VCA Vintage Alhambra Long Necklace, 20 Motifs (carnelian)

Twenty clovers for everyday luck

Van Cleef & Arpels dates the four-leaf clover in its archives to as early as 1906, but the motif became the house emblem in 1968, when it made the first Alhambra long necklace: 20 clover-shaped motifs in creased yellow gold, trimmed with gold beads. The maker says the design 'achieved immediate success' and became recognized around the world as a token of luck.

Grazia Singapore reports that the 1968 necklace was intended for everyday wear, and that the collection's name comes from the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain, apparently for the quatrefoil decoration typical of Moorish architecture. The Vintage Alhambra line, the maker says, remains 'faithful to the original motif created in 1968.'

The carnelian version sets a disc of red-orange stone inside each gold-beaded clover. Van Cleef & Arpels describes the current model, reference VCARD39800, simply as a Vintage Alhambra long necklace of 20 motifs in 18K yellow gold with carnelian.

The family that believed in luck

The company was founded in Paris in 1896 by the Dutch diamond cutter Alfred Van Cleef and his father-in-law, Salomon Arpels. In 1906 Alfred and two brothers-in-law, Charles and Julien Arpels, opened the first boutique at 22 Place Vendôme, across from the Hôtel Ritz. A New York flagship opened at 744 Fifth Avenue in 1940.

The clover story belongs to Jacques Arpels, a nephew of the founding couple. 'To be lucky, you have to believe in luck,' he liked to say, according to Grazia. The maker says he would pick four-leaf clovers in his backyard and give them to employees as good luck charms; Grazia places the garden at his home in Germigny-l'Évêque.

Luck was a recurring theme. Grazia lists a 1916 range of gem-set wooden rings called Touch Wood and a 1957 ladybird clip in platinum and coral among the house's good-fortune designs before the Alhambra.

Paris, 1968

The Alhambra arrived in a turbulent year for Paris. In May 1968 student protesters battled police in the streets, trade unions called a general strike and joined a march of about a million people, and President de Gaulle briefly left the capital without telling his prime minister where he was going.

Two years earlier the house had been asked to make the crown of Empress Farah Pahlavi for her 1967 coronation in Iran, work that took 11 months. Against that kind of commission, a gold necklace of repeated clovers meant for daily wear was a different idea of what a Place Vendôme jeweler could sell.

Its early wearers were stars. The maker's archives show Romy Schneider wearing an Alhambra long necklace on a film set in 1973, and Françoise Hardy wearing two Alhambra sautoirs the same year.

Carnelian, and how to tell versions apart

Carnelian is a brownish-red variety of chalcedony, a silica mineral, colored by iron oxide impurities; its color runs from pale orange to almost black. It is one of the oldest bead stones known: faceted carnelian beads have been found in the Varna necropolis in Bulgaria, dated to the middle of the fifth millennium BC. The name comes, via the older word cornelian, from the Latin for the cornel cherry, whose translucent red fruit resembles the stone.

The 20-motif carnelian necklace has appeared in more than one form. The current yellow gold model is VCARD39800. In 2018, Grazia reports, the house introduced radial guilloché engraving to the Alhambra, and new rose gold and carnelian pieces included a 20-motif necklace; the maker lists that guilloché rose gold and carnelian necklace as VCARP7RO00 at $23,800. A U.S. resale listing for an older yellow gold carnelian necklace notes that it has a hallmarked lobster clasp without the metal markings newer examples carry, 33 inches long, with motifs about half an inch across.

Because so many Alhambra variants exist, the reference number, the metal color, the stone and the finish of the gold are the details to check against the maker's catalog.

What it costs, year by year

Van Cleef & Arpels raises its prices periodically. According to a fashion-news report on the April 25, 2025 global increase, the U.S. price of the 20-motif long necklace in 18K yellow gold and carnelian went from $19,000 in 2024 to $19,600, a 3.1 percent rise. By October 3, 2026, the maker's U.S. site listed it at $20,800.

The same report shows how the stone changes the price: the onyx version rose from $17,300 to $17,800 and the agate version from $19,700 to $20,500 on the same date.

On the resale market, a never-worn older yellow gold and carnelian example with its box and authenticity card was offered by a U.S. reseller for $18,500 when checked on October 3, 2026.

The numbers

Motifs

20 carnelian clover motifs

Metal

18K yellow gold with gold-bead edging

Stone

Carnelian, a variety of chalcedony colored by iron oxide

Length

33 in (resale listing)

Motif size

About 0.5 x 0.5 in (resale listing)

Reference

VCARD39800

Timeline

1. 1896

   Alfred Van Cleef and Salomon Arpels found the company in Paris.

2. 1906

   The first boutique opens at 22 Place Vendôme; four-leaf clover motifs first appear in the archives.

3. 1916

   The house makes Touch Wood, a range of gem-set wooden rings.

4. 1940

   The New York flagship opens at 744 Fifth Avenue.

5. 1968

   The first Alhambra long necklace is created: 20 yellow gold clover motifs edged in gold beads.

6. 1973

   Romy Schneider and Françoise Hardy are photographed wearing Alhambra long necklaces.

7. 1999

   Richemont acquires Van Cleef & Arpels.

8. 2018

   Guilloché engraving is introduced to the Alhambra, with new rose gold and carnelian pieces.

9. 2024

   The yellow gold carnelian 20-motif necklace retails for $19,000 in the U.S.

10. Apr 25, 2025

    A global price increase lifts it to $19,600.

11. Oct 3, 2026

    The maker's U.S. site lists reference VCARD39800 at $20,800.

The world in 1968

• Jan 5, 1968

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

• Jan 30, 1968

  The Tet Offensive begins in South Vietnam.

• Feb 6, 1968

  The Winter Olympics open in Grenoble, France.

• May 13, 1968

  French unions call a general strike and join students in a million-strong march through Paris.

• Jun 5, 1968

  Senator Robert F. Kennedy is shot in Los Angeles.

• Oct 18, 1968

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

• Dec 24, 1968

  Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon.

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 Long Necklace, 20 Motifs (carnelian) is number 56 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 (94 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Jacques Arpels picked four-leaf clovers in his own garden and gave them to employees for luck.
• The very first Alhambra piece, in 1968, was this format: a 20-motif long necklace.
• The collection is named for the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain.
• Carnelian beads with 32 facets have been found in a Bulgarian burial ground from the fifth millennium BC.
• The word carnelian is a corruption of cornelian, from the Latin for the cornel cherry.
• Françoise Hardy was photographed wearing two Alhambra long necklaces at once in 1973.