Hermès · Tier 1
By Arielle · Catalogued July 2026
Originally launched in 1935 as the 'Sac à Dépêches,' designed under Robert Dumas, with a trapezoidal silhouette, single reinforced handle, four brass feet, and a flap top secured by a double-belted turn-lock closure. The bag is older than the Birkin (which was introduced in 1984) by roughly five decades. It gained its current name after actress and Princess Grace Kelly was photographed carrying one to shield her pregnancy from paparazzi in the 1950s; Hermès officially renamed the style for her in 1977. Each Kelly is handmade by a single artisan and reportedly takes 18–25 hours and roughly 680 hand stitches to complete.
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What the house has produced this bag in, from our sourced records.
Material
Construction
The Hermès Kelly 32 is a Ostrich Leather structured bag.
Best listed right now: $9,000 on The RealReal, well below the typical price (median $14,500).
Prices have been trending up over the tracked window.
Discontinued: no longer in production, so resale is the only way to buy it.
By production era · decade
Resale by production era: 3 listings, estimated from recorded prices.
Estimated from recorded resale prices · not an appraisal. As of 2026-06-24.
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A 1930s bag for carrying saddles became the first It bag the day a princess used it to hide a pregnancy.
Origin
The Kelly began in the 1930s when Hermès shrank a bag built to hold saddles into a structured handbag for women, the Sac à dépêches, launched in 1935. Simple, solid and roomy, it was made to carry a lot in a refined shape.
SourcesWikipedia
Culture
Grace Kelly fell for the bag while filming To Catch a Thief in 1954. In 1956, newly the Princess of Monaco, she was photographed using it to shield her pregnant belly from the cameras. Sales jumped overnight and the bag became the first true luxury It bag.
SourcesWikipedia
Articles on the Kelly and Hermès from our verified experts.
Hermès uses no serial number, so the blind stamp, the craftsman's mark, and the hand saddle-stitch carry the read. The era cutoffs and hardware tells that matter on a Birkin or Kelly, and why no marker is proof.
By Arielle · Birkin
The French names and official codes behind Hermès shades, cross-checked and honestly flagged where a code is missing. Durable vocabulary, not a live availability feed.
By Arielle · July 8, 2026 · Birkin
On resale the two cost almost the same size-for-size, so the real choice is shape and how you carry it. What each lists for now, and the steep small-size premium on both.
By Arielle · June 27, 2026
This bag is a rare find.
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+100%
$9,000 → $18,000 across 5 recorded sales
2026-06 – 2026-06
Estimated from recorded resale prices · not an appraisal or investment forecast. Values can go down as well as up.
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See what you'd keep at each venueThe Hermès Kelly run through every venue's real published fees, ranked by what lands in your pocket.Or start a sale now
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Ostrich Leather: Exotic skins are their own world. Keep them dry and dust-free, and leave real cleaning to a specialist.
Breathable dust bag
A soft cotton bag that keeps dust and light off without trapping moisture.
Find on Amazon →Anti-humidity packs
Silica or moisture-absorbing packs that keep the closet air dry around the bag.
Find on Amazon →Hardware polishing cloth
A soft microfiber that buffs chains, clasps and logo plates without scratching.
Find on Amazon →Our picks are a starting point. Test anything new on a hidden spot first. Some Amazon links are affiliate links.
See the full care shelf →Hardware
Permanent finishes are offered year-round; seasonal ones rotate and retire. A finish being listed here doesn’t mean we have one for sale right now.
Good to know
Everyone called it the Kelly long before Hermès did. The house only changed the name from Sac à dépêches to Kelly officially in 1977, more than twenty years after that famous photo.
SourcesWikipedia
By the numbers
Across 5 recorded resale listings, the Kelly sits around $14,500. This is our estimate from current data, not an appraisal, as of 2026-06-24.
Designers and muses.
Grace Kelly
The princess who named it
The Hollywood star turned Princess of Monaco whose photographs made the bag a global phenomenon.
Robert Dumas
Hermès designer
Reworked an equestrian bag into the structured Sac à dépêches that would become the Kelly.
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