The Alhambra's beaded edge has a countable number of beads, and fakes get it wrong.
Founded 1896Paris5 weighted checks
Van Cleef & Arpels is counterfeited almost entirely through one design: the Alhambra clover, produced in enormous volume by the maison and in greater volume by everyone else. Its authentication is unusually specific, because the motif has countable features.
Each Alhambra motif is edged with a row of gold beads, and on genuine production those beads are uniform in size, evenly spaced, and consistent in count around the clover. Counterfeits vary the bead size, space them unevenly, and frequently miscount. It is a check that takes a loupe and a minute.
Beyond that, the maison's hallmarking is French and rigorous — assay marks, the maison's poinçon and a serial — and its stone setting is done to a standard that a counterfeit does not reach.
Van Cleef pieces carry French assay hallmarks for the metal content, the maison's own poinçon de maître, and a serial engraved on the piece. All three are struck or engraved crisply, at even depth, with sharp edges.
The serial is the maison's own reference to the piece. Van Cleef will inspect a piece submitted to a boutique for service and will decline work on anything not genuine, which is a practical route to a second opinion.
Certificates accompany many pieces and, as always, travel separately from the jewellery. A certificate is not evidence about the object in your hand.
Ordered by how much each one settles. The decisive checks are the ones worth your first five minutes; the supporting ones only matter once those are clean.
Genuine Alhambra motifs are edged with gold beads that are uniform in size, evenly spaced, and consistent in count around the clover. Count them under a loupe and compare across motifs on the same piece. Varying bead size, uneven spacing or an inconsistent count is decisive.
French assay marks, the maison's poinçon and a serial, all struck or engraved cleanly at even depth. Shallow, laser-printed or absent hallmarks on a piece presented as modern production are decisive against.
Mother of pearl, onyx, malachite and carnelian are natural materials with natural variation, set flush and held securely. A perfectly uniform 'mother of pearl' with no iridescent depth is a synthetic substitute, and a stone that rattles in its setting is a construction failure.
Chains are substantial, articulate smoothly, and the clasp closes with a definite action and a safety where the design specifies one. A light chain or a clasp that opens under gentle pressure is a failure.
Gold has a known density and the pieces are solid. A piece that feels light for its size is hollow or plated, which a metal test confirms in minutes.
The Alhambra counterfeit market is one of the largest in fine jewellery, and it has improved: modern fakes use real gold and real stone materials, which defeats the weight and metal tests that used to settle it quickly.
The bead edge is where they still fail, because uniform beading is a goldsmithing operation rather than a casting one, and casting it produces beads that vary. Count them.
Each of these is checked differently. The ones with their own page have enough that is specific to them to be worth reading separately.
Polished gold petals whose mirror finish shows every casting flaw.
Read within the checks aboveRows of gold beads as the whole design, so bead uniformity is the entire read.
Read within the checks aboveAuthenticity and value are separate questions, and answering the first is usually a step towards the second. These are broad ranges for honest, unrestored condition — an orientation, never an appraisal.
| Line | Resale as share of retail | What moves it most |
|---|---|---|
| Vintage Alhambra | 55 – 80% | Stone insert condition, completeness |
| Perlée | 45 – 65% | Bead condition, gold content |
| Frivole | 40 – 60% | Polish condition |
| High jewellery | Highly variable | Stones, provenance, documentation |
Broad international ranges. Alhambra holds better than most branded jewellery because demand has been consistently high.
Lovenhall DiamondThe checks tell you how it was made. The instrument tells you what it appears to be, and roughly what its kind fetches.