Questions

Yours, usually. Or the initial of someone you are buying for. Some people choose the letter whose creature they like best, which is an equally good reason.

In a medieval bestiary the initial was never alone. A creature lived inside it, and that creature carried a meaning the reader was expected to already know. We kept the pairings as we found them. The H holds two deer and two beagles. The Y holds a lobster, and we have never asked why.

Every letter is cast in 925 sterling silver. It is then finished either in matte rhodium, which keeps it silver, or in 22k gold plating.

Each letter is also cast in 18k solid gold to order, which takes four to six weeks.

Approximately 2 by 2 cm, and between 3.3 and 7.2 grams depending on the letter. A W weighs rather more than an I.

You do not have to. Every chain is adjustable at 39, 41, 46 and 51 cm.

39 cm sits at the base of the throat. 41 cm just below the collarbone, which is where most people wear it. 46 cm reaches mid-décolleté and layers well with a second letter. 51 cm is the longest and sits over a shirt.

A second diamond of 0.12 carat, on its own small pendant, clipped beside the letter. It is added by hand at the time of order.

On 18k solid gold it is included.

They are made for it. Choose two lengths a few centimetres apart so the letters sit clear of one another — 41 and 46 cm is the usual pairing.

Within one to two business days. Each piece is packed by hand. You will have a notification by email with tracking the moment it leaves us.

Pieces in 18k solid gold are made to order and take four to six weeks.

From the date of dispatch: France two to three business days, the European Union three to five, or one to three by express. The United Kingdom, the United States and Canada two to five business days by express, everywhere else three to seven.

The full detail is in our shipping policy.

Yes, on every order. In France and the European Union standard delivery is complimentary, and express across the EU is €15. Everywhere else, every order travels by complimentary express. The detail is in our shipping policy.

Yes. A coursier will bring it the same day within arrondissements 1 to 20 for €15. Order before noon, Monday to Friday. Orders placed later, at weekends or on public holidays go out on the next available day.

Look in your spam folder first; it is almost always there. If it is not, write to contact@arcaraparis.com with the name and email you ordered under and we will resend it.

If it has not yet been dispatched, yes. Write to contact@arcaraparis.com as soon as you can and put your order number in the subject line. Once a parcel has left us it cannot be recalled, but you can of course return it.

The tracking link is in your dispatch email. If you cannot find it, write to us with your order number.

Not within the European Union. Beyond it, import duties and taxes are included in the price you see and settled by us, so there is nothing more to pay on delivery.

Returns within 14 days of delivery, exchanges within 30, unworn and in its original écrin. Write to contact@arcaraparis.com and we will send instructions within 24 hours. Please wait for them — parcels sent back unannounced cannot be accepted.

Return postage is yours unless the piece is faulty or not what you ordered. Pieces in 18k solid gold are made to order and cannot be returned.

Once the piece has reached us and been inspected we will confirm the refund, and it goes back to the card you used within 10 business days. Your bank may take a little longer to show it.

Write to contact@arcaraparis.com with a photograph and your order number. We will replace it and cover the postage both ways.

Keep it away from humidity, direct sunlight, heat and perfume. Take it off before swimming or showering. Clean it with a soft cloth, and mild soap if it needs it.

Put it on last when you dress and take it off first when you undress. That single habit does more than any polish.

All plating wears eventually — ours is 22k over sterling silver, which is a generous thickness, but it is still plating. How long it lasts depends almost entirely on contact with perfume, chlorine and skin creams. Worn daily and treated kindly, it holds for years.

If you want a piece that will never change, choose 18k solid gold.

Yes. Every letter is set with a 0.006 carat diamond, DEF colour and VVS clarity, grown in a laboratory rather than mined. Chemically and optically it is a diamond; the only difference is where it formed.

Each letter is modelled in wax and cast by the lost-wax method in Thailand and China, by workshops we have chosen for their relief work. They are then finished, inspected and dispatched from Paris.

The oldest method of casting metal still in use. A letter is modelled in wax, cased in plaster, and the wax burned away; the void it leaves is filled with silver. The model does not survive the piece it makes.

It is slower than stamping, and it is the only method that holds the depth of relief a creature needs.

Not yet. Arcara is online only, from Paris.

Write to contact@arcaraparis.com. Press, stylists, photographers and stockists all reach us at the same address, and it is read by us rather than by an agency.