Glad you stopped by! Here we report R Lalique news, R Lalique auction results, info on upcoming R Lalique events, and our observations about the entire World of RLalique. If there is any R Lalique topic you’d like to see covered, please drop us a note at blog@rlalique.com. All RLalique enthusiasts, all admirers of Rene Lalique, and all interested R Lalique collectors and observers are welcome to participate. Comments, additions, corrections, R Lalique information, and bug reports, are greatly appreciated!! Hope to see you hanging around the Blog!

Rene Lalique Vase Antilopes Appears At Auction: Well, part of an R Lalique Vase Antilopes has appeared!

JUST ACQUIRED FROM A LOCAL ESTATE. 1920′S RENE LALIQUE FROSTED AND CLEAR GLASS WITH BLACK ENAMEL PAINTED ANTELOPES. SIGNED ON THE BOTTOM ” R. LALIQUE FRANCE”. MEASURES 9 1/4″ HIGH BY 9 3/4 WIDE. IN GOOD CONDITION WITH EXPECTED SURFACE SCRATCHES ON THE BOTTOM. NO CHIPS OR CRACKS.

The seller of this vase, after stating the vase was in good condition, amended the description to say they have been informed that the rim “may” have been ground down!

I HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT THE TOP OF THIS VASE MAY HAVE BEEN GROUND DOWN. I AM NOT AN EXPERT AND HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING WHETHER THIS IS THE CASE OR NOT. IF IT HAS BEEN REPAIRED IT IS A PROFESSIONAL JOB. PLEASE BID WITH THIS IN MIND.

Clever. We can imagine the email that the seller must have gotten which alerted him that it “may” have been cut down:

“Dear Seller. You know, I’m not really sure about this, but it’s possible, just maybe, it could be a long shot, but there is a chance, that the vase you are selling might be missing a tiny little part of the rim!” “May”!!!! Just really can’t be sure one way or the other.

Here’s a link to the haircut, make that buzzcut Lalique Antilopes Vase on Ebay: Item Number 360166932013

And here is a link to the R Lalique Tailor Shop where you can see several examples of R Lalique Repairs and Polishing!

An alert R.Lalique.com reader contacted us to ask: Do you think any of the bidders on the Antilopes Vase have an extra rim laying around?

Rene Lalique Auctions: Lalique Auction Sale comes to New York in Mid December!

RLalique.com has learned that Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas Texas, the third largest auction house in the world by sales volume, will hold an auction in New York City on or about December 16th, 2009 devoted to the works of the great Rene Lalique! This will likely be the largest of any of the Lalique Auctions held anywhere in the world in 2009. We rate this an exciting development and one which should focus a good deal of attention on the entire R Lalique collecting field. It also represents another great vote of confidence by one of the world’s top auction houses in the depth and stability of the market for R Lalique and the potential for success in the R Lalique Auction field.

Heritage Auction Galleries, headquartered in the building shown above, has been rapidly expanding in recent years, and it’s rumored that they plan to open offices in New York and Los Angeles in the near future. The move into R Lalique Auctions makes even more sense in view of their recent announcement of the hiring of the well known Nicholas Dawes as a Consignment Director. Rumor has it that Mr. Dawes used all of his considerable skills as an author to write the bio portion of the announcement himself! Heritage has something like 450,000 registered bidders worldwide, and reported sales in the last 12 months of over 700 Million Dollars. They bring a lot of expertise to this new Lalique Auction endeavor, including now the expertise of Nick Dawes.

Mr. Dawes is the author of the excellent 1986 standard reference work Lalique Glass, which has been out of print for quite some time (20 years?), but which is available here in the Rene Lalique Library at RLalique.com, along with nearly 1000 other R Lalique books and reference items. The only real question we have about this great news is this: Does the accompanying Heritage PR photo look like the same Nick Dawes pictured in his book?

RLalique.com will bring you more information as it develops!

Rene Lalique died quietly in the home of his famous glass panel doors, at 40 Cours la Reine in Paris on May 5th, 1945* just 3 days before Victory in Europe (VE) Day, marking the Atlantic end of WW II.

Lalique had spent his last several years cut off from the world, his painful rheumatism deforming his hands, and preventing him even from drawing; as recounted in a letter from Suzanne Lalique-Haviland dated June 6th, 1945 to Calouste Gulbenkian. It was just days before he died, that Rene Lalique found out that his Wingen-sur-Moder factory was liberated by the Allies, that it had been saved, and that his valued molds were intact!

At the time of Lalique’s death, major news was coming into the United States not just from Europe, but also from the Pacific and elsewhere, as American manufacturing, technological, and military might, along with the Allied powers, was bringing the worldwide chaos to an end.

In the onslaught of news and events pouring in from all over the world, Time Magazine took note of the passing of perhaps the greatest artist of the 20th Century; and certainly the greatest industrial art designer and manufacturer the world had ever seen.

An amazingly prolific man, Lalique’s talents created or shaped decorative arts from glass tableware, to perfume bottles, car mascots and much more. Yet he was a man who’s greatest achievements in artistic design may have actually been in an earlier career in another century; as Emile Galle so subtly noted, when Lalique became the “inventor of modern jewelry”.

Rene Lalique rode the industrial revolution and the new consumerism to the top in many fields. He saw opportunity in many areas of the industrial revolution. And he worked out the manufacturing techniques to make his useful consumer art achievable and affordable in a way and on a scale that no artist before him had ever accomplished. He was the right man in the right place at the right moment in time.

Read Designer de Luxe, Time Magazine’s nearly full page Rene Lalique obituary in its May 21st, 1945 Issue, as the world took note amidst the carnage, of the death of the great Rene Lalique.

An original Time Magazine May 21st, 1945 Issue is available along with countless other period publications related to Lalique and R Lalique works, in our Rene Lalique Library, here at RLalique.com.

*Lalique’s date of death was reported by the New York Times on May 10, 1945, as being on May 9, 1945. Other authoritative sources, including the R.Lalique Catalogue Raisonne, place the date of his death as May 5, 1945.

R Lalique at Auctions around the world has produced quite a few good results the last couple weeks, and with the end of the Spring auction season in sight, we thought we’d take a moment to summarize some of the more interesting Rene Lalique Vase results that were achieved by auctions listed in our Rene Lalique Worldwide Auctions Section.

At Cincinnati Art Gallery in Cincinnati Ohio (you always wonder how they come up with the names for these Auction Houses) on June 7th, a nice looking frosted R Lalique Sauterelles Vase described as being in excellent condition with “intensified” blue staining, sold for $8,750 all in, against an estimate of $5000 - $7000. A solid price for an always popular vase!

At Rago Arts and Auction Center on June 13th in New Jersey, the high seller was a good looking R Lalique Penthievre Vase in Blue Glass. It made a premium inclusive $27,600 against the wide $14,000 to $19,000 estimate. It was followed up a frosted R Lalique Serpent Vase with Sepia Patina, which made $15,600 with premium. Third high seller was the very rare Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle Oreilles Lezards. The better of two Oreilles Lezards Perfume Bottles sold in this sale, this bottle had small nicks and a stuck stopper. It made $13,200 with the premium. Fourth highest selling Rene Lalique piece was the Lalique Vase Lagamar with black enamal, which made an all-in total of $10,200.

In all Rago got off 14 Rene Lalique lots, totaling $110,160.

At Bonhams New Bond Street on June 10th, the high seller was a Cased Green Opalescent R Lalique Formose Vase, making a premium inclusive £5,520 British Pounds, or approximately $9,000 U.S., followed by a nice looking R Lalique Ceylon Opalescent Vase making £3,360 all in, or about $5,500. The Bonhams sale was not helped by the London transit strike which was in full swing the day of the auction. Our man in London said the transportation situation was quite chaotic throughout the great City with many people opting not to travel that day.

Also on June 10th in Canada at Waddington’s, the high seller was a nice looking Rene Lalique Electric Blue Perruches Vase that had been converted to a lamp, which made a premium inclusive $4560 Candadian Dollars, or about $4000 U.S. Obviously a fraction of the regular Blue Perruches Vase price, but a good result for the lamp version!

Finally, at Clars Auction Gallery in Oakland California over the June 6/7 weekend, the high seller for Rene Lalique was a nice looking R Lalique Perruches Vase in Green Glass, but with what was described as a “very minor impact to rim”, made a premium inclusive $16,590. The “impact” on the vase may have been judged very minor, but the impact on the price of such an unfortunately placed problem was likely not so very minor.

Summer is almost upon us, with R Lalique Auction items starting to thin out around the world toward the end of June. Certainly a great Lalique Auction season is wrapping up, with strong results for top notch pieces sporting clean condition and reasonable estimates, and significant activity at all levels and in all areas of Rene Lalique collecting. Pieces with issues were problematic as buyers got increasingly particular amidst the worldwide economic slowdown. However, another strong point is that the works of Rene Lalique have avoided what has started to occur in many collecting fields; the appearance of large volumes of works being liquidated by collectors hurt by the slowdown. If anything, there has been a significant lack of good quality Lalique merchandise available compared to previous years. This of course has effected sales averages and sale totals, even when strong prices are achieved for the offerings of the day.

We judge the overall results quite solid, made even more so when considering the uncertain times. But one certainty remains. Here at RLalique.com World Headquarters, the pool will be running on overtime as the desert heats up, while R Lalique auction activity around the world cools down!

Rene Lalique Malesherbes Vase Auction Sale - A low starting price and no reserve! A nice looking Malesherbes R Lalique Vase has appeared at auction online, with a $24.99 starting price and no reserve! This R Lalique Seller has a feedback rating of 7185! Yes, that’s seven thousand one hundred and eighty five, and 100% positive feedback! At this level, 99% positive feedback would mean there were still 70 mad people, so 100% is really good! From the photos and a reading of the auction ad and terms, it seems unlikely the buyer of this vase will be the first negative feedback for what appears to be a great seller, and in this case, a Rene Lalique Vase seller!

The seller states “The vase has no chips, cracks, scratches or other problems.” There is also a satisfaction guarantee, and of course, payment by paypal. And the shipping is reasonable when you type in your zip code, or at least it was when we typed in ours. A great looking vase by Rene Lalique, a great starting price, and at no reserve. Oh, and it’s signed R.Lalique France (and possibly also with the Rene Lalique model number 1014).

But the best thing? The seller is but a short hike from Rene Lalique World Headquarters! Well, a drive that’s shorter than most hikes (which might explain the really reasonable shipping for our zip code ….. but close at hand none-the-less. Seems worth checking out.

Ebay Item Number 250444537208

Lalique Glass Dog: “Garanteed” 75 Years Old AND “correctly” signed R Lalique! Correctly! We love it. It’s really important when you sign these things, that you do it “correctly”!!! Is this the greatest or what? Fraud and Funny - they’re both F words aren’t they?

“A Great Rene Lalique Crystal Scotty Dog”! “Garanteed (that’s right, it’s GARANTEED) 75 Years Old”! Does anyone know if a GARANTEE is the same thing as a guarantee? Seriously, why stop at 75 years? Why not go for 175 as long as you’re rolling in it? What is the seller of this Fake at Auction thinking?

Grandpa (who wasn’t even from the South, but still had a bucket full of quaint expressions) used to say that you could write the word DOG on the side of a CAT but that wouldn’t make it bark! Well, what if you write R.Lalique on the side of a dog? Maybe the dog can do one of those O.J. “plaintive wail” sounds instead of a bark. Totally hilarious.

Another great thing about this crazy auction are the photos! They WATERMARKED the photos! Hmmmmmm ….. Don’t want anyone copying those great art photos and not giving credit where credit is due!

Then there’s this: “HE IS IN GREAT CONDITION FREE OF CHIPS OR CRACKS!” Well isn’t that a relief? Thankfully we won’t have to write the seller to ask about the condition, he’s got it right in the ad. Now we can bid with confidence!

This seller has all the bases covered boy. Protect the photos, issue the garantee, layout the condition right up front (is that garanteed too?), trumpet the age of the piece; all of this obviously after extensive research. Not missing a trick here, no way.

Of course, you’ll find this same dog pictured in our Rene Lalique Fakes Section, where it has been in residence not for 75 years, but for nearly 1 year!

We have only one more thing to say about this “Rene Lalique Scotty Dog”! Beam us up Scotty! Beam us up!

And for your info:

That Dog Won’t Hunt - at UsingEnglish.com

And from Merriam-Websters.com Dictionary:
Plaintive - expressive of suffering or woe
Wail - to make a sound suggestive of a mournful cry

So “plaintive wail” is kind of an audible double dose of bad news….. That shoe fits pretty well.

Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle Roses for D’Orsay has appeared online for no reserve and a low starting bid! This great Lalique bottle was also made as a Maison Lalique design with a mainly clear base without the ribbing. Lalique made this wonderful bottle for D’Orsay very early in the big “designer perfume bottle” scheme of things. And yes, Lalique was the original and consummate designer of designer perfume bottles! This fabulous Lalique perfume bottle is circa 1912, and it’s molded LALIQUE, nicely on the underside of the base. The Ebay Item Number is 170341230481

The seller is a high volume Power Seller with a good feedback rating who states this great Lalique Perfume has no damage, but that the stopper is stuck. Reasonable shipping charges are quoted when you put in your zip code. Might be worth checking out!

We also posted this great looking bottle in our Rene Lalique at Auction Section here on RLalique.com.

Lalique and Haviland announced that they will join their U.S. operations, naming Lalique North America CEO Max Zouhairi as CEO of Haviland’s U.S. operations as well. The new arrangement will effectively bring nearly all operations in the U.S. of Lalique and Haviland together, while maintaining separate corporate identities. Joint stores, marketing, warehouses, shipping systems and general operations seem to signal a merger in virtually every way except the corporate paperwork. These developments were foreshadowed by the joint Lalique - Haviland store opening in London and related events reported on these pages in April of this year.

These are difficult times for many luxury goods suppliers and retailers, and Art & Fragrance, the recent purchaser and majority owner of Cristal Lalique, has not gone untouched by the worldwide economic difficulties, having just reported in May a loss for 2008 of 11 million CHF or about 10.3 million US Dollars. This Lalique - Haviland operational merger in the U.S. is designed to cut joint operating costs and at the same time maximize the marketing advantage of two of the greatest names in decorative arts and consumer products. 

Along these same lines, just to let you know they aren’t letting the grass grow under their feet on this, here is a link to a press release discussing a joint Lalique Haviland Warehouse Sale in New Jersey on June 11th, 12th, 13th and 15th!

Rene Lalique Glass Cover to the R Lalique inkwell Cernay (Catalogue Raisonne Number 437) has appeared at auction advertised as a Small Lalique Glass Bowl! Hmmmmmm. A better caption to this photo would be: “How Do You Make The Bottom Of An Inkwell Disappear?” Now that’s a question the Oracle himself might ask! Inquiring minds might ask: How does the seller even know it’s Lalique glass?

The starting price is $0.99 (that’s ninety nine cents) and no reserve! Maybe the seller really is mrmeshugener! Seriously, this is the seller’s Ebay ID, we can’t make this stuff up!

The Ebay Item Number is 320378153310

Several of the Rene Lalique Inkwells have plain covers that weren’t decorated. But the Cernay is one model where Lalique used the cover as an integral part of the design of the piece. So unlike some other R Lalique inkwell covers, this cover is not interchangeable with any other model inkwell.

On the other hand, if you have the topless Lalique Inkwell Cernay shown above, and you match up the Cernay Cover from MrMeshugener, you will be in Cernay Heaven (hence the expression “A Match Made In Heaven”), as shown here!

Good luck, and if you get it all done, we’ll see you there, hopefully later rather than sooner.

Rene Lalique Vases and other great R Lalique Items have been added to the Lalique For Sale Section here at RLalique.com at very attractive prices. Vases such as the Lalique Vases Archers in Gray Glass and Amber Glass priced at only $8000 each.

Or take a look at the great looking Electric Blue Rene Lalique Pendant Grenouilles shown here and priced at only $1500. These are three good examples of the kinds of pricing on the new Lalique For Sale items that have just been listed.

And don’t forget if you click on the photo of any item in the Lalique Sales Section, a much larger version of that same photo opens up for you to see. Keep an eye out for several more wonderful Lalique For Sale pieces over the next couple of weeks as we list more works of the great Rene Lalique.

But in the meantime, you’ll find at least 50 great R Lalique items posted for sale right now. There’s everything from R Lalique Vases to Lalique Cachets, Perfume Bottles, Menu Boards, Bowls, Glasses, Boxes and Decanters. And if you don’t see something you are actively searching for or looking to purchase, let us know. If we can’t find it for you, we’ll put it in our Lalique Wanted Section and get the word out to our worldwide readership to help you acquire that special Lalique item to add to your collection.

Rene Lalique Glass was represented by 19 Lalique auction lots at the Hong Kong Auction of Est-Quest, the venerable Japanese auction house, which took it’s Tokyo based show on the road to the ballroom of the JW Marriott Hong Kong Hotel for a 2 day auction May 15th and 16th! It’s not too often you find the works of Rene Lalique at auction in Hong Kong, so we thought a report was in order.

Est-Quest put together a pretty good selection of Rene Lalique Glass items for the May 15th session, consisting of the Rene Lalique Lamp Gros Poisson Vauge; the Lalique Car Mascot, Pintade; the Rene Lalique Bowl Calypso; the Lalique Perfume Bottle Hirondelles; the great Rene Lalique Glass Quatre Grenouilles; the Lalique Centerpiece Oiseau De Feu - Firebird; and 13 Lalique Vases, only one of which was colored glass. The auction was conducted in Hong Kong Dollars (HKD), which are worth about 13 cents U.S (.129 USD) at current exchange rates. While most buyers pay 3% to 5% more than published exchange rates depending on their method of payment as explained in Terms of Sale section of our Lalique Auctions Buying Guide, we use published rates for computing currency exchange prices here in the Lalique News and Blog.

The total low estimates for the 19 lots were 1,326,000 HKD/$172,400 USD. 12 of the 19 lots sold, for a take up rate of 63%. The total Lalique sales were 1,195,000 HKD/$155,400 USD at the hammer prices, and including the 15% buyer’s premium they were 1,375,000 HKD/$178,700 USD. The result is that with a 63% sales rate, the total still exceeded the low estimate for all the Lalique auction lots.

High seller was the Rene Lalique Vase Salmonides in opalescent Lalique glass. Sporting a blue patina, this Lalique vase made a premium inclusive 322,000 HKD/$41,900 USD against an estimate of 100,000 - 150,000 HKD. Recall that a similar Salmonides Lalique Vase made over $50,000 at the Christies South Kensington Lalique Sale in November 2006. A close second place was the Rene Lalique Centerpeice Oiseau De Feu (Firebird), which against an estimate of 270,000 - 370,000 HKD, made a premium inclusive 299,000 HKD/$38,900 USD. The good looking R Lalique Vase Perruches in blue glass, was the third highest seller at a premium inclusive 132,300 HKD/$17,200 against an estimate of 125,000 - 150,000 HKD. Rounding out the top 5 were the Rene Lalique Vase Aigrettes at 126,500 HKD including premium, and the Lalique Vase Hirondelles at 115,000 with the premium.

Overall, we judge these good results, especially for this somewhat unusual venue. This marks another solid performance in a long list of successful auction sales for the works of Rene Lalique this Spring, and bodes well for future demand in Asia for Lalique glass.

All the Lalique Sales Results for this auction can be found on this Est-Quest Results Page.

Rene Lalique’s R.Lalique Glass Auction Sales Results Continue Strong: At Christie’s South Kensington Semi-Annual Lalique Sale on May 20th, a sale we discussed in this Rene Lalique Auctions Preview (and where you can see more photos of R Lalique items mentioned here), sales prices showed once again that the market for R Lalique is quite strong with firm to high prices achieved throughout the entire range of the works of the great Rene Lalique. Christies offered a small 62 lot selection, of which 44 lots sold, resulting in a take-up rate of 71% by volume. The sale totaled a premium inclusive £265,541 British Pounds, or approximately $415,000 US dollars at today’s estimated 1.56 dollars to the pound exchange rate. The average lot price was over $9400!

High seller was the stunning R Lalique Centerpiece Deux Cavaliers, sold at £55,000, and totaling £67,250 with premium, or around $105,000. Next was the fresh to market unique Rene Lalique Cire Perdue Vase Chardons, making a bid of £40,000 against an estimate of £25,000 to £30,000, for a premium inclusive total of £49,250 or approximately $77,000. Surprisingly in 3rd place, was the final lot in the sale, an R Lalique Opalescent Alicante Vase, estimated at £10,000 to £15,000, but which made a bid price of £25,000, for a premium inclusive total of £31,250 or around $49,000. All three of the preceeding lots were reported to be in good condition with only the most minor issues if any. Fourth highest seller was the large and early Lalique Vase Grand Boule Lierre which made a bid of £17,500 with polishing to the base, or a total of £21,875 or around $34,000. Fifth place went to the pair of Rene Lalique Grand Depot Lamps at £14,000/£17,500/$27,500, followed in sixth place by a good looking yellow amber R Lalique Tourbillons Vase at £11,000/£13,750/$21,500.

The top six lots accounted for all in total prices of £162,500/£200,875/$313,500 or roughly just over 75% of the total pounds or dollars of the sale. After these six lots prices dropped off substantially, as these six were the only lots making more than £10,000 or $10,000. The next highest selling prices were £5000 with premium for a Rene Lalique Aigrettes Vase and £4750 all-in for an opalescent R Lalique Ceylon vase with seemingly minor issues.

Only two of the hoped for high selling lots failed to find new homes; a wonderful looking R Lalique Paons Lamp estimated at £35,000-£40,000, and the R Lalique Chandelier Hirondelles, estimated at £20,000-£25,000.

There was also strength in the middle market as well, with an opalescent Spirales Vase making an all-in £2,500, an opalescent Rampillon making an all-in £1,375, and the seal cachet Deux Danseuses making an all-in £3,000.

All in all, a very strong sale put together by Department Head Joy McCall and the rest of the highly competent (helpful and friendly!) staff at Christies South Kensington. It follows on the heals of several solid to strong performances for the works of Rene Lalique at auction around the world this Spring. And of course it’s great news that Christies continues these longstanding and highly successful dedicated semi-annual Lalique Sales, even as the major auction houses make adjustments and consolidations in other areas due to the current economic climate.

Complete results can be found at Christies Lalique Results!

Rene Lalique Jewelry and Unique R Lalique Objects from 1900 and earlier are the focus of the Lalique Exhibition (and a couple of other guys stuff as well) titled Artistic Luxury, which we have written about several times previously in this R Lalique Blog (Lalique Exhibitions). This great Lalique Exhibition started out in Cleveland at the world class Cleveland Museum of Art, and moved earlier this year to the Legion of Honor Museum near the Bay in San Francisco where it will remain on view until May 31st.

What a great opportunity on so many levels. First and foremost was the chance to see some amazing unique R.Lalique objects that we may never have a chance to see again. And conveniently, we have been promising the whole staff here at RLalique.com some well earned all expense paid travel, for the great work on the website. Even more conveniently, San Francisco is but a short flight from the Arizona desert, but a world away in too many ways to recount fully in this article. A great vibrant City with hustle and bustle, crowds, traffic, noise, high rise buildings, and a really big body of water close at hand. None of these things are associated too often with our usual surroundings; the Sonoran Desert. All things considered, we had a trifecta of great excuses to shut things down for a week, and head to the hills (literally and figuratively).

So, RLalique.com journeyed en masse and incognito (that’s right - incognito - so no press conferences, no scholarly lectures, no private tours, no autographs, no glad handing of Museum personnel, no local TV appearances, and no photos of our wonderful staff, for a great tourist visit to the exhibition.

We encamped in toto at the first great hotel in the heart of the City that was able to set aside, in spite of our last minute request, the floor of view rooms we needed (see photo from the floor window). And in moments, RLalique.com World Headquarters West was rolling. With the flip of just one electronic switch, the mountain of Lalique information from thousands of places around the globe that daily pours into the desert oasis that we usually call home, was re-routed across hill and valley, freeway, lake, and mountain, and dumped onto the top floor of our new temporary lodgings. And of course, in between 10 miles a day of walking, 50 cable car rides, a highlight tour of San Francisco Steakhouses (well, the tour was one stop per day at the dinner hour and was self conducted), as well as Muir Woods, Napa, Sonoma, Fisherman’s Wharf, Knob Hill, Chinatown, Haight-Ashbury (yes, there is still the smell of marijuana in the street),

Golden Gate Park (who says the homeless have no home… they are at home - in Golden Gate Park, and we spent a lot more time talking to the people in the park than to anyone else on the trip with the exception of a nice couple from Devon England discussed below), the Japanese Gardens (green tea with sweet and spicy treats in the finest outdoor garden atmosphere), Castro Street and Alcatraz (expected to see some people we know there, but turns out they closed the prison a while back and don’t have any criminals there anymore), and other activities that are but a San Francisco foggy memory in the blur of an insane tourist adventure, we managed to spend several hours at the exhibition. And yes, that is the longest run-on sentence we could construct.

Of course we didn’t forget that we walked the Golden Gate Bridge one end to the other and back, our group joined by a honeymooning couple from Devon England that we met while hanging out on the pier. Above is a photo of Mr. Incognito himself, contemplating the distant Golden Gate Bridge from his perch on the Alcatraz Ferry in San Francisco Bay while pondering the upcoming traverse!

A small side note to the Fisherman’s Wharf visit. Our newest intern, a refugee from an east coast institution of higher learning (higher on what we have know idea), smarmily whispered to another staff member upon arrival at the Wharf: “Now I know why we’re here, those must be Lalique Seals!” Will Rogers famously remarked that it takes most people at least five years to get over a college education. NI (newest intern) might take a bit longer!

Which brings us to the first mistake of trip. Landing in typical San Francisco bad weather on a Tuesday morning (see the accompanying photo of the Golden Gate Bridge - OH! You can’t see the bridge? That’s because it’s totally foggy, a rather persistent condition apparently in SF, and to be fair to the weather, maybe cold, wet and foggy is considered good weather up there, don’t really know), we headed over to the exhibition after a great lunch in a small neighborhood establishment in one of the run down areas of town where the locals are great and the food is better, AND we were the only tourists in sight. Of course, in a re-enactment of a longstanding San Francisco tradition, it took longer to find parking spaces for the RLalique.com convoy than to eat lunch. But it was worth it. The sun broke thru the clouds for 7 minutes and 46 seconds as we enjoyed sidewalk dining (well, technically we were eating off of tables and not the actual sidewalk) at its finest. Seriously, a few small tables, great food and great service. Sorry, but the restaurant is so small we cannot give out the name here, as with our extensive world wide audience, the place would be over-run in days, all the locals and regulars would be crowded out, and when the excitement died down, the owners would have a bunch of mad locals that found somewhere else to hang out and our endorsement would be a curse instead of a blessing. And most importantly, when we make our way back up north for SF II, sequel to the movie, at some point in the next decade or two, the restaurant might not be there anymore for our encore appearance if all of the above occurred! So we promised the owners that we would not spill the beans.

Anyway, off to the Legion of Honor Museum we go, the entire RLalique.com caravan sans police escort (think incognito), making only one detour along the way to peruse the lodgings at some upscale little housing development along the water. We arrive in the drizzle of course, only to find out that Tuesday is FREE admittance day to the museum. That is the good news. The bad news was a bit bigger. First, FREE museum does not mean FREE exhibition! Apparently, the basement of the museum is not part of the FREE area. OK, the $10 “Special Exhibition” charge was obviously no big deal and was half what we expected to spend on each ticket, BUT it turns out that to save the regular museum charge of $10, which would have been on top of the Special Exhibition charge of $10, a lot of San Francisco people go to the Exhibition on FREE Tuesday to pay half the normal total price of admission. So it was crowded. Which is a good thing in the big R Lalique picture, but which caused some minor inconvenience in viewing each of the great items close up and in the preferred casual and relaxed manner. And to think they had other people there! Hmmmmmm! At first, we thought the crowd was there because word of our visit had leaked, and the staff opinion is still split 50/50 about whether a leak occurred or not. It’s still one of the many great unknowns of the trip.

Notwithstanding the mob scene and the true reasons for the huge crowd, it was a great assemblage of amazing R.Lalique objects, which half the staff feels is probably why there was mob scene! And here is a photo of your humble correspondent in deep thought over this whole perplexing “Leak or Lalique” situation (as it came to be known by our security staff), while sitting in front of the Legion of Honor Entrance!

Ignoring those other guys whose stuff was on exhibit, the Rene Lalique items were GREAT! What can you say about the apparently unique black glass scarab vase with the rust red coating lent to the exhibition by the Gulbenkian Museum from Lisbon? Which was sitting right there next to the unique Grenouilles Et Nenuphars Vase recently acquired by the Cleveland Museum for it’s permanent collection (having sold at Christies New York in December 2006 on a very cold New York day)!

The coolest and most striking Rene Lalique object was the “sugar bowl” also owned by the Gulbenkian. The body is constructed of writhing serpents, with glass blown inside the open serpent framework, and sporting an incorporated lid. The entire staff of RLalique.com unanimously voted this to be the one object most needed to compliment our World Headquarters Tea Set. No sugar, no tea you know. Of course we would purchase this great Lalique unique object in two seconds if it came up for sale, which is easy to say in the most braggadocio fashion because the Gulbenkian doesn’t sell it’s works of Rene Lalique!

The Lalique Jewelry (yes, and the Lalique jewellery) was fantastic as well, and there was a lot more Rene Lalique unique jewelry than unique objects. Amazing items, delicate in a way that Lalique’s contemporaries did not match, and stylish and refined in a way no one has ever equaled! Fabulous all ’round. And we all still want to meet a beautiful woman wearing a large and unique Rene Lalique ‘bodice ornament”.

If you have time before the 31st, it’s a wonderful trip and a great opportunity to view some of the finest output of the great Rene Lalique. Where else do you see the lily of the valley at the museum and at the Japanese Garden on the same day?

And of course, if you want to purchase the catalogue book of the Exhibition, the amazing 372 page complete hardback version with great color illustrations and some highly insightful commentary, just visit the Rene Lalique Library right here at RLalique.com and check it out, along with the other fabulous Rene Lalique exhibition books and catalogues we have assembled and made available to you from around the world.

Rene Lalique Plate Ondes Online: $19.99 No Reserve in Opalescent Glass! Lalique made a lot of tableware, and the R.Lalique Ondes Plate that appeared online this morning, 11 inches wide and opalescent glass, is a good example that is typical of the dizzying array of plates and dishes that poured out of the Lalique factory before World War II. Most of these designs were made in large numbers, and even with the high percentage of broken pieces over the years of use, handling and war, a good number still remain. Here online, is one such R Lalique survivor, in apparently good condition, and sporting the extremely reasonable starting price of under $20 without reserve from a high volume 100% feedback seller. This plate is listed as Ondes No. 2 in the R.Lalique Catalogue Raisonne. The R.Lalique number 10-3035 and is shown on page 721 of the 2004 (and latest) edition. This example is signed in block letters R. Lalique France. A seemingly good chance to pick up a solid example of Lalique glass tableware that was intended for daily use at a possible bargain price, subject of course, to where the bidding leads. The auction ends on May 23rd.

Here is the Ebay Item Number: 160335761786

This R.Lalique item is also listed in our Rene Lalique Worldwide Auction Section.