Van Cleef & Arpels Vintage Alhambra Malachite Yellow Gold Necklace

Green that doesn't sit still. This Van Cleef & Arpels Vintage Alhambra necklace carries a single malachite clover in 18k yellow gold, held by four small prongs and framed in the maison's beaded border.

Malachite is the least predictable stone in the Alhambra line. It forms in layers, so every slice shows its own banding, and VCA's cutters have to decide how those bands will run across four lobes. Here they fall in broad vertical stripes, dark forest green against a lighter, almost minty tone, split neatly down the center of the motif. No other pendant has this exact pattern. That's the appeal, and it's why collectors compare malachite pieces one by one rather than by reference number.

The stone is also soft and porous, which makes a clean, glossy example like this harder to find on the secondary market than onyx or mother-of-pearl. The polish here is even edge to edge.