduced the Haut a courroies, a large leather bag for a rider's boots and saddle. In the 1930s Robert Dumas made a smaller version for women, launched in 1935 as the Sac a Main de Voyage.
In 1954 costume designer Edith Head bought Hermes accessories for Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief, and Grace Kelly is said to have fallen in love with the bag. In 1956, as Princess of Monaco, she was photographed with it during her first pregnancy, and in the late 1950s Hermes renamed it the Kelly.
A Kelly takes about 18 to 20 hours to make, almost entirely by a single craftsman, and Hermes trains its leather workers for an average of 18 months. The bag now comes in seven sizes from 15 to 50 cm.
Why Hermes made a Himalaya Kelly
The Himalaya is a finish: Nile crocodile dyed so that smoky gray fades into pearly white, like snow on the Himalayan peaks. The dyeing is slow and grows harder as the shades lighten, and the matte skin is hand-buffed with felt wool, so no two bags match. The finish appeared first on the Birkin, in 2008, in the 30 cm size.
The Himalaya Birkin started a collecting craze, and Hermes answered it by making a limited number of Himalaya Kellys for top clients. By most accounts the Kelly arrived in 2013 in three sizes, 25, 28 and 32 cm, with a 35 cm size later; one report says it was released in 2014, to top buyers only. Hermes does not publish production numbers, and the bag is described only as made in the most limited numbers. It has been called the rarest handbag in the world.
There is a further wrinkle. A Gris Cendre Himalaya Kelly 28 Retourne that sold for HK$762,000 in September 2025 was catalogued as made in 2011, two years before the usual debut date. The sources do not explain the gap.
The 28 Retourne: what it is
Hermes builds the Kelly two ways. The Sellier, French for saddler, has its seams on the outside and sharp, rigid edges sealed with resin. The Retourne, 'turned over,' is sewn inside out and then turned right side out, so the seams sit inside and the bag has softer corners and a more relaxed outline. The Himalaya Kelly 28 tracked here is a Retourne.
The 2022 example measures 28 cm wide, 22 cm high and 11 cm deep. It is Blanc matte Niloticus crocodile with palladium hardware, lined in gris cendre (ash gray) chevre goatskin, and came with its felt, shoulder strap, clochette, lock, two keys, dust bag, rain protector and box.
Size does not map neatly onto price. In 2023 a Kelly 28 Himalaya sold for EUR 190,500, more than the EUR 177,800 top price for a store-fresh Kelly 25 Himalaya that year.
Up the mountain and back down
The market for Himalaya Kellys peaked in 2022, when examples sold for more than $380,000; in 2023 and 2024 they ranged between about $140,000 and $230,000. The Kelly 28 followed the same path. In 2023 a 2021 Himalaya Kelly 28 Retourne with palladium hardware sold at auction in Hong Kong for $181,610, and another sold in euros for EUR 190,500, about $200,000.
The example tracked on this page, made in 2022, was offered at auction in Paris in March 2024 with an estimate of EUR 90,000 to 120,000 and sold for EUR 114,300, about $128,000. It was the seventh most expensive Hermes bag sold at auction in the first half of 2024 and the tenth of the full year, but market commentary noted that prices had fallen sharply from 2023 and expected them to stabilize only if the wider economy did.
Because crocodile is a protected species, the 2024 Paris bag could not be shipped by the seller, and buyers outside the European Union had to arrange their own compliance with export and import rules.
The diamond Kelly 28 that topped the world
The 28 is also the size of one of the most famous handbag sales. On November 26, 2021, at auction in Hong Kong, a 2021 matte white Himalaya Niloticus crocodile Retourne Kelly 28 with 18k white gold and diamond hardware sold for HK$4,000,000, or $515,416, becoming the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction at the time. It had followed a 2020 record of HK$3,375,000 for a Himalaya Retourne Kelly 25.
The same bag came back to market in July 2023, offered in a sealed online auction in Hong Kong. Its white gold clasp is set with 229 diamonds totaling 9.43 carats and its padlock with 40 diamonds of 1.64 carats, inside an ash gray goatskin lining. A diamond Himalaya Kelly 28 is recorded as selling for $425,000 in 2023; the sources do not say whether that was this bag.
The palladium Kelly 28 on this page is the plain version of that bag: the same skin, size and Retourne construction, without the white gold and diamonds. It is the base of the Himalaya Kelly range, below the diamond versions in price.
The numbers
- Dimensions
- 28 x 22 x 11 cm
- Material
- Blanc matte Niloticus crocodile in the Himalaya gradient; gris cendre chevre lining
- Hardware
- Palladium
- Construction
- Retourne
- Date stamp
- 2022 (tracked example)
- Included
- Felt, shoulder strap, clochette, lock, two keys, dust bag, rain protector, box
- Production quantity
- Not published; described as made in the most limited numbers for top clients
Timeline
Thierry Hermes founds a harness workshop in Paris.
Hermes introduces the Haut a courroies, a saddle and boot bag for riders.
Robert Dumas's smaller women's version launches as a travel handbag.
Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, is photographed with the bag during her first pregnancy.
Hermes begins Natura Vert Celadon, a pale green ombre alligator, a forerunner of the Himalaya.
The Himalaya finish debuts on the 30 cm Birkin.
Jean-Paul Gaultier sends a Himalaya Birkin down the Hermes runway.
The Himalaya Kelly debuts in 25, 28 and 32 cm, by most accounts; one report gives 2014.
A Himalaya Retourne Kelly 25 sells in Hong Kong for HK$3,375,000, a record for a Kelly.
A diamond Himalaya Kelly 28 sells in Hong Kong for HK$4,000,000 ($515,416), a record for any handbag.
The Kelly 28 tracked here is made; Himalaya Kelly prices peak above $380,000.
A 2021 Himalaya Kelly 28 sells in Hong Kong for $181,610; another sells for EUR 190,500 (about $200,000).
The 2022 Himalaya Kelly 28 Retourne sells at auction in Paris for EUR 114,300 (about $128,000).
A Gris Cendre Himalaya Kelly 28 Retourne dated 2011 sells for HK$762,000.
The world in 2022
The Hunga Tonga submarine volcano erupts, the most powerful eruption of the 21st century.
Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics, the first city to hold both Summer and Winter Games.
Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Queen Elizabeth II dies, and Charles III becomes king.
OpenAI releases ChatGPT; the FTX cryptocurrency exchange collapses.
Argentina wins the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the first held in the Middle East.
Inflation surges in many countries, and central banks raise interest rates; Hermes reports revenue of EUR 11.6 billion.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 26, 2021 | $515,416 | Sold at auctionDiamond version: 2021 Himalaya Retourne Kelly 28 with 18k white gold and diamond hardware, sold in Hong Kong for HK$4,000,000. |
| 2023 | $181,610 | Sold at auctionHimalaya Kelly 28 Retourne, palladium hardware, made 2021, sold in Hong Kong. |
| Mar 26, 2024 | $128,000 | Sold at auctionThe tracked example: Blanc Himalaya Kelly 28 Retourne, palladium hardware, made 2022, sold in Paris for EUR 114,300. Estimate EUR 90,000-120,000. |
| Sep 23, 2025 | $97,986 | Sold at auctionAt auction in Hong Kong: HKD 762,000 (including buyer's premium), shown in USD at the Federal Reserve rate on the sale date (1 HKD = 0.1286 USD). |
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 28 Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile (non-diamond) is number 8 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 (9 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Hermes made the Himalaya Kelly in response to collector demand for the Himalaya Birkin, offering it in limited numbers to top clients.
- A diamond Himalaya Kelly 28 was the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction when it brought HK$4,000,000 in November 2021.
- Retourne means 'turned over': the bag is sewn inside out and then turned, hiding the seams.
- A Himalaya Kelly 28 sold for more than $200,000 in 2023; the next year a 2022 example brought $128,000.
- One Himalaya Kelly 28 sold in 2025 was catalogued as made in 2011, earlier than the usual 2013 debut date.
- The Himalaya's forerunner, Natura Vert Celadon, was a pale green ombre alligator made from 1994 to 2008.
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