Collection: Vintage Van Cleef & Arpels Jewelry

Established in Paris in 1906 by Alfred Van Cleef and his father-in-law, Solomon Arpels, Van Cleef & Arpels is world-renowned as one of the great luxury jewelry houses. Their first boutique was established in Place Vendome, Paris where it still stands today, now one of many around the world.  Founded during the Edwardian period, VCA’s first creations featured lacy designs in platinum and diamonds, later transitioning to sublime Art Deco jewels defined by geometric patterns set with colorful precious gemstones. For over a century, the jewelry house has been a leader in technical innovation, creating the technically difficult "mystery setting" in the early 1930s—a technique which utilizes uniformly colored, specially cut gemstones placed along metal tracks to create an absolutely invisible, underneath mounting. As creative and vibrant today as when it was founded, Van Cleef & Arpels is known for some of the most glorious jewels of the Art Deco period and beyond including the Cadenas watch, the Ludo bracelet, Passe-Partout necklaces, Ballerina, Love Bird and Rose de Noel brooches, the Zip Necklace and in 1968, the now iconic Alhambra collection followed by Frivole, Perlée and more of what can only be called High Jewelry of the utmost quality and design.

Authenticating pieces of jewelry requires serious knowledge, experience and expertise. Truly thousands of pieces of jewelry from every era and every maker have passed through our hands in our over 40 years in the business and this familiarity enables us to know what a piece should look and feel like, to determine if it has the expected quality of material and workmanship, and if the makers marks and signatures are genuine and in all the right places. 

In practice, we first look at the front and back of a bracelet, ring or brooch, turning it over in our hands to see​ that the workmanship on ​the reverse is just ​as ​fine as the detail on the front. Using the jeweler’s important tool, the loupe, we look carefully at many different touchpoints including the precision with which the ​diamonds are mounted in their settings, the manner in which gold or platinum links are connected to each other, the quality of the azuring, a most difficult and refined aspect of metalwork, the fineness of the material and the ​flawlessness of the ​polish.

If we have any doubts whatsoever as to authenticity, we submit the piece to the relevant firm, be it Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Verdura, David Webb or others. We also require the seller to provide us with the original bill of sale, box and papers for those items most commonly faked such as Cartier Love brackets and VCA Alhambra pieces. And just as banks know their customers, we, too, ensure we know our clients to assure ourselves of their ownership and provenance. 

In fact, our team of GIA-certified jewelry experts has such a well-regarded reputation in the international jewelry industry that we are frequently called upon to advise auction houses, appraisers and other dealers in matters of authenticity and value.