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Van Cleef & Arpels marks?
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Author:  EllenP [ Sat Nov 12, 2016 4:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Van Cleef & Arpels marks?

I bought a cabochon ruby and diamond ring on eBay a few years ago that was listed, and is marked, Van Cleef & Arpels. It doesn't have the VCA-inside-a-diamond-shape-with-the-Vendome-Column mark, but just the words "Van Cleef & Arpels", the center stone weight, diamond weight, copyright symbol, and a serial number (N.Y. 53305). I'm not asking for an authentication from any of you; I certainly know that you can't tell anything from pictures, but since Van Cleef & Arpels charges $1200 for authentication I thought I'd see if I could get some reassurance that this just might be an authentic Van Cleef & Arpels.

For myself I didn't care; I bought it because I liked it and even though I'm not sure it was worth what I paid for it ($6000), I was happy enough with the purchase. I never blame anyone but myself if I'm a sucker. But now I'd like to resell the ring on eBay and want to make sure I'm as honest as possible in my listing. I'm going to get it appraised, but the local appraiser I talked to said she probably wouldn't be able to verify that's it's VCA. I'll be seeing her next week but thought in the meantime I'd just see if anyone could tell me whether it's even possible that VCA would mark their jewelry in a way that looks, to me, kind of amateurish.

The ring is heavy and beautifully constructed, with the top piece made separately and bolted onto the shank; it's not a cheap casting. I suppose some counterfeiters do quality work, but it seems to me that if they were trying to fool anyone they'd have used the VCA hallmark that you'd expect to find. Of course I've tried researching online and find that not all VCA pieces have the diamond-shaped hallmark I was familiar with, but mine doesn't look like anything else I've found.

Coincidentally, there are now two identical rings for sale on eBay, marked exactly the same (with different serial numbers), with wildly different size center stones (mine's 2.73 ct; the smaller of the others is .70 and the larger is 3.49); even the smaller one is listed for $8300, way more than I was going to list mine for. The larger one is a really ugly stone; it's hard for me to believe that a quality company like Van Cleef and Arpels would use it, but of course it could have been changed out at some point.

And, not that it matters for the VCA question, but I sent the stone to AGL for a certificate; it turns out to be from Mozambique. And it's not as light as it looks in this brightly-lit picture. In fact the reason I want to sell the ring is because the stone has no fluorescence; it looks very pretty in natural and incandescent light but goes completely dark and dead under the fluorescent lights in my office. Since I can't wear it to work, I never wear it.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

Ellen Palmer
Philadelphia

Author:  Barbra Voltaire, FGG [ Sat Nov 12, 2016 10:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Van Cleef & Arpels marks?

I don't see a picture.
Also can you share the link to eBay with similar style numbers?
Thanks and WELCOME!

Author:  EllenP [ Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Van Cleef & Arpels marks?

Thanks, Barbra.

I thought my pictures hadn't uploaded -- now I see the message that says they were too big. Here they are now that I've reduced them.

Here are the others on eBay:

http://ebay.to/2ePkKG2

http://ebay.to/2ePdA4O

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