Our Favorite Rare and Collectible Van Cleef & Arpels Necklaces
Learn more about what to look for when buying rare and collectible Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces.
Brief History of Van Cleef & Arpels
Van Cleef & Arpels is a French luxury jewelry company founded in 1895 and opened its first boutique in 1906. The first boutique was located at 22 Place Vendome in Paris, across the street from the Ritz Hotel. This location was and still is the center of luxury goods in Paris. Van Cleef & Arpels has always been known for its exclusive clientele including Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Hutton, and Princess Fawzia of Egypt. The Van Cleef and Arpels signature style developed through the 20th century was shaped by diverse influences including nature, orientalism, couture, ballet and an imaginary world of fairytale and fantasy. Van Cleef & Arpels is also known for technical innovation and the quest for the highest quality diamonds and gemstones.
In 1999, Richemont acquired 60% of Van Cleef and increased its ownership to 80% in 2001. Richemont also owns 19 other luxury brands including Cartier and Buccellati. In 2023, Sotheby's sold over $20 million in Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry with prices ranging from $5,000 to over $1 million. Van Cleef & Arpels is one of the most popular luxury jewelry designer brands with nearly 1.5 million google searches per month. After the Van Cleef bracelet, the Van Cleef & Arpels necklace is the second most searched for jewelry from the maison. If you are looking to add a rare and collectible Van Cleef & Arpels necklace to your collection, read on to learn more about five distinct styles to consider.
Rare & Collectible Van Cleef & Arpels Necklaces
Whether you are a seasoned collector or new admirer of Van Cleef & Arpels, we have highlighted five rare and collectible Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces. While some of these specific styles may be hard to source, these provide a foundation for Van Cleef & Arpels necklace styles you should seek out in the secondary market. We chose these Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces since they are timeless in their design and exhibit the quality, craftsmanship and innovation that has been a hallmark of Van Cleef & Arpels since its founding.
Van Cleeg & Arpels: Tie Necklace
In 2024, one of the most expensive Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces sold for $3.6 million. This incredibly rare Van Cleef diamondTie Necklace from 1929 were created to be worn in multiple different ways. From the mid-1920s to the early 1930s, Van Cleef & Arpels conceived several designs for the Van Cleef & Arpels Tie Necklaces. These elaborate jewels terminated in a long pendant or tassel that could be worn at the front of a dress, like a cravat, or draped asymmetrically over one shoulder. The style lent itself perfectly to dresses cut low in the back, showcasing the largest stones on the front of one's neck, a sumptuous jewel for a sartorial choice that would have been scandalous in the not-so-distant past. Glamorous, sleek and slinky gowns of satin cut on the bias featured prominently in the evening fashions of the early 1930s, as exemplified by the designer Madeleine Vionnet. The finely articulated, fabric-like quality of the tie-necklace complements this aesthetic to perfection and encapsulates all the style, beauty and allure of the era.
This period saw a flowering of novel designs, with Van Cleef & Arpels being at the very forefront of innovation. The Van Cleef Tie Necklace is a prime example of Van Cleef & Arpels creative forces. During the 1920s, Parisian jewelers had created a variety of long, articulated, richly adorned shoulder brooches; the tie-necklace may be viewed, in part, as an evolution of this form. Furthermore, tie-necklaces provided ample frameworks in which to showcase the highly geometricized links and variously shaped diamonds that characterize the art deco style. Van Cleef & Arpels’ archives contain several enchanting designs for the tie-necklace as revealed by the forthcoming publication La Collection Van Cleef & Arpels: 1906-1953.
As was so often the case, other jewelers followed Van Cleef & Arpels’ lead and the tie-necklace was no exception. By the mid-1930s, the taste for long necklaces had given way to shorter bib styles and collars and the tie-necklaces seem to have been discontinued by 1935. The lavish nature of tie-necklaces was such that only a handful of examples were ever produced. As virtuosic showpieces displaying the jeweler’s art at its best, they were captured on the pages of Vogue and worn by movie stars such as Mary Pickford.
Van Cleef & Arpels Necklace: Zip Necklace (or Bracelet)
The Van Cleef & Arpels Zip Necklace was patented in 1938 but wasn't fully realized until 1950. The Van Cleef Zip Necklace is part of its signature High Jewelry Collections and is one of the most iconic designs for the Maison. The Van Cleef & Arpels Zip Necklace was allegedly inspired by a suggestion from the Duchess of Windsor. The Van Cleef Zip Necklace can be transformed seamlessly from necklace to bracelet and has been reinterpreted many times with diamonds, gem stones and other precious materials. The Zip Necklace is one of the most desirable creations from Van Cleef & Arpels and is highly sought after by collectors and admirers. Margot Robbie famously wore the Van Cleef & Arpels Zip Necklace in 2015 to the Oscars. Sotheby's has sold several Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces with prices generally ranging from $200,000 to over $500,000 depending the design.
Van Cleef & Arpels Necklace: Passe-Partout Jewelry or Transformable Creations
Van Cleef & Arpels transformable necklaces or passe-partout are another important category for collectors. Many of the most dramatic Van Cleef & Arpels high jewelry diamond necklaces were designed to be seamlessly worn in multiple ways including a separate brooch, necklace that can also be worn as a bracelet or a removable part of the necklace that can be worn as a matching bracelet with the necklace. The flexibility of these designs were partly a result of customer demand but also a way for Van Cleef & Arpels to further exhibit its skill and technical innovation in jewelry design. A Van Cleef & Arpels transformable necklace from the early to mid 1900s are among the most collectible since many of these designs were custom pieces.
Van Cleef & Arpels Necklace: High Jewelry Floral and Foliate Diamonds
Van Cleef & Arpels is one of the most renowned maisons of High jewelry since it built its reputation by creating dramatic jewelry to wear with formal evening attire for royalty and the wealthy elite. Van Cleef & Arpels high jewelry diamond necklaces featuring floral and foliate designs are among the most collectible. The selection of the diamonds and gem stones to create these timeless pieces are a marriage of art and craft. Van Cleef & Arpels high jewelry necklaces remain popular with royalty for formal galas and celebrities for red carpet events.
Van Cleef & Arpels Necklace: Mystery Set
A Van Cleef & Arpels necklace featuring Mystery Set gemstones is highly desirable by collectors. The Van Cleef & Arpels Mystery Set or Serti Invisible technique of virtuoso gem-cutting and setting was patented in 1933. Iconic and instantly recognizable, Van Cleef & Arpels’ mystery-set jewels are prized the world over for their exemplary design and craftsmanship. The renowned maison was granted the French patent for its “serti mystérieux” in 1933, a technique originally limited to flat, inflexible surfaces using square and rectangular-cut stones. The process was further developed to incorporate a variety of cuts to fill in spaces and create curved areas with graceful transitions. In addition to the implied movement of these undulating surfaces, the technique has also been employed to produce nacklaces of extraordinary fluidity. Rubies were the first and most popular stones used in the Van Cleef Mystery Set. Sapphires and emeralds (notoriously difficult to cut) were then used for the Van Cleef & Arpels Mystery Set.
It takes hundreds of hours by a crew of artisanal craftsmen to produce a single mystery-set jewel. The stones, typically sapphires and rubies, are selected for their uniformity of color with many falling victim to the cutting wheel, making it a particularly costly process. The secret to the “mystery setting” technique is the precision with which the stones are cut so they may be slotted into a wire framework that is visible only from the underside. The result is a monochromatic mosaic of pure color, held together without any noticeable metal.
Buying and Selling Van Cleef & Arpels Necklaces at Sotheby's
Sotheby's often has rare and collectible Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces available at auction. Sotheby's also has a curated selection of Van Cleef necklaces available for immediate purchase on marketplace. If you would like to view a Van Cleef necklace, a salon specialist would be happy to assist. Sotheby's is also able to source Van Cleef & Arpels bracelets from its global supplier network.
- Explore upcoming jewelry at auctions in New York, London, Switzerland, Paris, and Hong Kong.
- Speak to a Salon Associate in New York, Zurich or Hong Kong to schedule an appointment.
- Speak to a Jewelry Specialist about selling Van Cleef & Arpels necklace.
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