Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

This $167K Yarmulke Is The Status Symbol You Never Knew You Needed

If you thought $36,000 was a crazy amount to spend on a kippah, we’re about to blow your minds: For the bargain deal of $167,000, you can be the proud owner of a diamond and swarovski crystal encrusted yarmulke.

Yarmulkes have never really been a “luxury” item. It’s more that shiny polyester cap that’s given out at weddings and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs which are virtually indestructible.

But who said diamonds have to be a girl’s best friend? Where’s the plurality in that? Shouldn’t everyone get to adorn themselves in priceless diamonds?

Toks Daniel clearly thinks so. Daniel, a designer and artist whose business, TDaniel, supplies celebrities with personalized swag with a hefty dose of bling, spent 14 days designing and creating the $167,000 yarmulke.

Toks Daniel poses with jeweler Robert Goodman and the $167,000 yarmulke. Image by TDaniel/VeryFirstTo

Available exclusively on VeryFirstTo — a members-only site that features the most expensive and luxurious items in the market — the yarmulke features 3,500 swarovski crystals that completely cover the surface, with a bordered Greek meander pattern topped with a prominent Star of David.

In a way, it’s kind of the perfect Hanukkah gift: Jews at the summit, triumphing over their evil Greek overlords and finally able to afford an overpriced yarmulke. To sweeten the deal (and to justify its price), at the very top, in the center of the Star of David, is a 2-carat flawless diamond.

But what’s a goy from Nigeria doing designing a yarmulke of all things? Apparently, the designer is “enamored with [Judaism’s] rituals, principles and aesthetics,” Daniel said in a press release. He’s so enamoured that, if the yarmulke actually does get purchased, a highly specific $1,330 will be donated to the Chabad Lubavitch of Nigeria. Although it’s not exactly maaser (it comes out to only a tenth of the required tenth), it will go a long way to easing the feeling of I-can’t-believe-I-spent-more-than-most-people-make-in-a-year-on-what’s-essentially-a-tiny-hat.

Michelle Honig is the style writer at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected]. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.