Kim Kardashian Bought Princess Diana's Amethyst Cross for $200k, And Now It's an Amazing Meme

Here's a sentence I thought I'd never write: Kim Kardashian just bought an amethyst cross which has previously only been worn by the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

In an auction at Sotheby's London on Jan. 18, the reality star competed against three other bidders to acquire the Attallah Cross, for which she paid the teeny-tiny-insignificant sum of $197,453.

This, according to a press release from the auction house, was "more than double its pre-auction estimate." Meanwhile, jewelry experts had previously told Page Six that the piece could go for up to $500k.

A Sotheby's press release read, "The cross was [originally] bought by Naim Attallah CBE, from Garrard [the jeweler that made Diana's engagement ring] in the 1980s and through his friendship with Princess Diana, he was able to loan it to her several times over a number of years to wear at events. It is understood that the cross was only ever worn by the Princess, and following her death, it was never seen in public again until now."

The news of Kardashian's new and frankly unexpected purchase was highly amusing to social media dwellers, particularly because the SKIMS founder reportedly caused damage to the archival Marilyn Monroe dress she wore to the Met Gala last year. (These reports have turned out to be unfounded, BTW.)

One person tweeted, "kim kardashian at the dead celebrities memorabilia store" with a clip of Family Guy's Lois raiding a store.

Beyond that, though, the news has actually started an entire new meme format, whereby users joke that Kardashian has acquired an iconic (but also kinda niche) item from pop culture, along with a photo of her at the Met Gala and a photo of the item in question. It's, I'm sad to report, very funny.

Kristian Spofforth, the head of jewelry for Sotheby's London, said, "This is a bold piece of jewelry by its size, color and style which cannot fail to make a vibrant statement, whether it be of faith or fashion—or indeed both.

"We are delighted that this piece has found a new lease of life within the hands of another globally famous name."

As for the fact that this piece of jewelry happens to be a cross, it seems important to note that the Kardashians are in fact a Christian family. "We don’t share it much, but we’re really religious," Kim Kardashian told Vogue in 2018. "We start our day with a group chat with a Bible verse from my mom, and everyone chimes in on the meaning of it. We are very Christian—and our work ethic and our discipline comes from so many years at Catholic school."