A Brooch With the Seafaring Spirit of ‘Treasure Island’

First of Its Kind, Last of Its Kind tells the story of an exceptional accessory and the archival piece that inspired it.

In 1906, the Belgian lapidary and diamond dealer Alfred Van Cleef and his brother-in-law Salomon Arpels opened a jewelry boutique on the ground floor of the Hôtel de Ségur, an 18th-century private mansion in Paris’s First Arrondissement that had once belonged to a prominent winemaker. That same year, the pair produced one of their first custom orders: a scale model of the then-ultramodern Varuna of New York yacht that featured a yellow-gold double-masted deck and hull set in green, alabaster and crimson enamel on a sea of solid jasper. Meant to ornament a tabletop, it initially had an electric butler’s bell inside its funnel. Over the following decades, the house’s decorative objects and jewelry would return to their maritime iconography: a 1935 minaudière was adorned with a three-pronged platinum-and-diamond-encrusted clasp resembling a trio of overlapping sails billowing in the wind; pendant charms from the mid-20th century depicted nautical scenes with bejeweled sloops and lapis lazuli waves.

This fall, Van Cleef & Arpels is digging into its archive with a new high jewelry collection inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s early 1880s adventure novel, “Treasure Island.” Included among over 125 pieces are infinity necklaces that mimic sailors’ knots and spiraling earrings with mauve sapphires that evoke the tentacles of underwater creatures. But the standout is the Hispaniola brooch, which required 380 hours of craftsmanship and was named after the schooner that transports Stevenson’s buccaneers. With a flurry of oversize sails studded with diamonds and white gold and an arched rose-gold bowsprit and prow that emulate broad-plank woodworking, it feels elegant yet daring — perfect for wherever the wind takes you.

Photo assistant: Will Wang. Set designer’s assistant: Kaeten Bonli

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