With just a few days left until I leave Paris, I decide to spend my last Saturday afternoon in and around one of the best shopping streets in Le Marais, the long rue des Francs Bourgeois. Crammed with interesting and upmarket boutiques, it’s dangerously close to where I am staying.

Armed with packages and having given up on finding jewellery to match an outfit, I start to dawdle back to the apartment when I stumble upon Monic. I step inside to find an enchanting, timeworn store simply bursting with wonderful vintage jewellery, affordable costume pieces and designer creations. It’s not your standard store in the quarter – the displays are neither sleek nor perfectly positioned – but this brings a warm and inviting feel.

The counter is lined with customers waiting for advice from the incredibly knowledgeable Monic Jaques and her son Frederic, connoisseurs who have dedicated their lives to beautiful jewels. Many of the pieces are handmade in France and I chat to Frederic who tells me that the store repairs, creates and transforms jewellery, with some models created upstairs. ‘We also make unique pieces for movies,’ he says.

The three-generation family-owned business began in 1946 and there is a second store on rue de l’Ancienne-Comédie in the heart of the Left Bank. No matter what your budget you will find something unique and interesting here, with a large range of jewels from 1 € to 10,000 €.

I find a tray of silver rings from the 1940s (starting at 98 €), a range of 1970 Nina Ricci clip earrings for 80 € a set and a sign in the window that reads, ‘Real garnets from Bohemia & handmade jewellery made in Europe since the 18th century’.

I explain to Monic what I’m looking for and she not only seems to understand instantly, but pulls out a drawer or two and produces exactly what I have in my head. ‘We have many foreign customers who visit us each time they come to Paris and add another piece to their collection,’ says Monic.

As I leave, a Frenchman who had overheard our conversation is peering at jewels in the window. ‘This is a very good store,’ he assures me. ‘It was recommended to me by a friend and I bought my wife’s engagement ring here.’

It’s not everyday that you stumble upon a boutique that you just know you will return to time and again – and it seems that I am not alone.