VCA Frivole Earrings, Large (diamonds)

A flower made of light

Van Cleef & Arpels introduced the Frivole collection in 2003, and has added new designs to it nearly every year since, so that it now runs from small studs to diamond necklaces and watches. The idea is constant: a flat, graphic flower whose petals are shaped like hearts and set slightly off-center, so the bloom looks as if it is turning in the breeze.

The house describes the collection as delicate, graphic flowers that 'bloom with lightness to honor nature,' and says the asymmetric design, the heart-shaped petals and the mirror-polished gold are all there to intensify the play of light. In the large earrings, that is almost the whole piece: three round diamonds sit at the center of each flower, and the rest of the brilliance comes from polished gold.

Nature has been the house's favorite subject for more than a century. Van Cleef & Arpels was founded in Paris in 1896 by the Dutch diamond-cutter Alfred Van Cleef and his father-in-law, Salomon Arpels, opened its first boutique at 22 Place Vendome in 1906, and won a grand prize at the 1925 Paris decorative arts exposition with a bracelet of ruby and diamond roses. Frivole is the everyday, wearable descendant of that floral tradition.

The polish is the point

The house calls the mirror polish 'a Van Cleef & Arpels signature technique since the 1920s,' and says it is carried out by hand on every piece in the Frivole collection. The goal, in the maker's words, is to let 'the light flow unimpeded' over the gold so that the pieces gleam against the skin.

A 2021 account of the collection describes three finishing techniques used at different points of a Frivole jewel: the mirror polish to amplify luster, the mise a jour (openwork that lets light pass behind a stone) to maximize lightness, and interlocked filets of gold to protect the stones. On the diamond-paved Frivole pieces, the house says, openings are cut into the gold beneath the stones so light can pass through and sharpen their sparkle.

The large earrings are the clearest demonstration of the approach. They are not paved; each flower carries just three round diamonds at its heart, a combined 0.32 carat for the pair, and depends on the curved, polished petals to throw light around them.

How to recognize the large model

The large Frivole earrings, reference VCARB65900, are made in 18K yellow gold. Each earring is a single flower with heart-shaped petals rendered in mirror-polished gold and three round diamonds at the center; the house's listing counts six diamonds in all, totaling 0.32 carat.

The Frivole line comes in several sizes, and the names matter when comparing prices. In the house's 2025 US price list the earrings came as a mini model (in yellow gold with diamonds, rose gold with rubies or yellow gold with emeralds), this large model in yellow gold, and a small model in white gold with diamonds that cost $19,200, more than twice as much. 'Small' and 'large' are model names, not a simple guide to price.

Stone grades and the origin of the diamonds are not published on the maker's listing. One reseller describes the diamonds as D to F in color and IF to VVS in clarity with a different total weight; that description could not be confirmed from the maker and is not relied on here.

What it costs, and how that changed

This is a current-production piece, so its main price is the boutique price, and that has moved steadily upward. In the United States the large earrings cost $6,950 in 2024. Van Cleef & Arpels raised prices worldwide on April 25, 2025, an average rise of 4.8 percent in the US across the Alhambra, Perlee and Frivole lines, and the earrings went to $7,200, an increase of 3.5 percent. In Europe the same earrings stayed at 7,500 euros.

By October 2026 the maker's US site listed them at $7,600. Across the whole Frivole collection the US site showed 66 creations, from $2,010 to $154,000.

On the secondary market, a pre-owned pair with the same reference was offered in Moscow at an asking price of $7,000. That is an ask, not a sale; no realized auction price for this exact reference was found in the sources reviewed.

A spring ritual

Frivole has become part of the house's calendar. Each spring Van Cleef & Arpels adds pieces to the line; in 2021 the new additions were six creations in rose gold and diamonds, among them mini-model earrings, a pendant and a bracelet with folded, three-dimensional heart-shaped petals around a diamond core.

That year the house brought in the French artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet to redraw its boutique decor around its floral jewelry, and his sketchbook-style drawings of Frivole were shown in its stores worldwide. The large yellow gold earrings remain one of the line's most recognizable shapes: one flower per ear, framing the face.

The numbers

Carat weight

0.32 carat total, 6 round diamonds (3 per earring)

Color and clarity grade

Not published by the maker

Origin mine

Not published

Cutter

Not published; finished by Van Cleef & Arpels with hand mirror polish

Metal

18K yellow gold

Timeline

1. 1896

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

2. 1906

   The house opens its first boutique at 22 Place Vendome.

3. 1920

   The house dates its signature mirror-polish technique to the 1920s.

4. 1925

   A ruby and diamond rose bracelet wins a grand prize at the Paris decorative arts exposition.

5. 1999

   Richemont acquires Van Cleef & Arpels.

6. 2003

   The Frivole collection is introduced.

7. 2021

   Six new rose gold Frivole creations arrive; artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet redraws the boutiques around the floral collections.

8. 2024

   The large Frivole earrings cost $6,950 in the United States.

9. Apr 25, 2025

   A global price increase takes the large earrings to $7,200 in the US; the European price holds at 7,500 euros.

10. Oct 2026

    The maker's US site lists the large earrings at $7,600.

The world in 2003

• Feb 1, 2003

  The Space Shuttle Columbia breaks apart during reentry.

• Mar 20, 2003

  The Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq.

• Apr 14, 2003

  The Human Genome Project is completed.

• Apr 16, 2003

  The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens, bringing ten countries into the European Union.

• Sep 24, 2003

  The Hubble Space Telescope begins the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field.

• Oct 24, 2003

  Concorde makes its last commercial flight.

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, VCA Frivole Earrings, Large (diamonds) is number 78 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 (56 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Most of the sparkle in the large Frivole earrings comes from polished gold: the pair carries only 0.32 carat of diamonds.
• The house dates its mirror-polish technique to the 1920s and still does it by hand on every Frivole piece.
• In Frivole, the 'small model' white gold earrings cost more than twice as much as this 'large model': the model names are not a guide to price.
• When prices rose in the US on April 25, 2025, the European price of these earrings did not change.
• Frivole gets new pieces most springs; in 2021 the house had an artist redraw its boutiques around the collection.