The great looking dark colored R Lalique Senart Vase that appeared in Istanbul at the Alif Art Auction House, and which we publicized both in an RLalique Blog Entry, and in our R Lalique Auction Section, sold for a hammer price of 11,000 Turkish Lira Saturday at the Sofa Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. We don’t know the ins and outs about the refundability of the VAT in Turkey, but with the 6% buyer’s premium and the 18% VAT on both the premium and the purchase price, it adds up to a total of 13,760 Turkish Lira, or around $9100, of which $1300 represents the VAT on the purchase price. Word from the sale room was that there were several bidders including multiple phone bidders and left bids. And the word from both the Sofa and from around the globe was that in the fray were multiple bidders who had seen the item here, on RLalique.com. This would include the winning bidder, who saw the Senart on this website, and who reached out across continents to acquire this rare R Lalique Vase. A great R Lalique result against an auction house estimate of $825. One other reason for this result is that the auction house made bidding easy by accepting credit cards, by handling shipping, by the availability of phone lines, by responding promptly to inquiries for condition reports and photos, and by a reasonable bidder registration form. This was an R Lalique auction trifecta; a great R Lalique vase, a bidder friendly auction house, and of course, the global reach of RLalique.com. And now they’ve heard in Istanbul what they’ve heard in auction rooms around the world: I saw it at RLalique.com!

The Mastro Auction held in Chicago (and via their website and Ebay live) on Saturday the 13th, reports good overall results. We don’t have all the final lot by lot details, but they are reporting over 75% of the lots sold, with several strong highlight sales prices. One great result was the rare Cased Yellow Butterscotch Chardons Vase selling as Lot 483 and pictured here, which was hammered down at $14,000 bid price, plus a 22.5% Ebay Live premium for a total price of $17,150. Top seller was Lot 355, the beautiful Opalescent Thais Statue which made $27,500 and a premium of 20% ($5,500) for total price of $33,000. The three R Lalique flower sets of architectural panels which were the last three lots of the auction sold for $7500, $7000, and $7000 respectively, for a premium inclusive total for the three lots of $25,800. Also selling well was Lot 456, the striking R Lalique Tourterelles Opalescent Covered Vase which made a premium inclusive $12,000. Update Dec 26th – Final totals for the Mastro Sale were 164 of 225 lots sold, for a premium inclusive total of $324,810.

We scour the world to bring you information on great R Lalique items coming up for auction, and there can be no better example of the info flowing in here at World Headquarters than our listing of an R Lalique Senart Vase coming up for auction in Istanbul Turkey on December 20th at the Alif Art Auction House! Yes, Istanbul, you read it right! Figuring that many of our readers may not have done business in Turkey before, we’ve contacted the auction house directly to obtain information for you on how to make arrangements to investigate and bid on the vase. Here is the edited combined contents of two email replies we received from the auction house:

The vase is in good condition. H: 21cm
İf you want to participate, please give me a fax number so İ could send you a written bid form for you to complete with a credit card number as references (nothing will be debit from it).
The payment could be done by credit card within 1 week or by wire transfer 3 to 5 days after the auction date.
Concerning the shipping cost, it will depend the way we will send the item. Normally we use DHL, easiest way. As we are used to send marchandise overseas, be sure there will be no problem.

Thanks you very much for your interest and help. For the phone bids, İ just need a fax number so İ can send a written bid form to complete, sign and add a credit card number as references. During the auction, İ will call. İn the case of no fax number, İ will ask all the necessary informations (full name, address, passport number, phones, credit card numbers) but İ would rather have the bid form SİGNED by the bidder.

Concerning the vase, there is no problems (no damages, holes…) The glass is black (inside and outside), with some grey parts.

Do not hesitate to contact me for further information,
Sincerely yours,

Celine CHALABİ

Celine’s contact info is: c.chalabi@alifart.com +90 212-249 5811 or +90 212 249 3649
The website of Alif Art is: HERE!
And of course, the vase is listed in our RLalique at Auction Section!
Please, check the vase and the arrangements out thoroughly before bidding. We are passing this information along without warranty or representation and you must check things out for yourself. Celine will be happy to assist you, but don’t wait until the last minute. You can also review our RLalique Buyer’s Guide or RLalique Purchase Checklist to give you a good idea of items you want to know about. And as always, please remember to tell Celine that you saw this vase here, at RLalique.com. Istanbul; how great!