The archives of Van Cleef & Arpels state that both the pair of cufflinks and the five button brooch clips were made in 1948. Given their grouping, it is quite possible that the boule motifs clips were designed to be worn either as a devant de corsage - a group of lady's brooches - or as boutons de plastron - a set of gentleman's dress studs. The ingenious addition, in 1951, of a special necklace to attach these buttons was a unique 'Commande Speciale'. There does not appear to be a record of anything similar in the archives. VC&A are renowned for their 'metamorphic' versatile jewels and this set excels as a very sophisticated and unusual, if not unique, example of brooch clips, dress clips and necklace all combined.