Does Kim Kardashian Actually Have Good Taste in Jewelry?

Until recently, Kim Kardashian's most notable jewelry moment may have been that infamous heist in 2016, when armed robbers broke into her Paris hotel room, held her up at gunpoint, and carted off with more than $10 million worth of jewels. Then a few weeks ago it was revealed that she had bought a piece once worn by Princess Diana—and a brand new jewelry narrative was born.

For those immune to the tides of the internet, social media, celebrity gossip, and anything royal family, the gem in question here is the Attallah Cross, a giant diamond and amethyst-studded cross created by Garrard and lent to the late princess, who publicly wore the pendant once, to a charity gala in 1987. Thirty-six years later it resurfaced at Sotheby's London for its Royal and Noble auction this month, where it was estimated to fetch $147,000. Kardashian, via a representative, made the winning bid for $197,453.

But as devoted Kardashian acolytes and keen jewelry observers alike already know, this wasn't Kiki's first rodeo. She has been down this path before, by which we mean acquiring the occasional piece of jewelry at auction from a collection with A+++ star provenance.

And it all began with—who else?—Elizabeth Taylor. When her legendary jewelry collection came up for auction at Christie's in December 2011, Kardashian—who had interviewed the icon for Harper's Bazaar earlier that year, just a month before the actress's death—was paying close attention. She didn't go for the showstoppers like La Peregrina (sale price: a record $11.8 million), or the Bulgari emeralds, or the Schlumberger dolphin. She phoned in to bid on a trio of jade and diamond bangles by Lorraine Schwartz—and took them home for $64,900.

"She went in for something very personal, because she was such good friends with Lorraine and said she always loved the bangles," says Marion Fasel, jewelry historian and founder of The Adventurine, who spoke to the reality star soon after the auction. "But she obviously paid much more money than she would have to from Lorraine because she wanted that provenance attached."

It would be another six years before Kardashian picked up her second legendary heirloom. In 2017, Jackie Kennedy's Cartier Tank watch, which she had received as a gift from her brother-in-law Stanislas Radziwill in 1963—and which she was seldom seen without—sold at Christie's for $379,500. Guess who was the anonymous buyer?

Fast forward another six years to her Diana moment. That the reality star turned mega celebrity has only bought three pieces of such caliber over a period spanning more than a decade says a lot about her jewelry collecting philosophy—and is perhaps yet another testament to Kardashian's image-making brilliance. While the pattern makes clear that she will only wait for gems of the most extraordinary provenance, there is an element of—dare we say it?—practicality in her decisions, too.

Consider the costs of these investments. These are extremely expensive purchases for most of the population, but much less so in the world of high-profile jewelry auctions, where it doesn't take much for pieces to go above the million dollar mark. "It's not like she went in and bought the Marie Antoinette bracelets," Fasel says, which sold in 2021 at Christie's Geneva for $8.2 million. Worth noting given Kardashian, according to the Forbes list, is a billionaire.

Then take Kennedy's Tank. According to Fasel, Kardashian eventually resold the watch, though rather than turn a profit by putting it on the open market, she quietly sold it back to the Cartier archives. "I appreciate that so much as a jewelry historian," she says. "And I love that in some ways she realized she made a mistake with the Jackie Kennedy and she wasn't sentimental about it. She moved on."

The same probably can't be said about her latest purchase, given the whole family's unabashed embrace of the religious motif as of late (see: Kourtney's wedding). "To me, the jewel is more Kim Kardashian than it was Princess Diana," Fasel says. And it's a sign that she is evolving as a jewelry collector, slowly upping the ante when it comes to the type of internet-breaking, true-to-her-style showstopper she will bid on at auction, all while remaining deliberate about her choices. "The way that she’s chosen to curate her collection is brilliant and creative, focusing on a theme of heirlooms owned by important women," says jeweler Jill Heller. "She’s now introducing her own iconic legacy into the equation, making it an even more impactful collection."

While it's impossible to predict when another gem worn by a legendary figure will surface at auction, Fasel says it will have to be someone huge for Kardashian to notice. "She's not buying jewelry," she says. "She's buying a story, a legacy. It's icons only for Kim."

You Might Also Like

• Oprah’s Favorite Things of 2022 Is Here—Gift These 20 Amazing Finds This Year

• 12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion

• 13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game