VCA ~ Van Cleef Arpels Discussion thread!

[**Chanel**]

Beautiful! I'm sorry about your fur baby sweetie! Hope you are ok. Miss you!

Thank you, sweetie ! I miss Max every day, but time will make things better I hope.
I have missed you too on the forum, hope all is well with you. I love your new VCA purchases, they look fabulous stacked with your Love. Do you find the Malachite a durable stone when stacking with other bracelets (when it comes to scratches, I mean)? I was planning to get my second VCA piece soon but that plan has been delayed now because of all the unexpected vet bills and my other dog who needs lots of care now.
But in the meantime, I love seeing all the enabling pictures in this thread and as for you, I just have a feeling there will be many more VCA pieces in your future .

 

[cung]

Hi cung, I have the very same problem - I mostly likely have the smallest adult wrist on the planet - think children's size. I am dropping my vintage alhambra bracelet off tomorrow for sizing, they will be taking the full inch out. I will post pics when I get it back, maybe that will change your mind? You never know......

Can't wait to see your "new" bracelet after shortened. Please post modelling pics once you get it.

 

[xianni]

Does anyone have the same situation as I have? Hope you don't feel my question is too strange.

I love VCA and I'm a very low key person. Though I love alhambra line I found a lot of people know it (surprising). Then topic they'll discuss with me about: if my item is real or not, if it's real then what's the price range, how I can afford it etc. I felt really uncomfortable. I'm wondering should I buy from perlee or flower line (it's from VCA and less common).

 

[tutushopper]

Does anyone have the same situation as I have? Hope you don't feel my question is too strange.

I love VCA and I'm a very low key person. Though I love alhambra line I found a lot of people know it (surprising). Then topic they'll discuss with me about: if my item is real or not, if it's real then what's the price range, how I can afford it etc. I felt really uncomfortable. I'm wondering should I buy from perlee or flower line (it's from VCA and less common).

Or you can just smile and say thank you and not reply or else tell them it was a gift, or even tell them that you just can't speak of prices, as your mother (father, grandmother, whomever) taught you it was gauche to do so. That should steer them clear of asking again.

 

[sbelle]

if you take them in to a boutique, they'll send them to NYC for authentication but they will also charge you a lot of $ (and it will likely take 2 - 4 weeks...).

Thank you for your suggestion. I'll go and have a try.

hopingoneday is right, they will not authenticate anything for you in the store. And if you wish to have it sent for authentication it is very expensive. The last time I asked for an authentication fee was 2009 and it was $500 then. I am quite certain that you wouldn't be able to get it authenticated for that price today.

I would like to add though that I don't think it is so bad that they don't authenticate in store. I have several older authentic pieces that I suspect many of the sales people wouldn't know whether my pieces were authentic or not. And I've had sales people give me incorrect information about what VCA has and hasn't made in the past.

 

[sbelle]

have anyone here have bought any preloved VCA on rubylane or 1stdibs? Are they reliable as I see it's quite similar to ebay but not individual sellers. They do listed some VCA pieces with great price

1stdibs - yes. I have had good luck with purchases there. But because there are many individual dealers there, I would investigate any dealer that I was thinking about purchasing from.

 

[xianni]

Thank you for your suggestions.

 

[sbelle]

Gorgeous!!

So so pretty! Thank you sbelle and congrats!

No words sbelle~ I keep saying that the small vintage YG diamond earrings are next on my list but then this picture.........

Stunning! How on earth do you decide which ones to wear?

Gorgeous sbelle!!!! Just gorg!!

]

Sbelle, you are killing me! These are really beautiful! Your collection is TDF, truly. Is there anything left on your list???

Wow what a helpful picture. And so stunning!

Sbelle you are killing me!!!
Omg!
Gorgeousness times two...

Thanks all for your sweet comments.

When I bought the regular size I had really wanted to the super size, but decided to settle for the regular. I have been very happy with the regular size and will continue to wear them.

Buying the super size was a little bit of an impulse purchase as I heard that VCA didn't have plans to make any more of them in the near future. With what other people have posted about the frivole ear clips, I wonder if VCA is trying to make items more scarce to drive up demand.

 

[xianni]

Tutushopper, thank you. I'll try next time!

 

[tutushopper]

I picked up the super vintage alhambra yellow gold pave earclips a few months ago, but they've been tucked away in my safety deposit box at the bank until last week. They are on their way back, but for anyone who might be interested, I took a comparison shot with my regular size vintage alhambra size.

Sorry, packing got in my way! These are gorgeous! I keep seeing yellow gold VCA pieces that have me questioning my plat/white gold only way of doing things. I think I'm going to have to go warmer with my first VCA. Thanks to everyone who posts photos!

 

[tutushopper]

Silly question, as I've never tried any VCA before (HW, yes, VCA, no). I have two Chanel bracelets that drive me bats trying to get them on (off seems to be much easier), so I'm wondering how easy the vintage Alhambra bracelets are to remove. Thanks in advance. Now to decide...onyx...malachite...gold...oh dear!

 

[LisetteEsq]

Silly question, as I've never tried any VCA before (HW, yes, VCA, no). I have two Chanel bracelets that drive me bats trying to get them on (off seems to be much easier), so I'm wondering how easy the vintage Alhambra bracelets are to remove. Thanks in advance. Now to decide...onyx...malachite...gold...oh dear!

Yay Tutu! I am happy to see you thinking of trying some VCA. I think they are easy to put on and take off as I usually wear them on my right arm and am right handed but can easily do it with my left hand. In addition, mine have been shortened quite a bit and I still can work the clasp and put them on myself. Now for which color, start with the one that you would wear the most then work your way from there.

 

[PennyD2911]

My first VCA pieces. I couldn't be happier!

Congrats purse!
The 5 Motif are beautiful! I'm starting to really love Malachite. It's such a beautiful stone.
Enjoy~

 

[Candice0985]

has anyone picked up their Holiday necklaces yet!?

 

[tutushopper]

Yay Tutu! I am happy to see you thinking of trying some VCA. I think they are easy to put on and take off as I usually wear them on my right arm and am right handed but can easily do it with my left hand. In addition, mine have been shortened quite a bit and I still can work the clasp and put them on myself. Now for which color, start with the one that you would wear the most then work your way from there.

Thank you so much for answering this! I could have bought two VCA for what I paid for those darned hard to put on bracelets that I rarely wear due to the difficult clasp. It's hard to pick one to start with, as I wear a lot of neutrals, so any of those colors would work. So would MOP, but I want to start with some color, even if it's the absence of color (black). I also would have normally gone for white gold, but seeing the photos posted earlier of the rings (turquoise in white gold, with a white perlee bangle), I think I've decided to go pink (or maybe yellow). If I make this a move present (a push present but all you push are boxes lol), maybe I'll get more than one! Thanks again for the advice; much appreciated! I have gone back to my true and first addiction: jewelry.