Buccellati Macri Classica Bracelet (18k gold)

Ma-Cri

In the 1980s Gianmaria Buccellati dedicated a collection to the grace of his daughter, Maria Cristina, and named it La Macri, a contraction of her two names. The house says his aim was a jewel carrying all the signature features of its goldsmithing tradition, with a particular focus on engraving, and that Macri is where the rigato technique reaches its peak.

Rigato means ruled, or lined. The goldsmith cuts fine parallel lines into the surface with a burin, a hand tool already used in the Renaissance, producing what Buccellati calls a silky sheen that recalls the warp and weft of precious fabric. The company describes the rigato effect as a finish unique to the Macri collection.

Later, Gianmaria's son Andrea Buccellati expanded the collection with new decorative motifs, including the AB and Giglio emblems set with diamonds. Today the line is split into several families: Macri Classica, Macri Giglio, Macri AB, Macri Capri and Macri Positano.

Three generations of Buccellati

Mario Buccellati was born in Ancona on April 29, 1891, and moved to Milan as a boy after his father's death. He apprenticed with the goldsmiths Beltrami and Besnati at Via Santa Margherita 5, between La Scala and the Galleria, and in 1919, after the First World War, took over their business and opened his own shop there. His specialty became translating lace, tulle and honeycomb patterns into gold.

A chance meeting in front of the store on August 2, 1922, began his friendship with the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio, documented in 83 letters written between 1922 and 1936; d'Annunzio gave Buccellati objects as gifts to women, friends and fellow soldiers. Mario opened stores in Rome in 1925 and Florence in 1929, and after his eldest son Luca went to America, a New York store in 1951. During that decade the house raised the old engraving techniques of telato, rigato, segrinato and ornato into art forms, especially on cuff bracelets.

Gianmaria handled the creative side after the Second World War. He opened his own boutique at the Cala di Volpe hotel in Sardinia in 1971, helped found the Italian Gemological Institute in 1973, and opened on the Place Vendôme in Paris in 1979, the only Italian among the jewelers there. His designs began as life-size hand drawings and drew on nature and Renaissance architecture.

From family firm to Richemont

After Mario's death in 1965, four of his sons ran the business, and for decades separate family branches traded under the Mario Buccellati and Gianmaria Buccellati names. They were merged in 2011 into Buccellati Holding Italia. An investment fund took a majority stake in 2013, and in December 2016 China's Gansu Gangtai Holding Group bought a controlling 85 percent.

Richemont acquired all of Buccellati from Gangtai in September 2019, the house's centenary year, according to one account; Buccellati's own timeline places its joining Richemont in 2020, when it moved its offices to Via Brisa in Milan and began reuniting the family branches under one brand.

Through those changes the Macri line stayed central. The 5 mm yellow gold band in this entry is a current catalog piece, offered in sizes 15, 16 and 17. In October 2026 Buccellati listed it in the U.S. at $7,900 before sales tax, the same price as the pink gold version, while a white gold version with a DLC treatment was listed at $9,500.

How to identify it

Reference JAUBRA009767 is a rigid bangle in 750/1000 yellow gold with a 5 mm band. The whole outer surface carries the rigato engraving, which gives the gold a soft, satiny look rather than a mirror polish. This is the plain gold version; Macri Classica bracelets that mix yellow and white gold with diamonds set in small star-shaped rosettes carry different references and prices.

This listing's record gives a retail price of $7,700 and mentions a diamond rigato version. The maker's U.S. page showed $7,900 for this reference in October 2026; prices for diamond versions were not checked for this page.

The engraving is cut by hand rather than stamped, and Buccellati publishes care recommendations for preserving the finish.

The numbers

Metal

Yellow gold 750/1000 (18 karat)

Band width

5 mm

Stones

None (plain gold version)

Technique

Rigato hand engraving with a burin

Maker

Buccellati, Milan

Production

Current catalog piece; collection dates to the 1980s

Timeline

1. Apr 29, 1891

   Mario Buccellati is born in Ancona.

2. 1919

   Mario takes over the Beltrami and Besnati business and opens his first store at Via Santa Margherita 5, Milan.

3. Aug 2, 1922

   Mario meets Gabriele d'Annunzio in front of the store, beginning a 14-year correspondence.

4. 1925

   A second store opens on Via Condotti in Rome.

5. 1951

   Buccellati opens in New York.

6. 1965

   Mario Buccellati dies; four of his sons take over the business.

7. 1971

   Gianmaria Buccellati opens his first boutique, at the Cala di Volpe hotel in Sardinia.

8. 1979

   Buccellati opens on the Place Vendôme in Paris.

9. 1980s

   Gianmaria creates the Macri collection, named for his daughter Maria Cristina.

10. 2011

    The family's separate businesses merge into Buccellati Holding Italia.

11. Dec 2016

    Gansu Gangtai Holding Group buys a controlling 85 percent stake.

12. Sep 2019

    Richemont acquires 100 percent of Buccellati (the house's own timeline says 2020).

13. Oct 2026

    The Macri Classica yellow gold band bracelet, ref. JAUBRA009767, lists at $7,900 before tax at the maker in the U.S.

The world in 1981

• Apr 1981

  The first space shuttle, Columbia, lifts off.

• 1981

  The IBM PC is released, and the first cases of what becomes known as AIDS are reported.

• Apr 2, 1982

  Argentina invades the Falkland Islands, starting the Falklands War.

• Oct 1982

  The audio compact disc is released.

• Apr 26, 1986

  The Chernobyl nuclear disaster spreads radiation across Europe.

• Oct 19, 1987

  On Black Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls more than 22 percent.

• 1989

  The Berlin Wall falls.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Buccellati Macri Classica Bracelet (18k gold) is number 74 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (85 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Macri is short for Maria Cristina, Gianmaria Buccellati's daughter.
• The engraving is cut with a burin, a hand tool already used in the Renaissance.
• Buccellati's founder exchanged 83 letters with the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio.
• Gianmaria Buccellati co-founded the Italian Gemological Institute and led it for 25 years.
• When Buccellati opened on the Place Vendôme in 1979, it was the only Italian jeweler among the elite houses there.
• A French jewelry association reportedly changed its name from Haute Joaillerie de France to Haute Joaillerie en France so Gianmaria could join.