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!
R Lalique Senart Vase Makes A Hammer of 11,000 Turkish Lira at the Sofa Hotel in Istanbul – Updated
The Tailor Shop – Another Great New Section At RLalique.com
We’ve added another great new section to the website this week, The RLalique Tailor Shop, a place where you can get information about common alterations of R Lalique items. We’ve started with two subsections of the shop. The first one discusses missing material, where broken R Lalique items are cut down or hemmed up or taken in, to eliminate obvious damage in an attempt to make them look better. The second subsection details the change from cendrier to seal, something we see quite often as a way to salvage a broken ashtray. As we explain on the main Tailor Shop page, it’s our current plan to stick to discussing items that can be easily described, shown in photos, that are reasonably common, and that result in a change in the shape of the original R Lalique item. We don’t have a home page box set-up for this section, but you can get to it from any navigation bar on the site, including the one on the right hand side of every Blog page. Suggestions for future topics you’d like to see covered in the Tailor Shop, additional photos of items that are already covered, and any comments or suggestions about our information are welcome and appreciated.
Christie’s New York Posts Strong R Lalique Results – Updated
Christies New York at Rockefeller Center had two great R Lalique items in their Important 20th Century Decorative Art & Design Sale on December 16th. Lot 232 was the large 50 cm diameter R Lalique Boule De Gui Frosted Glass Chandelier which made a premium inclusive $27,500 against an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000. Lot 233, was the very interesting 94 cm by 63 cm panel pictured here; the R Lalique Bouquet De Fleurs Molded Glass Gold Inclusions and Plane-Tree Wood Panel For the Compagne Internationale Des Wagons-Lits Rail Car. It sold for a premium inclusive $25,000 also against an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000. Also selling at Christies two days later on December 18th, was a wonderful enameled stickpin or hatpin at Christies Interiors Sale in New York. This hatpin sold for a premium inclusive $8750, roughly 8 times the estimate of $800 to $1200. All three of these wonderful R Lalique items were featured in our RLalique at Auction Section for the last several weeks, and represent three more strong sales results for the works of the great Rene Lalique.
R Lalique Butterfly Necklace Makes 248,000 Euros In Brussels
The unbelievable R Lalique Butterfly Necklace that came up for sale yesterday at Pierre Berge & Associes in Brussels, and which is pictured here, made a high bid of 200,000 Euros against an estimate of 60,000 to 80,000. With the 24% added charges for premium and tax, the total price is 248,000 Euros, or about $360,000 US at today’s exchange rates! A very strong price. The necklace has been listed in our RLalique at Auction Section for several weeks, and is also pictured in a post on this Blog from late November. This wonderful necklace, featured blue butterflies, amethysts, enamel work and colored gold. It came with the original R Lalique presentation box. An amazing example of the work of the great Rene Lalique and another good auction result for R Lalique as we head into the new year. Our French can use some help, but hopefully the buyer of this R Lalique treasure told the auction house something close to this: Je l’ai vu chez RLalique.com!
Mastro Auction Reporting Over 75% of Lots Sold – See Summary – Updated R Lalique Info
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.
Do We Have Reach or What? We Bring You An R Lalique Senart Vase Coming Up in Istanbul Turkey!
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!
Grande Ovale Tete Penchee Opalescent R Lalique Statue Makes $29,000 in Rural Ohio
The Grande Ovale Tete Penchee Opalescent R Lalique Statue that appeared at Forsythes’ Auctions in Russellville, Ohio sold to an Ebay bidder for a strong $24,500 plus 18% buyer’s premium on December 6th, bringing the total sales price to $28,910. A great looking and rare statue nearly 15 inches high, the final result well exceeded the wide $8000 to $15,000 estimate. As we see from time to time on R Lalique glass items, the statue was signed with the wrong model number, having been signed 828 instead of 827 after the R. Lalique signature on the underside. Of course, as we may have mentioned previously, a correct R Lalique item authenticates the signature, not the other way around. In this case, it would not have mattered a whit if the statue was unsigned! You have to love it when great R Lalique pieces like this appear in the heartland of the United States in places like Russellville. We looked it up, and according to the last Census, in the year 2000 Russellville had a population of 453 people in 190 households. The entire village comprises .8 square miles. A great place for a great R Lalique result. We hope the buyer remembered to tell Forsythes what is becoming an increasingly familiar phrase at auction houses around the world: I saw it at RLalique.com!
The First Ever Ad For THE R. Lalique Gathering Place Appears In The Mastro Live Auction Catalogue
We’ve come a long way in a short time here at RLalique.com, and with the release of the catalogue for the December 13th Mastro Live Auction featuring roughly 200 great R Lalique items, we’ve reached another important milestone. Our first ever advertisement has hit the streets! The inside back cover of the Mastro Catalogue features the elegant and simple ad shown here. As you can see, the ad contains a complete image of the great RLalique Wasps Cire Perdue Vase that graces the top of every page of this website. The sale is also listed on Ebay Live as well, although there is a higher buyer’s premium for bidding on Ebay than for bidding directly with Mastro. Check out the great R.Lalique items in the sale, and even more importantly :), check out our ad! This is the biggest auction of R Lalique anywhere in the world this year, and the perfect place for us to spread the word.
Thrown For A Loop In the World of R Lalique!
Who would have thought that several different bidders, including one rumored to be a regular buyer and seller of R Lalique items, would compete to run Ebay Item 110319076762 up to $713.47, PLUS the cost to ship from Paraguay? Talk about being “thrown for a loupe”! Seriously, we apparently have to do a better job of getting out the word that there is a place to go for information that may be helpful to purchasers of RLalique! This item was the subject of some comment in the Suspicious Online Auction Thread, and it was (and is) also listed in the RLalique Police Section. Tragic.
And here it is straight from the dictionary:
throw or knock for a loop: to astonish or upset: Her quitting the project really threw me for a loop.
RLalique.com Deux Figurines R Lalique Menu Holder on Ebay
Our newest R Lalique listing has appeared on Ebay. It’s a good R Lalique Deux Figurines Menu Holder, circa 1924. The menu holder has a starting price of only $250, well below recent sales prices, and no reserve. Our Ebay User I.D, is RLaliqueSales. We’ve posted the listing in the RLalique at Auction Section, and the Ebay Item Number is 320322901960. Here as a link to the Really Big Photo Page, to see a giant photo of the Menu Holder. You can also check out our RLalique.com Ebay About Me Page (well, About US really)! And yes, another post representing “Shameless Self Promotion” of an item owned by us or consigned to us for sale that sells with our famous (and popular) Satisfaction Assurance!
RLalique.com Worldwide R Lalique Auction Listings Set New Record
Our R Lalique Worldwide Auction listings have set a new record this morning, with 64 different upcoming auctions currently listed containing hundreds and hundreds of great R Lalique items coming up for sale all over the globe. The 64 listings span the entire range of the works of the great Rene Lalique, from the opalescent Poissons Bowl coming up on December 4th (along with several items) in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France, to the incredible ‘Bouquet de Fleurs’ R Lalique Wood and Glass (and other elements too) Panel for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits coming up for sale at Christies in New York City on December 16th. These auctions are taking place in Canada, Germany, Belgium, the US, France, Italy, the UK; too many places to list, all over the world. And we’ve just put up our first R Lalique Worldwide Auction Listing for 2009, a pair of R Lalique Faucon Car Mascots that have appeared in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin in the US (go find that one on a map :)! 
We hope the day will come when we’re able to report 100 R Lalique Worldwide Auction listings to you. But passing the 60 mark for the first time is a great milestone, and it reflects the huge amount of information that we have available flowing in here at World Headquarters which we can report to you. Please don’t forget when you contact the auction houses that are offering this wonderful R Lalique material, to let them know that you saw the R Lalique item here, at RLalique.com. It makes our job of getting information on upcoming items a whole lot easier when the auction houses know that their listings here are creating interest among potential bidders. Happy hunting!
A U.S. Antiques Roadshow 2008 R Lalique Video
Here is a link to a video where Nicholas Dawes Appraises an R Lalique Perfume Bottle in Los Angeles for the 2008 U.S. Antiques Roadshow. In addition to being a longtime Antiques Roadshow appraiser, Nick is currently in charge of organizing and conducting live auctions for Mastro Auctions, which has a great group of R Lalique items coming up for sale in Chicago on December 13th. See our R Lalique at Auction Section where you’ll find a link to more information about the upcoming Mastro auction at the top of the page. We’ll post more information about this upcoming sale as it becomes available in the near future. Meanwhile, a VERY happy R Lalique owner in the video!
And you can save yourself a long wait in a roadshow line by checking out the Rene Lalique Appraisals page here at RLlaique.com
RLalique.com Ebay Item – Chien R Lalique Dog Seal/Cachet circa 1926
Our 3rd R Lalique listing has appeared on Ebay. It’s a good R Lalique Chien Dog Seal/Cachet, circa 1926. The seal has a starting price well below half of recent sales prices, and no reserve. Our Ebay User I.D, is RLaliqueSales. We’ve posted the listing in the RLalique at Auction Section, and the Ebay Item Number is 320319695198. Also, here is a link to the Really Big Photo Page, with has a giant photo of the Chien Seal. You can also check out our RLalique.com Ebay About Me Page (well, About US really)! And yes, this post represents “Shameless Self Promotion” of an item owned by us or consigned to us for sale!
Lalique Vase Hirondelles: A Vase You Don’t See Too Often On Ebay
A great looking Rene Lalique Vase Hirondelles appeared on Ebay today. This elegant early vase has sold well in the past, making $24,000 including the premium at Christies New York in February of 2006, and 9 months later at Rago Arts and Auction Center in NJ making $13,200, again with the premium included. Of course, in red glass it has gone for a bit more :). Nice to see these kinds of great old Rene Lalique vases pop up from time to time. Lalique Hirondelles Vase – Ebay Item Number 220314781690.
A Great R Lalique Story AND The Tale of Lucky Carl
Check out this BBC Report about the R Lalique Cire Perdue Vase that sold last week at Christies South Kensington. It was purchased for £1 at a “car boot” sale and brought to the Antiques Roadshow for appraisal and then to Christies to sell. Don’t you love stories like this?
£32,449 profit for car boot sale vase by Rene Lalique
BUT, closer to the ancestral home of RLalique.com, consider the story of a Tucson Arizona man named Carl Rice. Carl frequented weekend garage and estate sales in the Tucson area. His biggest profit ever on the re-sale of one of his weekend finds, was the $55 he had made selling a $25 purchase for $80! On June 16th 1996, as was his habit, Carl perused the estate sales listings in his local paper, and then he headed off to an estate sale at the home of the recently deceased 94 year old Martha Nelson, where the representatives of her estate were clearing out her possessions. There in the Nelson home, Carl bought a pair of paintings off the wall for the asking price of $88. He then re-sold the pair at Christies New York in December of 1996 for over One Million Dollars! That’s right, over $1,000,000! 
A local Tucson gallery owner saw the Christies catalog noting the Nelson estate provenance, and mentioned it to the representatives for the dead lady’s estate. They of course mentioned the good fortune of Lucky Carl to their lawyers, and Lucky Carl quickly found out that just as night follows day, lawsuits follow lawyers. They sued Lucky Carl in January 1998, claiming that it was somehow his responsibility to let them know they had underpriced the paintings by $1,071,912! This ridiculous lawsuit dragged on for nearly three years until December 2000 before being tossed out by the Arizona Court of Appeals. Somehow we have the feeling that Lucky Carl, while a little less lucky, is a whole lot smarter for the experience.
One final note about the case of Lucky Carl. The gallery owner that saw the provenance in the Christies catalogue and ratted out Lucky Carl, was quoted in the Tucson Daily Star newspaper as follows: “If you are going through an estate sale, YOU have a responsibility to say you are aware this is such a valuable painting.” Sure, that’s why people go to boot sales, garage sales, estate sales and the like. So that they can appraise and authenticate items for the sellers, and help the sellers identify hidden treasures. And here we thought all the people in Tucson lived on the same planet as the rest of us. We stand corrected.
And the moral of the story: It can never hurt to consult with an expert before selling. If you need an appraisal on your R Lalique items, check out the Rene Lalique Appraisal page here at RLalique.com.
