VCA Vintage Alhambra Bracelet, 5 Motifs (mother-of-pearl)

Luck, by the handful

Van Cleef & Arpels says four-leaf clover motifs appear in its archives as early as 1906. The archive holds product cards for a clover brooch in 1933 and 1936 and a clover clip in 1948, and around 1916 the house made "Touch Wood" jewelry, mixing wood with precious materials as a nod to good-luck charms.

Jacques Arpels, a nephew of the founding couple, made luck personal. The company says he picked four-leaf clovers in his backyard and handed them to employees, sometimes with the English poem "Don't Quit." His motto, "To be lucky, you have to believe in luck," is still how the house introduces the Alhambra.

In 1968 the house turned the clover into a necklace: 20 motifs in textured yellow gold, trimmed with gold beads. The company says it was an immediate success and that the collection has kept expanding since. The five-motif bracelet takes the same Vintage Alhambra motif, which the maker describes as faithful to the 1968 original, and puts it on the wrist.

Auction specialists say the name comes from the arches of the Alhambra palace in Granada, and one auction firm's guide says Jacques Arpels visited the palace in the late 1960s. The company's own history pages, which we read, speak only of the clover and of luck, so the palace story is unconfirmed by the maker.

The house and its moment

Van Cleef & Arpels dates itself from the 1895 Paris wedding of Estelle Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef and the opening of the first boutique at 22 Place Vendôme in 1906. Wikipedia gives a different founding year, 1896. Richemont acquired the company in 1999.

The Alhambra came from the house's turn toward jewelry for daily life. Auction specialists say La Boutique opened in Paris in 1954 to sell more accessible pieces, and the Alhambra arrived in 1968, the spring Paris students and workers marched by the hundreds of thousands during May 68. One auction firm's guide describes the necklace as a bohemian design for a new France.

Its early wearers helped make it famous. The company's archive shows Romy Schneider in an Alhambra long necklace on a 1973 film set, Françoise Hardy in two Alhambra sautoirs the same year, and Princess Grace of Monaco in three at once in 1979. The line now spans the original Vintage size, the larger Magic and the miniature Sweet, and has included watches since 1998.

Shell, gold and the small details

The bracelet's clovers are white mother-of-pearl, the iridescent lining of certain shells. The maker says it looks primarily to Australia for white mother-of-pearl and selects it for an even surface and consistent shimmer. The maker sells it in two lengths: 19 cm under reference VCARA41800 and 17 cm under a separate reference, VCARPMV800.

The house describes the workshop steps behind each motif. The clover is set into a gold mount with a double beaded border, which is polished until the beads are even. On the back, the claws are rounded into small balls so they do not catch on skin or clothing, and the clasp carries the house monogram.

Auction catalogs describe genuine examples as 18k yellow gold with the 750 mark and a serial number, often signed VCA with French marks. A five-motif bracelet sold in 2020 was 18.5 cm long and weighed 10.4 grams; another mother-of-pearl Alhambra bracelet sold in 2021 measured 19 cm and weighed 11.28 grams, and its catalog flagged it as containing material that might be protected or regulated, restricting it to buyers in the United States.

Mother-of-pearl needs care. The maker recommends a cotton-lined case of its own, no contact with perfume, lotion or hand sanitizer, and keeping it dry, because the material can shrink as water evaporates from its surface.

Price, resale and copies

Because the bracelet is still made, its boutique price is the anchor. It cost $4,600 in the US in 2024. When the house raised prices worldwide on April 25, 2025, it rose 9.7 percent to $5,050; malachite pieces saw the largest increases that round, followed by mother-of-pearl. By October 2026 the maker's US site listed it at $5,350.

On the secondary market, a five-motif mother-of-pearl and gold bracelet sold for $4,375 at an online auction in New York on October 27, 2020. A mother-of-pearl Alhambra bracelet with no motif count given sold for $5,000 in September 2021, and a seven-inch example with its pouch sold for $4,000 at another online auction. One auction firm's guide calls the five-motif bracelet "a benchmarkable object with a published trading range," and says boxes, pouches and certificates matter for modern Alhambra pieces because so many similar examples compete.

That popularity has a cost. In November 2025 a French trade publication reported that the company was bringing several counterfeiting lawsuits over the Alhambra line, and that the line tops the charts for counterfeit seizures, with seizures in the United States at record levels. One dealer says it asks for the original receipt, box and papers for Alhambra pieces in particular because they are among the most commonly faked.

The numbers

Carat weight

None; this version has no diamonds

Material

White mother-of-pearl, 5 motifs, chosen for even surface and consistent iridescence

Origin

Primarily Australia, per the maker's statement on its white mother-of-pearl

Cutter

Not disclosed; the maker describes motif making, setting and polishing in its own workshops

Metal

18k yellow gold (750)

Lengths

19 cm (VCARA41800) or 17 cm (VCARPMV800) new; 18.5 cm and 19 cm for examples sold at auction

Timeline

1. 1895

   Estelle Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef marry in Paris.

2. 1906

   The first Van Cleef & Arpels boutique opens at 22 Place Vendôme; clover motifs appear in the archives from this year.

3. 1916

   The house makes Touch Wood jewelry as a nod to good-luck charms.

4. 1948

   A clover clip is recorded on a product card in the archives.

5. 1954

   La Boutique opens in Paris for more accessible daily-wear jewelry.

6. 1968

   The first Alhambra long necklace is created, 20 clover motifs in textured yellow gold.

7. 1973

   Romy Schneider and Françoise Hardy are photographed wearing Alhambra necklaces.

8. 1979

   Princess Grace of Monaco is photographed wearing three Alhambra sautoirs.

9. 1998

   Alhambra watches join the collection.

10. 1999

    Richemont acquires Van Cleef & Arpels.

11. Oct 27, 2020

    A five-motif mother-of-pearl bracelet sells online in New York for $4,375.

12. Sep 23, 2021

    A mother-of-pearl Alhambra bracelet sells online in New York for $5,000.

13. 2024

    US boutique price of the five-motif mother-of-pearl bracelet stands at $4,600.

14. Apr 25, 2025

    Worldwide price increase takes it to $5,050 in the US, up 9.7 percent.

15. Nov 25, 2025

    A French trade publication reports a wave of counterfeiting lawsuits over the Alhambra line.

16. Oct 2026

    The maker's US site lists VCARA41800 at $5,350.

The world in 1968

• Jan 5, 1968

  Alexander Dubček becomes leader of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party, opening the Prague Spring.

• Apr 4, 1968

  Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis.

• May 27, 1968

  The Grenelle agreements are concluded in France, raising minimum wages, but unions reject them.

• Aug 20, 1968

  Warsaw Pact forces invade Czechoslovakia.

• Oct 18, 1968

  Bob Beamon breaks the long jump world record by 55 cm at the Mexico City Olympics.

• Dec 24, 1968

  Apollo 8 orbits the Moon, and William Anders photographs Earthrise.

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 Vintage Alhambra Bracelet, 5 Motifs (mother-of-pearl) is number 85 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 (51 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The five-motif mother-of-pearl bracelet rose 9.7 percent in the US in the April 2025 price increase, more than three times the increase on the 10-motif mother-of-pearl necklace.
• A 2021 auction catalog restricted a mother-of-pearl Alhambra bracelet to US buyers because it might contain protected or regulated material.
• The claws behind each clover are rounded into tiny balls so they do not snag on a sleeve.
• Jacques Arpels handed his employees four-leaf clovers he had picked in his own backyard.
• The maker warns that mother-of-pearl can shrink as water evaporates from it, so it should be kept dry.
• Van Cleef & Arpels says it has never moved from 22 Place Vendôme since opening there in 1906.