Rare Van Cleef & Arpels ‘Mystery Set’ brooch a highlight at Adam’s sale

Lovers of gems and history may be entranced by the story behind one of the highlights of Adam’s upcoming Fine Jewellery and Watch sale.

Van Cleef & Arpels’ latest collection of jewels, Legend of Diamonds, began with the discovery of the Lesotho Legend – a rough diamond which is the fifth largest diamond ever mined, in terms of weight and brilliance.

The D colour rock weighing a colossal 910 carats, was sold for $40 million (€40.02m). The creation of the collection of jewellery around the diamond took four years, with top cutters in Antwerp making 67 diamonds from the original stone.

But in creating the collection of 25 pieces of jewellery, which includes the Volutes Mystérieuses, a necklace with a 30.6 carat diamond flanked with rubies, the French jeweller used its signature ‘Mystery Set’.

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This is a complex jewel setting technique, which the company patented almost a century ago in 1933. The process involves mounting stones – after each has been cut and faceted – in such a way that the gold rails holding the gems are invisible.

A time-consuming process, requiring more than 300 hours per piece, as it involves inserting gems into a rail less than a fifth of a millimetre thick, thus rendering prongs invisible, it is such a complex method the French jewellery house only produces a few pieces each year.

The ingenious technique is now having its day in the sun, as pieces by Van Cleef & Arpels with the Mystery Setting have been achieving astronomical prices at auction.

Normally it is a special provenance or an exceptionally rare gemstone that makes seven figures, but now and then it is the design that makes a piece very collectable – hence commanding such prices on the secondary market.

In December 2020, a Van Cleef & Arpels’ Mystery Set sapphire and diamond brooch achieved almost nine times its higher estimate of $120,000, selling for $1.109 million, essentially for its design known as Serti Mystérieux/Mystery Setting which, according to French jewellery historian Vincent Meylan, is a method that others had tried to perfect since the Renaissance.

Van Cleef & Arpels has created a limited number of Mystery set jewels over the decades. Some have been special commissions, such as Eva Peron’s 1940s Argentinian flag brooch and the teardrop diamond and sapphire earrings created for Elizabeth Taylor in 1985.

One of the most dazzling was the brooch in the form of a double quill purchased in 1936 by King Edward VIII for his future wife, American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

Listed with an estimate of €30,000-€50,000 in the forthcoming Adam’s Fine Jewellery and Watch sale on September 13th, is a “rare and collectable” Mystery Set sapphire flower brooch by Van Cleef & Arpels.

Claire Laurence Mestrallet explains that the estimate is low, as there is slight damage. “One of the calibre-cut sapphires is missing, and I would recommend that the new buyer takes it directly to Van Cleef & Arpels to fix it as that way it will hold its value.”

In 2013 a similar piece (cut with rubies) achieved $72,000 against its estimate of $25,000-$35,000 in Hong Kong.

Other items of interest include a pair of diamond stud earrings. But far from the usual small gemstones worn on a daily basis, lot 156 weighs a whopping 4.37 and 4.32 carats respectively, and the earrings are listed at €40,000-€50,000.

Should big diamonds be your thing, your Santa Baby wish list should really include lot 62, which is an old European-cut diamond solitaire ring weighing a colossal 6.94 carats (€35,000-€45,000).

A superb pair of diamond chandelier earrings (lot 42, €8,500-€9,500) feature, as do a really lovely pair of gem set and diamond earrings by Margherita Burgener, with apple green coloured chrysoprase cabochon surrounded by diamonds and emeralds (lot 188, €14,000-€18,000).

There’s a good selection of almost new Hermès jewellery, including a stainless steel ‘Cape Cod’ calendar automatic bracelet wristwatch with a navy blue fitted alligator strap (lot 15, €1,800-€2,200), which has a certificate of authenticity from Hermes, Brown Thomas in Dublin, dated February 2022.

Another option is the mother of pearl ‘Cape Cod’ watch, with a red/pink alligator double strap (lot 10, €2,200-€2,800), which also has a certificate of authenticity from Hermès at Brown Thomas, dated October 2020.

For fans of Hermès on more limited budgets, a silver bangle from the 1970s is listed at €800-€1,000; a silver ‘Lima’ cuff (€700-€900); while there are two silver ring options (lots 212 and 208), both listed at €250-€300 apiece.

More unusual offerings include a huge 20th century gold cross. Of Italian origin, the pectoral reliquary Latin cross is set with seven oval-shaped amethysts surrounded with single cut diamonds, and a relic compartment on the reverse –- a bit like the one worn by Jude Law in The Young Pope (lot 38, €4,500-€5,500).

The sale has a good selection of watches in addition to those listed above, to include models by Cartier, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, Zenith, Omega, Rolex and Bucherer.

Also listed are highly collectable creative pieces by French jeweller George Lenfant, to include a tiger’s eye and gold necklace circa 1970 (lot 78, €17,000-€20,000). adams.ie