Last updated: July 2026.
A Jean Schlumberger piece is the one a lady tends to reach for when she has stopped dressing for anyone but herself. His enamelled bangles and little jewelled birds were made to be worn every day, on the wrist and the lapel of the sort of lady who decides her own look and keeps it — and pre-owned, that pleasure is more attainable than the name suggests. As of July 2026 a single paillonné enamel bangle sits at roughly £16,000 to £23,000 as an asking price, while a Bird on a Rock brooch on a semi-precious stone tends to start around £20,000. These are wider-market figures, not Tiffany boutique prices — and they reward a lady who knows exactly why she wants the piece.
Who was Jean Schlumberger, and why does his jewellery still feel personal?
Schlumberger (1907–1987) came to jewellery sideways. Born into an Alsace textile family and sent to Berlin to learn banking, he drifted instead into 1930s Paris, where he began designing buttons and costume jewellery for Elsa Schiaparelli. He survived Dunkirk with the Free French, emigrated to New York, and in 1956 joined Tiffany & Co. — who gave him his own studio on the store’s Fifth Avenue mezzanine, reached by a private lift, and later made him a vice-president. Very few designers are trusted with a house’s name on their own work; he was.
What makes his pieces feel intimate rather than grand is the enamelling. The signature bangles use paillonné — gold foil laid under translucent enamel and fired again and again, up to around sixty times on a single bracelet. It is slow, hand-built work, and it is why a plain-looking enamel bangle carries the price it does. Jacqueline Kennedy wore his Croisillon bangles so constantly that the press simply called them her “Jackie bracelets”; Bunny Mellon and Diana Vreeland collected him too. None of that is why you would buy one — but it tells you the pieces were made to be lived in, not displayed.
How much is a Schlumberger enamel bangle worth?
This is the piece most ladies come to first, and it is the one to segment carefully, because “a Schlumberger bangle” covers three very different things. A single-colour paillonné or Croisillon bangle in worn but honest condition is the entry point, roughly £16,000–£23,000. A crisp, fine-condition example in a sought colour — deep green, cobalt, red — moves up to about £35,000–£43,000. Add diamonds to the enamel and you are in a different market again, from around £50,000 to well past £100,000. The single biggest thing that moves the number is enamel condition: chips or crazing in the paillonné are hard to repair and pull the value down sharply, which is why any careful listing leads with “no chips”.
What about the Bird on a Rock?
Schlumberger introduced the Bird on a Rock around 1965 — a pavé-diamond bird perched on a single large coloured stone. It is playful and slightly irreverent, which is exactly its appeal; it doesn’t take itself seriously, so the lady wearing it doesn’t have to either. On a semi-precious stone — citrine, amethyst, aquamarine, morganite — brooches typically ask £20,000–£55,000, with fine large stones running higher. The motif is famous enough that Tiffany chose it, in 1995, to hold the 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond itself.
A guide to pre-owned Schlumberger values (UK, July 2026)
| Piece | Material / configuration | Guide range (asking, Jul 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Paillonné / Croisillon enamel bangle — entry | 18k gold + vitreous enamel, single colour, worn | ~£16,000–£23,000 |
| Croisillon enamel bangle — fine condition | 18k gold + enamel, crisp, sought colour | ~£35,000–£43,000 |
| Diamond-set paillonné bangle | 18k gold / platinum + enamel + diamonds | ~£50,000–£120,000+ |
| Bird on a Rock brooch | Pavé-diamond bird on citrine / amethyst / aquamarine | ~£20,000–£55,000 |
| Enamel earrings | 18k gold + paillonné enamel | ~£4,000–£16,000 |
Figures are dealer asking prices as of July 2026, several converted from US listings and therefore indicative; they are wider open-market guide ranges, not Chrono6538’s prices. Chrono6538 sells authenticated, guaranteed pieces at a premium to the bare private-market floor. Segment matters: never read an enamel-only bangle against a diamond-set one, or a brooch against a bracelet — they are separate markets that happen to share a designer.
Will it suit me, and where should I start?
Schlumberger suits a lady who likes a little wit in her jewellery and wears the same few pieces to death, in the best way. The enamel bangles stack and read as everyday; the bird is a talking point pinned to a plain coat. If you are testing the water, the earrings and a single enamel bangle are the sensible first pieces — small commitments that tell you quickly whether the style is you. Buy on condition first: an unrepaired chip in the enamel is the one flaw that genuinely matters, so insist on clear close-ups and, ideally, an independent check.
Whatever you choose, it should be authenticated, guaranteed, and yours to love rather than yours to justify. See the fine jewellery at Chrono6538 →
This piece describes how Schlumberger jewellery has held its value in the wider market; it is not investment advice, and values can fall as well as rise.