R Lalique Cire Perdue Wasp Vase by Rene Lalique

RLalique.com

The Address For:
The Worldwide Gathering Place Of Rene
Lalique Enthusiasts And R Lalique Collectors

Log in  | Register | Reality Check | Suspicious Thread | About Our Blog | Rules Of The Comment Road | Contact Us | Blog Home

Rene Lalique Exhibition: Lalique News and Travelogue! RLalique.com Does San Francisco!

May 18th, 2009

Rene Lalique Jewelry Serpent BroochRene 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.

Rene Lalique World Headquarters West View

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),

Haight - Ashbury Street Sign

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.

Golden Gate Bridge From Alcatraz Ferry

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!

Rene Lalique Seals at Fishermans Wharf

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!

The view from Rene Lailque World Headquarters West in San Francisco 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 worldwide 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.

Rene Lalique Exhabition Ticket

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.

Rene Lalique Exhabition Ticket 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 Musee des Art Decoratifs in Paris, which acquired it directly from Rene Lalique in 1911 for 1000 French Francs? 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)!

Rene Lalique Serpents Sugar Bowl Unique Silver and Glass Object

The coolest and most striking Rene Lalique object was the “sugar bowl” owned by the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. 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! 🙂

Rene Lalique Jewlery 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”.

Rene Lalique Hair Comb Muguet Lilly-of-the-Valley 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?Japanese Garden Muguet Lilly-of-the-Valley

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 Books 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 Plates: Lalique Glass Ondes Plate in Great Opalescent Glass – $19.99 No Reserve – R Lalique Online

May 17th, 2009

Rene Lalique Grande Boule Lierre R Lalique VaseRene 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 a link to a saved/cached image version of the original Rene Lalique Plate Ondes listing online. You may have to use the zoom function of your browser (or whatever program opens images for you) to get the cached image to expand in the window if it does not appear full size. After clicking on the link to the item, a new window will open with the cached image in it. On a Mac, just press the apple key and click on the cached image in your browser window. On a PC, hold down the alt key while clicking on the cached image.

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

Rene Lalique Ashtray: R Lalique Deux Zephyrs Online: Listed as Lalique France – $5 – No Reserve

May 12th, 2009

Rene Lalique Ashtray R Lalique Deux ZephyrsRene Lalique’s early ashtray (cendrier) Deux Zephyrs appeared online at auction this morning. Listed as a Lalique France Coaster Open Salt and sporting a starting price of $5 and no reserve, it seems like a great opportunity to get one of the first of the R Lalique ashtrays at a fair price (but probably more than $5. 🙂 The ashtray is signed on the underside R. Lalique France as shown here and is circa 1913. The description indicates the ashtray is in pretty good condition with the seller having over 1400 feedbacks at 99.6% positive, and a set shipping price in the U.S. of under $6.

Update: The sellers canceled their original listing and have re-listed the item on Ebay to correct the errors in their description as item number 320370910728. It’s now $9.99 no reserve. The new auction expires May 19th.

Here is a link to a saved/cached image version of the original Rene Lalique Ashtray Deux Zephyrs listing online. You may have to use the zoom function of your browser (or whatever program opens images for you) to get the cached image to expand in the window if it does not appear full size. After clicking on the link to the item, a new window will open with the cached image in it. On a Mac, just press the apple key and click on the cached image in your browser window. On a PC, hold down the alt key while clicking on the cached image.

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

July 19th, 2009 Update – Switched item link to cached version.

Rene Lalique Green Gui Vases: What Would The Great Winston Say?

May 10th, 2009

Green Gui Possible Rene Lalique Unsigned VaseRene Lalique Vases – The Unsigned Green Gui: “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma;…” to borrow a phrase from Winston Churchill’s October 1939 Radio Broadcast about slightly more serious matters.

There have been many questions raised over the years about R Lalique Gui Vases and whether or not there is a copy or close call that should appear here in the appropriate place in the Rene Lalique Copies and Close Calls Section of this site. The issues center around low quality, feel and/or weight of the glass, color, and lack of signature.

And the immediate issue is the vase pictured here, which is Lot 2341 at Dumouchelles Auction House in Detroit on May 16th. This vase is cataloged as follows: ART GLASS VASE, CIRCA 1930, H 6 1/2″ Green bulbous glass with berry and leaf motif. Similar to Lalique. The reason for the cataloging in this manner, according to the auction house, was the lack of signature.

No one here at RLalique.com World Headquarters has ever had a Gui in hand that was adjudged a fake. But with recent events combining to raise multiple Gui Vase authenticity questions on several fronts, only one of which was the pictured vase, discussions were held among Oracles. Two different accounts in two different conversations about two different vases were given, both of which involved low quality Green Gui vases being marketed as the work of Rene Lalique. In each case, the reconnoiter had handled the vase they were describing and felt separately from knowing the other’s story or opinion on a separate Green Gui, that it was highly likely that they had a fake in their hand!

Green Gui Possible Rene Lalique Unsigned VaseAs most purchasers and collectors would rightfully be thrilled to have the consultation of either of these Oracles, we relay to you this caution: At least for Green Gui Vases that are unmarked, or that are marked with patently spurious signatures, proceed with care. There are obviously good legitimate Green Gui Vases, and the one pictured may very well be one of them. So each vase has to be checked out. But if you see the particular example in person, and have reasons to raise questions (the feel of glass, the weight, the mold quality, the color, the signature), then you might want to pass and leave the leap to others.

As further information becomes available, we will pass it on to you. If any of our readers in the Detroit area sees and handles this vase in person, we’d like to hear your observations. And if anyone out there has additional information on any Gui Vase that they consider questionable, or any other information that would be helpful in clearing the fog of Gui Vase history from the lenses of our reading glasses, please contact us, so we can spread the word.

Rene Lalique Perfume Tresor De La Mer For Saks Fifth Avenue Sells At Auction in Albuquerque for $24,000

May 8th, 2009

Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle and Powder Box Presentation for Saks Tresor De La MerRene Lalique 1939 Tresor de la Mer Oyster Box and Pearl Bottle created for Saks Fifth Avenue by Lalique, sold on May 1st at the Perfume Bottles Auction in New Mexico for a premium inclusive $24,000. The auction was managed by Ken Leach, with Nick Dawes as the auctioneer. It was held in conjunction with the Annual Convention of the IPBA – The International Perfume Bottle Association. The auction contained several hundred perfume lots, including a decent selection of Lalique Perfume Bottles, of which the Tresor De La Mer was the most notable. The Tresor De La Mer was far from perfect, being described as follows (and see photos):

Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle and Powder Box Presentation for Saks Tresor De La MerLot 222: R. Lalique 1939 Saks Fifth Ave. Tresor de la Mer presentation, from limited edition of 50, powder box in opalescent glass holding frosted glass perfume bottle. Signed Lalique. Hinge restored; bottle replaced. btl. 1 7/8 in.

Complete sales results transmitted by the auction house to RLalique.com World Headquarters, showed an overall take up rate of just under 80% for the Rene Lalique items, with 15 of the 19 R Lalique lots selling, highlighted of course by the strong price for this extremely rare Rene Lalique creation, which was unfortunately in very problematic condition.

Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle and Powder Box Presentation for Saks Tresor De La MerThose of you who follow RLalique.com regularly (OK, that’s everyone, right? 🙂 will recall that a Tresor De La Mer made a fantastic premium inclusive price of $216,000 at Rago Arts and Auction Center in New Jersey in November of 2006 when a basically original and complete example appeared in its original box with original tags. This was at the time, and remains today the highest price ever recorded for a Rene Lalique Perfume at auction anywhere in the world. And of course, nothing brings out another example or two faster than a great auction price!

Another R Lalique Tresor De La Mer also appeared on Ebay after that, which was discussed in this Rene Lalique Perfume blog and news post.

Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle and Powder Box Presentation for Saks Tresor De La MerOne final note on this great Rene Lalique Sales result: The literature has indicated that 50 of these R Lalique Oyster Perfume Presentations for Saks were produced. However the original tag on the Rene Lalique Tresor De La Mer that appeared at Rago in 2006 indicated it was one of 100 examples.

The 20th Annual IPBA Perfume Bottles Auction is scheduled to be held in Reston, Virginia, in May of 2010 in conjunction with its next IPBA Annual Convention.

Rene Lalique Jewelry Dragonfly Pendant Makes Near $70,000 at Woolley and Wallis

May 6th, 2009

Rene Lalique Pendant Dragonfly

Lalique Jewlery (and Lalique Jewellery 🙂 ) Sells Well: The Rene Lalique Dragonfly Pendant which was sold in the Salisbury Salesrooms of UK Auctioneer Woolley and Wallis in their Jewellery Sale on April 30th and which carried an estimate of £30,000 to £40,000 British Pounds, made a hammer price of £38,000. With the 19.5 percent Buyer’s Premium, and the current exchange rate of roughly 1.5 US Dollars to British Pounds, that works out to over $68,000 plus VAT. This great looking Lalique pendant, a picture of which had graced the Home Page of RLalique.com for nearly a month, was Lot No. 1386 and was catalogued as follows:

Rene Lalique Pendant Dragonfly Woolley and Wallis Catalogue CoverAn Art Nouveau gold dragonfly pendant by Ren̩ Lalique. The four dragonflies grouped around a central cabochon blue stone and suspending a pear shaped blue stone. With plique-a-jour enamel and plain enamel decoration. The reverse realistically chased. Signed LALIQUE and with French control mark. On a gold bar link chain with enamel decoration and plain fine gold link extension. Partially obscured mark to the suspension ring, probably a cross between RL within a lozenge for Ren̩ Lalique. 7cm wide. With a cream silk square box signed R. Lalique. 40 Cours Рla РReine. Paris to the lining.

Another nice solid result for Rene Lalique this auction season, in line with the wide (and therefore) spot on estimate, for a great looking R Lalique Jewelry Pendant, and a fine example of the work of Rene Lalique from the period.

Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle Le Succes : Lalique for D’Orsay Online

May 4th, 2009

Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle Le Succes For D'OrsayLalique Perfume Bottle Le Succes by Rene Lalique for D’Orsay: The rare circa 1914 Lalique Perfume Bottle Le Succes, a commercial version of the great Maison Lalique Perfume Bottle Amphytrite, has appeared online in seemingly good order, from a Kentucky seller, with a starting bid of $30 and no reserve. Both the perfume bottle and the stopper are different than the Lalique Amphytrite bottle, but both are so close in design that the unmistakable relationship is very evident. Both stoppers feature a female figure, both bottoms feature a snail shell style design.

With the later addition in an addendum to their seminal work on Lalique Perfume Bottles (coincidentally titled Lalique Perfume Bottles) of another bottle that they have also catalogued as Le Succes, Glen and Mary Lou Utt have catalogued this perfume bottle as Le Succes (A).

Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle Le Succes For D'OrsayThe pictures in the online auction ad are not all that great, but the identity of the bottle is still discernible. All three photos from the online listing are shown here. The seller has near 400 feedbacks with a 100% rating. Hopefully (for the seller :), the seller is in the “smart seller” category we talk about here from time to time. We wrote the seller to get the condition particulars, and received this reply: The bottle has no chips or cracks. Having never seen another I am not sure if the pale green is true or faded. Thank you for asking. Carla. Later, the seller added: The letters are impossible to read in their entirety. The first letter is an “L” then it looks like a partial “A” and then the next letter looks like a partial L or “I” then nothing i can see and then “QUE”. I do not see “France”. And also: If this turns out to be a fake which I don’t think it is, I will just refund the purchaser their money. Neil Diamond would love this seller! But as always, check it out for yourself! The auction ends on May 9th.

Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle Le Succes For D'OrsayHere is a link to a saved/cached image version of the original Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle Le Succes listing online. You may have to use the zoom function of your browser (or whatever program opens images for you) to get the cached image to expand in the window if it does not appear full size. After clicking on the link to the item, a new window will open with the cached image in it. On a Mac, just press the apple key and click on the cached image in your browser window. On a PC, hold down the alt key while clicking on the cached image.

This bottle is also listed in the Rene Lalique Auctions Worldwide Section here at Rlalique.com.

Finally, we have an amazing number of Lalique Perfume Bottles references in the Rene Lalique Library online, including the book Lalique Perfume Bottles by the Utts, and as well as some great exhibition and auction catalogues from all over the world, with tons of R Lalique Perfumes pictured and referenced. These include not just Rene Lalique Perfume Bottles exhibitions around the world, but also the Sotheby’s Auction Catalogue which features the dispersal of the Utt’s own Lalique Perfume Bottles collection.

Oh …. Neil Diamond: Kentucky Woman – of course!

July 19th, 2009 Update – Switched item link to cached version.

Lalique Sale At Christies South Kensington: The Smallest Amount of R.Lalique At This Auction In Memory

May 2nd, 2009

Rene Lalique Grande Boule Lierre R Lalique VaseLalique: The Catalogue For The Semi-Annual Sale Of The Works Of The Great Rene Lalique (with some modern Cristal Lalique thrown in) At Christies South Kensington On May 20th Is Now Online: Lalique at Christies South Kensington will have the smallest number of lots in recent memory and likely in the history of this R Lalique auction sale mainstay. The mix of 62 offerings contains several noteworthy items. In addition, all but half a dozen of the 62 lots were produced during the lifetime of Rene Lalique and all but two are original Rene Lalique designs. Top estimated lots are the Rene Lalique Cire Perdue Vase Chardons carrying an estimate of £25,000 to £30,000 British Pounds; the Rene Lalique Peacock Lamp Paons, a wonderful R Lalique design estimated at £35,000 to £40,000; Rene Lalique Deux Cavaliers R Lalique Table Centerpiece the huge and striking Rene Lalique table centerpiece Deux Cavaliers, estimated at £40,000 to £60,000; the large R Lalique Hirondelles Lighting Fixture estimated at £20,000 to £25,000; and the great early Rene Lalique Vase Grande Boule Lierre, carrying a £20,000 to £30,000 estimate. There’s a furniture specialist in London working for Christies that can tell you a great story about a drive thru the Australian countryside after leaving a house inspection meant to look at furniture, but instead departing with an R.Lalique Grande Boule Lierre Vase belted into the passenger seat for the ride back to the office!

Of course the most attractive lots are not always the most expensive, depending on your tastes and R Lalique collecting interests. For example, there is a great Tananarive Enameled Covered Box. There is also the classy Deux Danseuses Cachet, and a pair of wonderful, almost Frank Lloyd Wright (who’s southwestern desert seat, Taliesin West, is but a stone’s throw from the ancestral home of RLalique.com) style Grand Depot Lamps! All three of these are amazing R Lalique lots in their own right, though they don’t command the prices of some of the items previously mentioned.

Rene Lalique Tourbillons R Lalique Vase The sale is notable not just for small numbers but also for the lack of colored R Lalique items. There’s an R.Lalique Tourbillons Vase in yellow/amber glass, an R.Lalique Bacchantes Vase in Gray Glass, the R.Lalique Vase Albert in Topaz Glass, as well as a Topaz Coq Nain R Lalique Mascot, a single lot containing the R Lalique Seal and Ashtray (Cachet and Cendrier) Lapin in Topaz, and the Blue Glass R.Lalique Pendant Serpent. That is all the colored glass in the sale. Thankfully, gray and topaz are considered colors; else we’d have only 2 colored R.Lalique lots to discuss instead of 6! That is less than 10% of the sale, and of course, it’s a 6, not a 26 or a 36 or a 46. Rene Lalique colored vases and other colored production pieces are in great demand and short supply, and this line-up is just another indicator of the difficulty in obtaining great colored RLalique items.

With the smaller numbers, some areas of Rene Lalique collecting are almost totally absent. Lalique perfume bottles, Lalique statues and Lalique car mascots are few or non-existent among the offerings. But as in many R Lalique Auctions, vases are the most prevalent offering. Roughly 60% of the lots in this sale are vases.

Rene Lalique Chardons Lalique Cire Perdue VaseYou can check out the Lalique Sales catalogue at the Christie’s website!

And also, don’t forget to keep us in mind here at RLalique.com if you require assistance or consulting on any or all of the items in this sale, or any other sales listed in our Rene Lalique Auctions Worldwide Section. You can find out the details of our buyer consulting services on our Rene Lalique Consulting Page.

Rene Lalique Glass Does Well At Auction in Munich – R Lalique Vase Prices Strong

May 1st, 2009

Rene Lalique Susan Havilland Lalique Design Penthievre VaseRene Lalique Vase Prices Were Strong In Munich At Auction on April 28th – The Susan Lalique Havilland Designed R Lalique Vase Penthievre in Blue Glass Was The High R Lalique Seller: At Quittenbaum Auction House in Munich on April 28th, over 20 lots of R Lalique Glass were included in their Art Nouveau – Art Deco Sale. Garnering the biggest price was the Rene Lalique Vase Penthievre, going for a hammer price of €20,000 Euros against an estimate of €9000 Euros. With the 27.5% buyers premium and VAT for EU private buyers (which we used to estimate all results), the dollar equivalent total all-in was approximately $34,000 dollars. The auction house summarized the Lalique results in their written sales report as follows:

Lalique glassware proved popular all round, especially the cobalt blue ‘Penthièvre’ with a fish decoration, bid up by a young German collector to €20,000

Rene Lalique Aras R Lalique VaseNext highest seller was the Rene Lalique Vase Aras in clear and frosted glass with patina, making a hammer of €4500 Euros against an estimate of €3300 Euros. The all-in dollar price was approximately $7500 dollars. A frosted Saint Francois Vase with patina sold for a hammer of €1700 Euros against a €1200 Euro estimate, for about $2800 dollars all-in, and a patinated frosted R Lalique Gui Vase made €2000 Euros against an €800 Euro estimate, for approximately $3300 total dollars.

Rene Lalique Gui R Lalique VaseYou can see all the results by going to the Quittenbaum website and typing Lalique into the search box in the upper left corner of the home page.

This is yet another in a continuing solid string of sales results for R Lalique glass as we exit the Spring auction season and head into early Summer.

Rene Lalique Vase Bresse in Cased Turquoise Glass Online – A Great R Lalique Vase!

April 29th, 2009

Rene Lalique Vase Bresse Signed R.LaliqueRene Lalique Cased Turquoise Glass Bresse Vase Appears Online: Signed R.Lalique, with a $9.99 starting bid and no reserve, a good looking R Lalique Bresse Vase was listed for auction this morning. We love these kinds of sellers: Smart Sellers! Here is what they have to say:

Hi, Congratulations on finding Us. We run a Fair and Honest auction. We start ALL at $9.99. If after a few days without an opening bid….there’s a good chance we will Pull it Off and smash it on the ground!! We’re not asking for a kidney here…….so if you Want it……make SURE it has at least an Opening bid and we will never end it Early. You DON’T see a buy it now button… so please don’t ask. We let the E-Bay community tell us what its worth.

Rene Lalique Vase Bresse Signed R.LaliqueHow great are these guys. Over 7000 feedbacks, 99.9% positive. So, they come up with the sharp little R Lalique Vase Bresse in a striking and rare Lalique color, and here it is at $9.99 starting bid and going to the highest bidder. Looks pretty clean too from the photos, except for one issue about what appears to be a very short factory wandering line, which they have shown in the photos in their listing, and which we asked about, and are awaitng further details, which will be added to this post when we get them. Of course, as always, fully check this vase out for yourself if you are interested in bidding on it. But if the little line is just a factory short wandering line on the surface, and there are no hidden issues, this seems to be a great R Lalique Vase and a wonderful Rene Lalique design in the most preferred color (well, red or cased electric blue might be most preferred:).

Here is a link to a saved/cached image version of the original Rene Lalique Vase Bresse At Auction listing online. You may have to use the zoom function of your browser (or whatever program opens images for you) to get the cached image to expand in the window if it does not appear full size. After clicking on the link to the item, a new window will open with the cached image in it. On a Mac, just press the apple key and click on the cached image in your browser window. On a PC, hold down the alt key while clicking on the cached image. We’ve also listed this vase in our R Lalique Worldwide Auctions Section.

Update on April 30th: The seller has reported the following:

Question: Hii. The swirl…. can you feel it, does it go all the way thru to the inside, and does it reflect light as a crack would? Thanks

Answer: Hi, Its a tiny crack on surface, doesn’t even come close to going all the way through. Maybe as thick as a small sewing pin. Maybe smaller. You can only tell its a crack when you look at a veery hard side angle, otherwise it looks like a dark line. Seems to be a factory thing to me but I’m no expert. Its not sharp, as if it was still hot glass and seeped into space. Its a tiny thing but when in your hands i think you will understand. Thanks,. mike

Answer: Hi, it only reflects light when you look at it from an extreme angle. Its tiny but there. Hope this helps. Thanks, mike

July 19th, 2009 Update – Switched item link to cached version.

Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle Camelia by Lalique for D’Orsay Appears

April 24th, 2009

Rene Lalique Camelia Perfume Bottle Circa 1912Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle Camelia for D’Orsay Appears at Auction: A wonderful and pretty rare R Lalique perfume bottle Camelia circa 1912 has appeared at auction online. It started at $9.99 no reserve, and is already over $800. The seller, as is usual in the circumstances, apparently did not know the true value of this perfume bottle, did not know the name of the bottle, and did not know the bottle was the work of Rene Lalique. He has been inundated with requests to stop the auction by buyers hoping to get a bargain. Humorously, the seller posted the following in his ad: “I have been asked to end this early and will not! So please stop asking me!” Smart seller!

Rene Lalique Camelia Pair of Perfume Bottles Circa 1912This bottle was reportedly made in two sizes, 9 and 10.5 cm, both of which appeared in the Lalique Sale in Paris at Boisgirard and Associes on December 6, 2005 which was the liquidation of many great items from the Marie Claude Lalique estate. At that sale, the smaller bottle was listed at 9.5 cm, but as you can see from the photo in that 2005 sale catalogue which is shown here, it appears there is more than a 1 cm difference in the heights of the two bottles. Also, neither bottle was signed, just like the one currently online. It appears from the measurement in the ad for this Camelia, that this is the larger of the two.

Here is a link to a saved/cached image version of the original Rene Lalique Camelia Perfume Bottle listing online. You may have to use the zoom function of your browser (or whatever program opens images for you) to get the cached image to expand in the window if it does not appear full size. On a Mac, just press the apple key and click on the cached image in your. On a PC, hold down the alt key while clicking on the cached image.

We’ve also listed this bottle in our R Lalique Worldwide Auction Section. And don’t forget as you take a look, there is a rare matching box that goes with this bottle! The two pieces together making quite a nice display if you can acquire them.

July 19th, 2009 Update – Switched item link to cached version.

Rene Lalique Exhibition: A Rene Lalique Retrospective Exhibit of R.Lalique Works Opens in Tokyo in June

April 20th, 2009

Rene Lalique Hat Pin Circa 1897 from the Musee D'OrsayRene Lalique: A Retrospective Exhibition of the works of Lalique Opens in Tokyo on June 24th: The National Art Center in Tokyo Japan is the first of two stops for a great exhibition of the R.Lalique works of Rene Lalique. The exhibition features rare Lalique glass items including important Cire Perdues, unique Lalique jewelry, and other works contributed by many Japanese and international museums including the Kitazawa Museum of Art, the Izu Glass and Craft Museum, the Omura Art Museum, Kobe Fashion Museum, the Toyota Automobile Museum, the Shonan Enoshima Perfume Bottle Museum, the Narita Museum, the Gulbenkian (see pictured Cire Perdue), the Musee D’Orsay (see pictured hat pin) and others. The exhibition will be at the National Art Center in Tokyo thru September 7th, when it will move to the MOA Museum of Art in Japan from September 15th to November 23rd. We will bring you more news and details as they become available.

Rene Lalique Cire Perdue Vase from the Gulbenkien Museum in Portugal Note that many of the museums that will contribute to this great Lalique Exhibition, have wonderful museum books or catalogues containing their collections of Rene Lalique works. A good number of these out of print books and catalogues cannot be found anywhere in the world except in the R Lalique Exhibition Books and Catalogues Section of the R Lalique Library here at RLalique.com. We expect that we will be adding the Rene Lalique catalogue book of this great Lalique Exhibition to our extensive inventory when it’s available.

Lalique and Haviland Come Full Circle in London Flagship Lalique Crystal Store

April 14th, 2009

Cristal Lalique and Haviland Storefront in LondonLalique and Haviland Join Forces and Open A Joint Flagship Store in London: A renewal of old ties between the family name of Rene Lalique and the family name of David Haviland was cemented in London recently, with the opening of the new Lalique Haviland joint flagship store on Conduit Street. This store name recalls ties between these two great families that go back to 1916.

Here is a brief history: Haviland was started in 1842 by David Haviland. He was a member of a New York family that imported and sold china. In the early 1840’s he traveled to Limoges France where he founded the great Haviland manufacture. His two sons, Charles and Theodore were active in the business, Theodore in New York dealing with marketing matters, and Charles, the oldest of the two sons in France at the factory in Limoges. After David Haviland died in 1879, Theodore moved to Limoges to participate more directly in the management of company affairs. For whatever reasons, by 1891 the two brothers had irreconcilable differences and joint control of the Haviland Company was dissolved, with each brother going it his own way. Charles operated under the old family company name of Haviland et Cie, and Theodore under the name Theodore Haviland Limoges. The two brothers competed not just with other companies, but against each other. The last decade of the 19th century also saw the rise of the great Rene Lalique, who’s reputation as a jeweler and designer in Paris had spread worldwide. Lalique’s primary focus in the last decade of the 1800’s was jewelry and unique objects. It was the famous glassmaker Emile Galle who recognized Rene Lalique as the “the inventor of modern jewelry”.

Suzanne Lalique PortraitIn 1892, Lalique had a daughter by his second wife, whom they named Suzanne. Suzanne became an accomplished designer and painter in her own right, without any formal art training. Growing up as close to the great Lalique as one can get, was all the training required. Her vase designs cover two pages in the R Lalique Catalogue Raisonne, and her paintings and decorative arts are now spread around the world. At least two Rene Lalique production vases were designed by Suzanne Lalique; the vases Sophora and Penthievre. She also created great porcelain designs for Haviland during the last half of the 1920’s and into the early 1930’s, and she is credited with having painted in 1931 the only recorded portrait of Rene Lalique created late in his life. And of esoteric interest to both historians and stemware collectors, is the SH monogram which graces the stemware set Monogramme in the Catalogue Raisonne. These are the stems that start at #5042 on Page 831 of the 2004 edition. These stems were sold in minimum orders of 100 pieces. But for the big order, Lalique et Cie would put your own monogram on each stem. That’s probably how they figured out the name for this design! Apparently, Suzanne Haviland was an early customer :).

Paul Haviland by RenoirAs things would have it, in 1916 Suzanne met the photographer Paul Haviland, the son of Charles Haviland, when Paul was slightly older than shown here in an 1884 portrait at age 4 by noted painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Paul was an accomplished photographer, and among his other claims to fame, he would be given photo credit for the pictures in the 1932 R.Lalique Catalogue, a fact omitted from the 1981 Dover reprint! Paul was born in Paris, but graduated from Harvard and spent much of his early life in the United States. Having been called back to France to help with the management of the company in 1916, that same year he met and by 1917 would marry Suzanne Lalique. Long story short, Charles died in 1921. Theodore died two years earlier in 1919. The Haviland et Cie family businesses of Charles had lots of problems and became a full employment company for lawyers! Haviland et Cie eventually slipped out of family ownership and was liquidated in 1931, but the Theodore branch of the family continued on with their company under the leadership of Theodore’s oldest son William, who had joined the company in 1903 and who took control upon the death of his father. The Haviland name and company was restored to unity and total family ownership in 1941 under William Haviland, when he and other relatives purchased all the names, designs, and rights of the previously liquidated Haviland et Cie. One interesting point is that from 1942 to 1957, Haviland was produced in Pennsylvania, production having been started up there by William in the chaos that was World War II.

Fast forwarding a bit, control of Haviland would find its way to the current owners Financiere Saint-Germain (FSG). Here is a link to an informative Haviland website. Why do we care about all this? Well, that’s the start of another (much shorter) story.

Silvio DenzrIn February of 2008, the Lalique Cristal Company was acquired by the Swiss company Art & Fragrance (ARTN). The price was €44,000,000 Euros, which today would be about $58,500,000 US. This was somewhat of a marriage of equals, as Lalique’s sales of around €67,000,000 Euros for 2007 were higher than the sales of its acquirer. Art & Fragrance is headquartered near Zurich, and its shares are listed on the BX Berne eXchange under the symboi ARTN. It appears that the vast majority of ARTN shares are controlled by Silvio Denz, the Chairman of ARTN, who is shown here in a photo from the company website. Mr. Denz is also one of the driving forces behind the new Lalique Museum, the Musee Lalique in France which we recently wrote about. In September of 2008, Art & Fragrance sold just under 1/2 of Lalique to FSG, which as we mentioned, is the owner of among other things, Haviland, at a price of 20.5 million Euros. This is how we have reached the point of the accompanying photo of the new London Flagship Store. This writer thinks Paul and Suzanne Haviland would be smiling if they could see it! And now you know……… ( think Paul Harvey). 🙂

A final note: Paul Haviland died in 1950, and Suzanne Lalique Haviland, having lived to the age of 97, died in 1989. For more information on Rene Lalique and his family, see our Rene Lalique Biography.

Lalique Exhibition Essay Garners Prestigious Smith Decorative Arts Award: Great Rene Lalique Publicity

April 9th, 2009

Rene Lalique Poppy Necklace Circa 1900

Lalique, Faberge and Tiffany Exhibition Catalog Essay by Stephen Harrison is awarded the 2008 Smith Award for the most distinguished article in decorative arts in 2008: Stephen Harrison, curator of the Lalique, Faberge, and Tiffany Exhibition Artistic Luxury, was one of two recipients for the year 2008 to receive the Smith Award for most distinguished decorative arts articles. The essay, which appeared in the catalogue of the exhbition, was entitled: Artistic Luxury in the Belle Époque. Stephen Harrison is the Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and was the organizer and driving force behind this great exhibition, which is now at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco thru May 31st! See our previous post on this Great Exhibit of Lalique (and some other stuff :). The Smith Award, honors the career of Doctor Robert Smith, who was a professor and noted art historian at the University of Pennsylvania, a place not unfamiliar to this writer, though there was not much art talk at the Wharton School :). Industry awards, such as the Smith Award, serve to focus the trade, collectors, museums, and the media on particular segments of the decorative arts field. Having one such award go to a Lalique related essay, is a wonderful thing for publicizing the works of the great Rene Lalique. By the way, it’s not hard to imagine how Mr. Harrison was inspired, looking at the unbelievable glass, enamel and gold poppy pendant necklace shown here, which was lent to the exhibition by the Toledo Museum of Art. For more information about the award and the Decorative Arts Society, you can visit their website.

Lalique Fake Jewelry At Auctions: Fake R.Lalique!

April 7th, 2009

Rene Lalique Fake Jewelry Hair CombRene Lalique Fake Jewelry Hair CombRene Lalique Fake Jewelry Hair CombRene Lalique Fake Jewelry PendantRene Lalique Fake Jewelry Appears With Increasing Frequency: There are currently several different jewelry auctions online  falsely claiming to be the work of Rene Lalique. This is beginning to look like the start of a trend, there having been a fourth fake R Lalique jewelry auction which just ended recently with a reported sale price of $2000! The jewelry of Rene Lalique is not as well documented as his glass works. So we thought we would highlight some of this fake R Lalique jewellery (a hat tip for our British readers) in the hopes that unsuspecting buyers may be spared an expensive education! Below are the auction listing links (3 current, one ended), and of course, the four photos in this post, all of which are being marketed as period R Lalique jewelry; all of which are fakes. You gotta love the seller of several of these items: ALL SALES ARE FINAL. THERE ARE NO REFUNDS OR RETURNS AND PAYMENT IS DUE IMMEDIATELY”! Really? Or as an alert contributor to the R Lalique Police Section (where all four of these fake R Lalique items are listed) pointed out to us, the other seller says: “I Will Divide Up The Money Among My TREE Children!” Hmmmmmm. Those fans of Hill Street Blues know the old maxim well ……”Be Careful Out There!” Don’t want to fall out of your tree!

PS. Of course, over at the R Lalique Books Library, there are an amazing number of Rene Lalique reference books for R Lalique Jewelry, including the bible of R Lalique Jewelry: Rene Lalique Schmuck und Objects d’art 1890-1910 By Sigrid Barten which has over 1700 photos and is found in the Modern R Lalique Books Section, as well a good number of Rene Lalique jewelry exhibition books and catalogs, and R Lalique jewelry auction catalogues as well.

ANTIQUE-HAIR-COMB-HORN-BY-LALIQUE-18KT-GOLD-DIAMONDS Ebay Item 190298613347 ANTIQUE HAIR COMB HORN BY LALIQUE 18KT GOLD DIAMONDS

Ebay Item 200321633101 ANTIQUE HAIR COMB HORN BY LALIQUE WITH 14KT GOLD

ANTIQUE-HAIR-COMB-HORN-BY-LALIQUE-14KT-GOLD-DIAMONDS Ebay Item 200327852647 ANTIQUE HAIR COMB HORN BY LALIQUE 14KT GOLD DIAMONDS

LALIQUE-GOLD-PENDANT-1900-ART-NOUVEAU-UNIQUE Ebay Item 270369181854 LALIQUE GOLD PENDANT 1900 ART NOUVEAU UNIQUE

 
 

Copyright 2014 by City Concession Co. of Arizona Inc. We are not affiliated with anyone using part or all of the name Rene Lalique. We are a gathering place for R. Lalique enthusiasts.