Van Cleef & Arpels Zip Necklace (coral & chrysoprase)

A jewel from a fastener

The zipper was an American invention. Whitcomb L. Judson of Chicago patented a 'clasp locker' for shoes on August 29, 1893, and the Swedish-American engineer Gideon Sundback redesigned it into the modern fastener, which went on sale in 1913 and was patented as the 'Separable Fastener' in 1917. The word 'zipper' came from the B. F. Goodrich Company, which used Sundback's fastener on rubber boots in 1923. By 1937 Paris fashion designers were praising zippers in men's trousers.

Around the same time, Van Cleef & Arpels set out to make a jewel from it. The house had been founded in Paris in 1896 by the Dutch diamond-cutter Alfred Van Cleef and his father-in-law, Salomon Arpels, and opened its boutique at 22 Place Vendome in 1906. Alfred's daughter, Renee Puissant, took over its artistic direction in 1926. In the late 1930s, according to the house, Puissant set out to develop a piece of jewelry inspired by the zipper.

Accounts of who first asked for it differ. The house's own history credits Puissant. An article published by a major auction firm says the Duchess of Windsor commissioned Puissant in 1938 to create a jewel inspired by the zip fastener.

Years of engineering

Making a gold zipper that actually zips, carries stones and still drapes around the neck took years of technical work. Van Cleef & Arpels dates the original Zip necklace to 1950; the auction-house history says it was finally produced in 1951. Both illustrate the story with a Zip design drawing from the house archives dated about 1951.

The idea is simple to describe. Open, the Zip is a necklace, its two rows of 'teeth' set with stones and its pull tab ending in a tassel. Closed, the teeth lock together and the piece becomes a bracelet, the tassel hanging at the side of the wrist. Through the 1950s the house made only a limited number of Zip necklaces, in yellow gold with diamonds or colored stones.

The Zip became one of the house's signatures. Van Cleef & Arpels has since made versions in gold and platinum with both ornamental and precious stones, and in 2005 it introduced a slimmer variant, the Zip Couture, which can be worn along the neckline or down the back as a nod to the dress zipper that inspired it.

This necklace: coral and chrysoprase

The necklace sold in 2026 was made in 2012. Its gold zipper is decorated with carved chrysoprase and coral cabochons, with square- and brilliant-cut diamond motifs alternating with pear-shaped diamonds and matching diamond and coral-bead accents. The tassel is made of coral and chrysoprase beads, capped with carved chrysoprase and carre-cut diamonds.

It comes with an extra fitting to convert it into a bracelet. As a necklace its inner circumference is about 450 mm; as a bracelet it is about 185 mm long. It is signed Van Cleef & Arpels and numbered, with French assay marks for gold and the maker's marks of Pery & Fils.

The full set of paperwork survives: two fitted cases and a pouch stamped Van Cleef & Arpels, a Van Cleef & Arpels certificate of authenticity, the original invoice and an illustration of the necklace. The catalog does not publish stone weights or grades.

Geneva, May 2026

The necklace, consigned as the property of a lady, was the last of 99 lots, number 399, in a jewelry sale in Geneva on May 11, 2026, held at the Hotel President. It was estimated at CHF 260,000 to 480,000.

It sold for CHF 619,200, about $793,000, well above the high estimate, and was the top lot of the sale. The sale as a whole made about CHF 5.5 million, or $7 million, with 86 percent of lots sold. Signed jewels did especially well: 93 percent of them sold, and 80 percent of those sold went above their high estimates. The second-highest lot, a ruby and diamond pendant necklace by Chaumet from about 1902, sold for CHF 451,500.

One report gave the Zip's price as CHF 619,600 ($793,346); the auction's own lot page gives CHF 619,200, the figure used here.

On the red carpet

The Zip has also found a place on the red carpet. Margot Robbie wore a diamond and sapphire Zip to the 87th Academy Awards on February 22, 2015, encouraged by her stylist Christina Ehrlich.

Very few Zips were made in the 1950s; an auction-firm history counts fewer than 10 of them ever offered at auction. The house still makes new versions, from the Zip Antique necklaces in gold, coral, turquoise and pearls to high jewelry pieces such as a rose gold Zip set with 48 pear-shaped Burmese rubies weighing 51.83 carats.

The numbers

Carat weight

Not published

Stones

Carved chrysoprase, coral cabochons and beads, square-, brilliant-, pear- and carre-cut diamonds

Color and clarity grade

Not published

Origin mine

Not recorded

Maker

Van Cleef & Arpels; maker's marks of Pery & Fils; signed and numbered

Dimensions

Necklace inner circumference about 450 mm; bracelet about 185 mm

Timeline

1. Aug 29, 1893

   Whitcomb L. Judson receives a US patent for his 'clasp locker' shoe fastener, the ancestor of the zipper.

2. 1896

   Alfred Van Cleef and Salomon Arpels found Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris.

3. 1906

   The house opens its boutique at 22 Place Vendome.

4. 1923

   The B. F. Goodrich Company names the fastener the 'zipper'.

5. 1926

   Renee Puissant becomes artistic director of Van Cleef & Arpels.

6. 1938

   By one account, the Duchess of Windsor asks Puissant for a jewel inspired by the zipper; the house dates the idea to the late 1930s.

7. 1950

   The original Zip necklace is created, according to the house; another account dates its production to 1951.

8. 1951

   Date of an archive design drawing for a Zip necklace.

9. 1999

   Richemont acquires Van Cleef & Arpels.

10. 2005

    The house introduces the slimmer Zip Couture necklace.

11. 2012

    This coral, chrysoprase and diamond Zip is made, with Pery & Fils maker's marks.

12. Feb 22, 2015

    Margot Robbie wears a diamond and sapphire Zip to the Academy Awards.

13. May 11, 2026

    This necklace sells at auction in Geneva for CHF 619,200, the top lot of the sale.

The world in 1951

• Feb 27, 1951

  The 22nd Amendment, limiting US presidents to two terms, is ratified.

• Mar 31, 1951

  The first UNIVAC I computer is delivered to the US Census Bureau.

• Apr 18, 1951

  The Treaty of Paris creates the European Coal and Steel Community.

• Jul 16, 1951

  King Leopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son Baudouin.

• Jul 28, 1951

  The UN Refugee Convention is signed at a conference in Geneva.

• Oct 26, 1951

  Winston Churchill returns as British prime minister.

• Nov 10, 1951

  Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Van Cleef & Arpels Zip Necklace (coral & chrysoprase) is number 32 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 (28 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The Zip's pull tab really works: closing it turns the necklace into a bracelet.
• The word 'zipper' began as a name for rubber boots in 1923.
• The house says the idea dates to the late 1930s, but the first Zip was not made until about 1950.
• This 2012 necklace was the last lot of its sale and still the most expensive.
• The slimmer Zip Couture, introduced in 2005, can be worn down the back like a dress zipper.
• Margot Robbie wore a Zip to the 2015 Academy Awards.