May 30th, 2011
 R. Lalique Glass chalked up another outstanding sales performance on May 26th at the mainstay semi-annual Lalique Sale held at Christies South Kensington in London. The sale has become a focal point for collectors and dealers around the world, and the last several showings have been quite strong, this rendition being no exception.
The sale featured 127 R. Lalique works. 19 of those 127 lots failed to sell, leaving a take-up rate of over 85%, a great result by any measurement. The R. Lalique sales totaled £585,620** including the buyers premium for the 108 sold lots, for an average price per lot of £5,422. Figuring an exchange rate of 1.63 dollars to the British Pound, the sale total was $954,561 and the average price per lot was $8,839.
 The sale started out well enough with a good run of Lalique’s Formose Vases comprising 9 of the first 12 lots. Joy McCall, the knowledgeable 20th Century Department Head at South Ken had a phone bidder who according to our man in the room bought 8 of those 9 vases! The prices on the 9 Formoses ranged from a low of £2,250 to a high of £12,500, with four of the Formoses making over £10,000. Lot 11, the agate colored Formose Vase (a cased somewhat gray opalescent shown here) was the high Formose seller and almost certainly a world record price for that color of this model vase.
This solid start set the tone for the rest of the session, with colored and other rare vases leading the way, but by no means the only strong sellers.
 High selling lot was tie between two vases, Lot 40 a good looking cased green Alicante Vase, and the final Lot 139, the opalescent Terpsichore Vase, both making £39,650. This is likely a world record price for the Terpsichore, this author knowing of no other example of this model having made over $60,000; this one hitting roughly $64,500.
Also breaking the £30,000 level was Lot 22, an amber Serpent Vase which made £34,850, just exceeding the former world record price for an Amber Serpent Vase set last December in New York City by Heritage Auctions of $56,673.
 Surpassing the £20,000 mark were Lot 138, a frosted Bacchantes Vase on bronze stand which made £22,500 and was arguably the strongest result of the entire sale and at over $38,000 a possible world record price for a frosted Bacchantes Vase. In addition Lot 18 a black Lezards et Bluets Vase made £22,500, and the ever popular art deco frosted with black enamel combination drew £23,750 for Lot 20, the Oranges Vase, and a strong £22,500 for Lot 23, the Tourbillons Vase.
Among strong results of note was £7,500 for Lot 37, the opalescent Danaides Vase, £8,125 for Lot 46 the blue Gui Vase, £5,000 for Lot 78 the Inseparables Clock, and £7,500 for the opalescent Borromee Vase selling as Lot 127.
Also of note was Lot 85, the Armes D’Angleterre Seal that made £8,750 from an Internet bidder, who was up against a young woman in the room. This seldom seen seal graced the pages of the Lalique Auction Listings here at the website for several weeks prior to the sale.
 With the auctioneer taking bids from around the globe including South Africa, Hong Kong, Bahrain and elsewhere (thankfully he didn’t mention Arizona), the depth and expanse of interest left smiles on the faces of the entire Christie’s staff but also left much of the regular crowd in the audience scrambling mainly for plates and bowls.
Price wise, the trend has certainly been the friend of all enthusiasts of the great Lalique as of late, and this sale showcased the across the board strength that has been the hallmark of the market for RLalique for several years now. Further consistent with recent experience, there were not a bunch of lots making runaway prices. Rather, the general tone has been solid and steady strong prices with increases in many items, and high absorption rates for quality items at anything resembling recent market pricing. A word to the wise of course is that the trend is your friend, until it isn’t!
Finally, this R Lalique News would not be complete without recording the several comments from participants concerning the professionalism and competence of the Christies staff. On the phone for inquiries or bidding, in correspondence, or on site at the previews or on sale day, our man at the auction and other daily followers of this website have consistently reported a high quality experience at Christies South Ken.
** All totals, averages, and currency conversions are approximate.
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May 25th, 2011
 Rene Lalique could not have a better representative to carry the water of his great art nouveau production than the wonderful Ivory Maiden Lalique Pendant that appeared as Lot 405 in Geneva Switzerland on May 17th as the single Rene Lalique unique jewelry piece in the Sotheby’s sale of “Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels”.
And this particular Lalique Pendant in this type of sale setting, provided as good an example as any to compare and contrast the jewelry artwork of Rene Lalique and its typical restrained use of valuable gems, with the large precious gemstone jewelry pieces so prevalent at top jewelry sales.
The pendant features a subdued carved female figure made from ivory, standing on a pedestal framed in a blue and lavender enameled floral art nouveau surround. The pendant is suspended from an enameled chain of rod or baton shaped links. And the presentation is finished with the classic Lalique Pearl Drop suspended from the bottom of the piece by a mount of small diamonds.
It is an amazing representative of the many incredible artful jewelry objects created by Lalique at the top of his artistic jewelry skills just after the turn of the century. This piece, created in the middle of the first decade after 1900, was destined to be one of the pieces that represent the end years of Lalique’s concentration on individual and unique objects.
It would not be long after the creation of this gem that fate would bring Lalique and Francois Coty together, and sweep them both up in the spreading industrial revolution of mass production, mass marketing, invention, and economies of scale.
 Helping things along at the auction was the fact that this pendant is shown in an original Rene Lalique Drawing reproduced in the seminal Sigrid Barten book on Lalique’s Jewelry and Unique Objects, Rene Lalique, Schmuck und Objet’s d’art 1890-1910 where it appears on Page 330; a little documentation never hurting a final price of course.
Against an estimate of CHF80,000 – CHF105,000 (roughly $92,000 to $120,000), the fabulous pendant was sold for CHF218,500 (about $250,000) to include the buyer’s premium.
The final price was over three times the low estimate and nearly 2 and 1/2 times the high estimate, an achievement not entirely unfamiliar of late to followers of this website.
Another jewel of a result for the great Lalique!
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May 4th, 2011
 The works of Rene Lalique, be they plates, bowls, or what have you (or what you don’t have?); they all have one thing in common. A picture is worth a thousand words!*** Or our point better made: Two pictures say it all!
Consider this online auction listing (cached version ****): LALIQUE SEA NYMPH “Ondines” Glass Plate Ebay Item No. 220777826015. Take a close look at the photos in that auction.
Are we missing something or is the first photo of an R. Lalique Ondines Plate, complete with signature and model number, while the second (and two others in the ad) are of a Calypso Bowl?
 We wrote the seller and never got a satisfactory answer. How could we. Here is what the seller replied when we told her we think the photos might be of two different items:
I was informed the this plate is named “Ondines” however whatever it is called the photos are of the actual plate.
Best
Crystal
REALLY Crystal???
Obviously, we put the auction on the R Lalique Police Page.
Maybe it’s a two for one sale. Chameleon Bowl/Plate? Whatever, get your bids in early and often.
*** A picture is worth a thousand words: Whatever the modern origin of that phrase, consider this from Napoleon Bonaparte: “Un bon croquis vaut mieux qu’un long discours”! Basically: A good sketch is better than a long speech! Heck, it’s almost like he knew Rene Lalique was coming down the road.
**** December 23, 2011 Switched Link to Cached Version of Original Listing
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May 1st, 2011
Rene Lalique Jewelry came thru once again with another firm sales result at Sotheby’s New York on April 14th. The only R. Lalique item in their Sale of Magnificent Jewels, Lot 277 was a nearly three foot long Longchain Necklace which featured four basically identical design elements of green enameled and gold leaves decorated with a half pearl on each side of each leaf. These four elements were interspersed between green enamel rods.
 Against an estimate of $20,000 to $30,00, it came right in the mid-range for a hammer price of $26,000, with the 25% buyers premium pushing the final all-in total sale price to $32,500.
Longchain necklaces are uniquely suited to modern fashion because elegant examples not overloaded with design elements can be worn to accompany both more formal or informal dress. But with the size of Lalique’s design work on the elements being small in relation to the overall scope of the piece, a necklace such as this one might not garner the kind of price that a unique Lalique brooch or other item would demand.
Of course, there is the whole “un-flashy” look about a piece such as this one. And this necklace at this price is actually wearable in ways that some of the higher priced Rene Lalique Jewellery might not be. This Longchain also has the wonderful flexibility of being suitable for the roaring 20’s flapper** long chain look, or it can be worn with an extra wrap around the neck to shorten it up. Either way, it’s an accoutrement and not the center of attention.
Elegant and restrained are the two words that come to mind when seeing a Lalique necklace such as this in person. And while it is far from the most expensive Lalique Jewelry item to cross the block recently, it has an appeal at least as great today as when it was created over 100 years ago.
For more information about the great jewelry of Rene Lalique, head over to the Lalique Jewelry section of the Rene Lalique Bio, where you’ll find links to all the vast jewelry resources on RLalique.com. Or Lalique Longchain Necklace will take you straight to our original auction listing.
** Flapper is word used to describe young women that ignored social norms in the first few decades of the 1900’s. Put together thoughts like Jazz, prohibition in the U.S., dancing, smoking, drinking, short skirts, makeup, and driving a car (heaven forfend :), and you begin to get the stereotypical picture of an emerging liberal counterculture represented by the “flappers” in the more stern social setting of 100 years ago. Of course getting the vote for women was also a liberal counterculture idea in the earliest part of the 20th century!
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April 25th, 2011
Lalique’s unique and functional objects d’art have performed very well at auction over the past several years, and a carved horn Lalique Letter Opener (aka Lalique Paper Knife **) which appeared at Auction Atrium in London this past week was no exception.
  Found in a desk drawer while clearing out some of the contents of a private home, and brought to the auction house only as an afterthought by the owner after nearly throwing the object away, the overall appearance and condition of the great Rene Lalique Paper knife was obviously judged much more harshly by the vendor and the auction house than by staffers at RLalique.com and ultimately by the large contingent of active bidders which emerged once the existence of the Lalique horn object became known.
The Letter Opener was a close variant of an amazingly similar paper knife that was pictured in a 1905 volume of the magazine Art Et Decoration (reproduced in the photo on the right). It featured a hand carved design of wheat on the upper portion and the great LALIQUE carved-in-the-horn signature shown below.
Working off a modest £300 low estimate, the Letter Opener was hammered down for over £10,000! Here’s a link to our original listing for the great Lalique Letter Opener.
The auction house described the bidding activity and final price quite succinctly in a post sale report to RLalique.com:
The piece was hotly contested last night as you suspected it would be and in the end sold for a hefty £13,020 (£10,500 selling price plus 20% buyers premium and Value Added Tax – VAT on the premium at the UK rate of 20%) which I am sure was down to your listing (emphasis added of course).
 Another high point for the great Rene Lalique, and a pretty good turn for Auction Atrium having properly identified the item as a circa 1900 Carved Horn Lalique Paper Knife, making it easier for us to find it and tell bidders worldwide about its upcoming appearance. And yet another demonstration of the reach and the salubrious market effect of RLalique.com!
And along those lines, one point cannot be emphasized too often: If bidders remember to tell auction houses that they saw an item at RLalique.com, and if worldwide interest and bidding ensues after our listing an item, as it so often does and as it did in this instance, then auction houses will be much more likely to seek out great Lalique items for upcoming sales! And they will be much more likely to let us know about those future items due to the beneficial effects of our Worldwide Auctions Listings. In addition, the resulting news or publicity about the state of the market will also be beneficial, drawing out items to auction, and increasing worldwide interest in the collecting field. This is a win-win-win-win situation for consignors that will see more bidding activity; for bidders that will be able to see and choose from more pieces around the world; for auction houses as they recognize the strong and vibrant market for the works of Lalique and take advantage of that market; and for collectors that will likely see a stronger and more active marketplace for items when they decide to sell.
“I saw it at RLalique.com!”
** Paper Knife is the term for what we call a letter opener today. It’s a knife used to cut paper, not a knife made of paper. Back in the day it had more uses than just a letter opener. Notable among those uses was cutting pages of printed books that were not trimmed enough around the outer edges to separate the pages during printing.
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March 12th, 2011
Rene Lalique’s star once again shined brightly in New York, this time at Sotheby’s 20th Century Design Sale on March 10th. Sotheby’s offered up 15 great lots including a rare collection of five seldom seen Veilleuses, as well a few hanging light fixtures, a couple of nice vase lots, two attractive plates, one cachet, and two lots of architectural panels.
 There were three hanging light fixtures: the half bowl shaped Charmes with four matching glass plaques incorporated into the hanging cords, the rare Madrid Chandelier, and the large Fougeres Chandelier. The Madrid (pictured below) was the high seller for Lalique with an all-in price of $46,875 (all prices in this article include buyers premium), the Fougeres made $31,250, and the Charmes made a very strong $16,250.
For the vases, Sotheby’s presented a gray glass Bacchantes which tied for second high seller for Lalique at $34,375, and a rare Deux Anneaux Lezards Vase, an elegant and tall clear vase with hanging lizard decorated side rings, which made $31,250.
The plates were composed of the attractive though frequently seen Calypso, a nearly 15 inch wide plate which made $3,750 as the second lowest selling Lalique item, and the enameled rare Souris plate of nearly identical size which brought $18,750.
Both architectural panel lots were of the “Fleurs” design; each included more than one panel, with both lots presented in modern frames. One of these lots reached $21,250, while the other hit $32,500 claiming the fourth highest selling slot for Lalique.
 Low Lalique seller was the iconic 1910 Gros Bourdon (Large Bumblebee) Seal that sold for $2500.
A Veilleuse is a night-light, basically a small table lamp. Of the five Rene Lalique Veilleuses, the rare and highly attractive Pissenlit Veilleuse sold for $34,375 making it the other second highest Lalique seller of the day, while Hirondelles, Veronique, and Branches De Prunus Veilleuses made $25,000, $23,750 and $22,500 respectively.
The 15th lot and the fifth Veilleuse, was the Veilleuse Brule-Parfum (perfume burner) Pommier, which sold for $21,250.
The works of the great Rene Lalique totaled $365,625 for an average of over $24,000 per lot. Note that you can see all of these items and thousands more by going to the Past Lalique Auctions main page at RLalique.com. There you can research great Lalique works in the RLalique.com past auctions database by category, such as all the Lalique Lighting or all the Lalique Plates in our database.
In spite of the fact that many of the wonderful items in this Sotheby’s sale are not widely collected (likely owing to the fact that some are so rare there just aren’t many examples to go around), the sale results showed strength across the board and represented yet another highly successful auction in a continuing trend of great auction results for R. Lalique. The take-up rate for R. Lalique (sold lots as a percentage of offered lots) in this sale? 100%. Oh yeah!
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January 7th, 2011
 R. Lalique Spirit of the Wind Lalique Victoire Hood Ornament For Sale! Only minor damage AND “It has never been for sale before…” it’s Item No. 160528702044 which has since been removed by Ebay.
Update: After receiving complaints about the auction, the seller changed out the stolen photo to a photo of a different Victoire Hood Ornament and amended the description to list more damage. Here is a link to a cached version of the original listing with the stolen photo showing: Stolen Photo Original Listing****
 And here is a post complaint photo of a Victoire the seller then claimed he was actually selling in the now deleted listing, which is obviously not the one in the original photo and listing as shown in the cached version of the original ad. Needs a bit of nose job don’t you think? End of Update Section, but see Danger Sign #6 Below.
Danger signs:
1. The auction advertisement has one photo in it, a photo that you can find elsewhere on the web if you look around a bit. Seriously, do you need more warning signs than that? If you are even thinking of bidding knowing this, serious due diligence should be taken to confirm the seller is in possession of the pictured item.
2. The seller has 18 feedbacks over 6 months or so. The top three transactions are for $85, $30, and $20! Heck, there’s even one for $0.99 (that’s ninety nine cents).
3. $32 shipping charge would not even cover the insurance!
4. Sellers of expensive items with high starting prices usually have lots of photos, not just one.
And MOST importantly:
5. This listing sits atop the list of suspicious items on the R. Lalique Police Page!
Update:
6. The Seller showed a single photo in the original ad of a Victoire that clearly was not for sale and coincidentally was a lot nicer looking than the one in the replacement photo later shown in the now deleted ad. Inquiring minds might ask: Was this fool me twice? End of Update
 It’s always a good idea to ask an online seller for more photos, just to be sure they have the item. But getting more photos is still not a guarantee that the seller owns the item shown in the ad or the item shown in the additional photos (what, they’re not the same item?), but it’s a good starting point to screen out many possible problems. And an even better idea to talk to an independent Lalique Consultant to minimize the chance of a major mistake!
The two photos in this article were taken from two different places. One is from the auction ad, the other from the web. Now seriously, which of the two photos here is the one from the auction, and which is the one you can find on the web? Hmmmmmmm …..
So be careful out there. The best case here would appear to be that the seller just took a photo off the web being too lazy or unable to take his or her own photos of this apparently expensive item. And even this best case would usually be a big problem if the photo taken from the web is not a photo of the actual item for sale (a bit unlikely?). Care should be taken to sort it out before bidding.
And finally, there’s an extension of Ebay scams where there is a stolen or borrowed photo listing to be aware of if you do run into one. After the auction ends or Ebay cancels the listing, if you had written the seller during the auction to make an inquiry, then after the auction you might get something like this:
“Hi,
My Lalique “BACCHANTES” Vase is not on ebay anymore, but it’s still available for sale.
My usual schedule has been changed and I had to go to Spain to take care of some business and that’s why I closed my auction.
The final price for the vase is US $ 1,700.00 including all the shipping costs and insurance. The vase is in perfect condition with no chips, cracks or dings.
Also I want to let you know that you will have the opportunity to receive and inspect the vase before you actually pay for it. If you are interested and want to know more details regarding the purchase just contact me.
Thanks,
Leda
P.S: If you want to see more pictures with the vase give me your email address.”
If you bite, the follow-up to this email is that there is an escrow website you can wire your money to before you receive the item. But of course you can get your money back if there is any problem. Really?
**** About the Cached Auction Link: 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 click on the image and see if that expands it. If not, 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.
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December 16th, 2010
 Rene Lalique was represented by just 5 items in the sale of Important 20th Century Design at Sotheby’s New York on December 16th.
But those five Lalique sale items gave this Sotheby’s decorative arts sale the highest price total for R. Lalique in a single auction for the year 2010, with the 5 lots all selling, and making a premium inclusive total of $1,301,500!
Things started off well, with the Lalique Chandelier Normandie (Sotheby’s took pains to point out that this R. Lalique Normandie Chandelier was not on the ship of the same name) making a high bid/premium inclusive total of $55,000/$68,500 against an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000.
Next up was the unique and totally cool roughly 2 foot by 2 foot four inch pastel, water color and pencil Rene Lalique illustration done by Lalique for the cover of the Christmas Issue of the famous French magazine L’illustration. Named “Noel”, the original Lalique work on paper reached $30,000/$37,500 against a conservative estimate of $15,000 to $20.000.
Following the successful offering of the painting, was a great looking Rene Lalique Peacock Table Lamp “Paons”.
This approximately 16.75 inches tall lamp did not have the pierced shade with finial attachment often seen on this model and of course, it’s an early (1910) well coordinated design between the glass shade and the lamp base decoration.
For the third time in as many lots, the great Lalique item topped it’s estimate, making $80,000/$98,500 against a pre-sale of only $40,000 to $60,000.
 The fourth offering was the 1914 Cire Perdue Vase Baies De Cornouiller. The vase is a classic Lalique vase form, with a widening body coming up from the base and then pulling back over the shoulders of the vase into a rim whose width nearly matches the diameter of the base. This classically shaped vase had the added bonus of the high relief floral design wrapping around the great early cire perdue.
The Lalique Vase was a bit under 8 and 1/2 inches, and between two determined phone bidders it made $410,000/$494,500, topping the already strong estimate of $300,000 to $400,000.
The fifth and final item, was the Lalique Cire Perdue Statue Figure Femme Et Guirlande De Fleurs. This statue had been seriously damaged, having been broken into at least two pieces earlier in its life, and it has been said that it was put back together and restored under the supervision of Marie Claude Lalique.
 Twice this statue was offered for sale at auction in France in recent years, where it failed to sell at much more conservative estimates, albeit in more conservative times for prices as well.
But every statue has it’s day, and in this strong market, and on this day the very optimistic estimate of $600,00 to $900,000, was buttressed by a write-up by Felix Marcilhac as a catalogue note, in which Mr. Marcilhac related that Marie Claude Lalique felt this specific statue was her grandfather’s most important work
 The statue was the day’s high R. Lalique seller and at the same time was the only R. Lalique sale item whose bid price did not get into the estimate range, let alone exceed it. Fabulously, the tragic cire perdue statue made $500,000/$602,500 to top all Lalique and pull the sale total for the five lots well over the $1,000,000 mark. In dollars the statue’s price represented nearly 1/2 the R. Lalique sale total for the auction.
This price also made the R. Lalique Cire Perdue Statue the highest selling individual R. Lalique glass work at auction in quite some time. Quite a long time.
You can find all the resources at RLalique.com about Rene Lalique’s Cire Perdue Glass in the Cire Perdue Section of the R. Lalique Bio. This R.Lalique Statue is also listed in the Lalique Cire Perdue past auctions section at RLalique.com.
 We seem to be wrapping up a lot of these reports with the observation that for the great Lalique, prices continue strong (but not overheated), great items are getting scarce, and the market continues to expand. What the heck, good news is always welcome!
This sale marks a strong note as we near the finish line in a great year at auction for R. Lalique. This is especially impressive when considering the state of the world economy, and the increased supply that has appeared on the market.
We’ll try to do at least one more Lalique sales results article before year end, to catch up on some odds and ends from the last month or so, that by themselves were quite impressive, and that in total lend more credence to the notions expressed on these pages about the current state of affairs.
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December 11th, 2010
Rene Lalique sales continue to make strong results at auction as shown at the December 9th semi-annual sale of R. Lalique at Christies South Kensington salerooms.
Christies offered up 239 mostly R. Lalique lots, with 172 of those lots selling for a total price including buyers premium (all prices in this article include the premium) of £698,263. Christies figured the equivalent US dollars at $1,103,959 using an exchange rate of around $1.58**. The take-up rate in numbers of lots was 72%, and in British Pounds it was 68%.
 Top seller, and no surprise was Lot 23, the Lalique Car Mascot Comete, which made £58,850/$92,042 against a spot on estimate of £50,000 – £60,000. A fair price, it sold to the local trade for stock. A few of the other pieces that were in the running before the auction for high seller, such as the rare (and wonderful design) Tresor de la Mer Perfume Presentation****, a lot which was rumored to have serious issues, failed to sell. And a couple of others that might have been, just did not catch the attention of the bidders to the degree necessary to move them into first place!
Second high seller, and a bit of surprise was the cased white opalescent Lalique Vase Sauterelles, which against an estimate of £10,000 – £15,000, reached £30,000/$47,430. No doubt this is a world record price for this model vase in cased opalescent glass.
 Note: Keep an eye on the Rene Lalique Sales Section at RLalique.com. There’s already a good selection of colored glass and other vases, and it is rumored that another Cased White Opalescent Sauterelles Vase will be offered in the near future.
The great early (1912) Rene Lalique grasshopper vase design got serious interest throughout the sale as a green glass Sauterelles sold as Lot 54 for £21,250/$33,696, and a frosted and patinated Sauterelles topped $10,000 making £6,875/$10,869!
Third high seller was the interesting 1931 Lalique Enfant Statue. The statue, possibly made as the centerpiece for a table, had a well documented provenance from Rene Lalique’s workshops, and was a good-looking and attractive design as well. Against an estimate of £25,000 – £30,000, it made £27,500/$43,478.
 Next high seller was Lot 207, the OK looking (we don’t know about the condition) yellow amber opalescent Suzanne Statue which sold for #23,750/$37,549.
It tied in price with Lot 236, a green Perruches Vase, and squeaked in just ahead of Lot 225, the blue Perruches Vase at #22,500/$35,573.
It’s apparent that at least for now we’ve reached new consistent price levels for many of the various colors of Perruches vases, with several sales this year in the range of $35,000 to $45,000.
Matching the blue Perruches Vase price was the good looking and scare Lot 30, the Picardie Vase.
 Notable upside surprises included Lot 1, the Toby Paperweight which made £5,250/$8,300 to start the sale off with a bang, and Lot 56, the Red Ronces Vase at £10,000/$15,810 certainly another world record price continuing the red hot Lalique Red Vase trend. Even some lesser priced lots outdid themselves such as Lot 147 consisting of a Chiens Bowl and Chicoree Bowl which made £2,500/$3,953.
Or how about a Palestre Vase with a replaced base (yes, a replaced bottom) that sold for £17,500/$27,668, just sliding into the top 10 seller list? Things are really strong when you see that.
The Christies results owe as much to the great selection assembled by Joy McCall and the knowledgeable staff at Christies, as they do to the overall strong market trends. This sale, with some great new records and strength throughout most areas, may turn out to have the highest sale total of the year for R. Lalique in a single auction. But the result is no outlier, as even less publicized and smaller offering auctions have achieved some significant price gains for Lalique’s works, which we will undoubtedly bring to your attention in the not too distant future.
 In the meantime, remember that even in strong markets, caution must be exercised in your collecting efforts. Getting caught up in the sweep, and spending heavily on assembled items, paying top dollar for low quality examples, or buying other pieces that you might avoid if you knew better (or if you got a second opinion), is no way to create a world class collection. Read Rene Lalique reference books, get as R. Lalique educated as you can, handle as much R. Lalique as you can, get independent R. Lalique advice, take care in your associations, avoid hucksters and fraudsters (they will always get the better of you), and exercise restraint and caution as you would in any financial dealings. If you do all this, you are likely to enjoy the results of your collecting efforts to a far greater degree, hopefully for a lifetime instead of a short time, than you will if you throw caution to the wind.
** The exchange rate of $1.58 on the day of the sale would not have been generally available to most buyers depending on the transaction size, method of payment, and to some degree the importance of the buyer with their financial intermediary. But for simplicity sake, we are using the Christies rate for all conversions in this article.
**** The 1936 Tresor de la Mer Perfume Presentation, made by Rene Lalique for Saks, is the highest selling Rene Lalique Perfume at auction in history, making over $200,000 in November 2006.
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December 5th, 2010
 Rene Lalique Antiques made another great showing December 4th at Heritage Auctions in New York City at their sale of Lalique, Art Glass, and Perfume Bottles. Heritage offered 177 R. Lalique items in Session 2 of the 3 Session Sale***, and then 48 more R. Lalique pieces in an internet only bidding Session 3. All of the 177 lots in Session 2 were reported sold (which may not be correct, we thought there were half dozen no-sales from watching the auction but we could be wrong about that), and 45 of the 48 in the Internet only Session 3 were sold. Total R. Lalique sale offerings were 225, total reported sold were 222 for a reported take-up rate 98.6%.
 Total sales dollars for the 222 lots were $869,906 or an average of $3918 per lot. Even if we are right about the small number of no-sales, the take-up rate would still be above 95%, and the lot average and sale total would not be materially affected.
High seller was the great looking Lalique Serpent Vase in rich amber glass selling as Lot No. 70334. An outstanding example of this increasingly hard to find model (a New York Lalique Dealer was overheard to say it was a “5” – “1. Best 2. One 3. I’ve 4. Ever 5. Seen”), it hammered town at $47,500 and totaled $56,762 including the 19.5% buyers premium. This is almost certainly a world record auction price for this model. Coincidentally, the Lalique Sale in New York last year for Heritage also saw a Rene Lalique Serpent Vase in amber glass as the high selling lot. Last year’s offering made a hammer price of $40,000, and $47,800 all-in.
2nd high seller, and a bit of a surprise placement, was the Source De La Fontaine Statue Echo, which made an all-in $33,460 selling as Lot No. 70338. Note: In the Past Lalique Auctions Section at RLalique.com, you’ll find R. Lalique past sales broken down into many categories. It’s worth checking out!
After the Echo, next high seller was a dark amber Lalique Gros Scarabees Vase, that made $28,680 selling as Lot No. 70332.
 Two other lots topped $20,000, including the Red Poissons Vase at $23,900 and the great looking Lot 70171, the 1925 black and orange enameled Roditi & Sons Perfume bottle Raquel Meller making $20,315 all-in. This is one of the most striking and seldom seen of all Rene Lalique Perfume Bottles (the link will take you to the Rene Lalique Bio Perfume Bottle section where you will find links to all R. Lalique Perfume Bottle resources on RLalique.com).
Spots six and seven were taken up by a frosted Victoire Mascot and an Amber Perruches Vase, both making north of $19,000 all-in.
Another great sale, an amazing take-up rate, strong pricing and even a bit of world record pricing.
 Is this sounding familiar or what?
*** Note: At least one lot of R. Lalique was a mixed lot with other items and is reported as an R. Lalique lot.
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December 1st, 2010
 Today, December 1st, 2010, we set the record at RLalique.com for most auctions listed in the Worldwide R. Lalique Auctions Section of the website at one time, with 100 auctions listed coming up around the world that have R. Lalique in them! From Budapest to Boston, and from Melbourne to Manasquan (that’s in New Jersey:), great R. Lalique works coming up for auction such as those pictured here! Global warming has nothing on RLalique.com. At World Headquarters we are HOT!
And, in the don’t break your elbow while patting yourself on the back department (oh yea, we’ve got a department for that too), even more impressive, those auctions are spread around 14 countries! That’s right 14, which is a new record for the number of countries listed at any one time.
 Here’s the country list for inquiring minds:
Australia
Belgium
Canada
France
Germany
Great Britain
Hungary
Italy
New Zealand
Scotland
South Africa
Sweden
Switzerland
United States
We also set a record in the R. Lalique Police Department this month with 50 active listings on the Police Report Page at one time!
As our reach grows and the popularity of the site continues to grows, more and more information flows into World Headquarters and back out to benefit those of you that follow the site and are involved with the output of Rene Lalique.
 More bidders, more auction action for the works of the great Lalique, more exposure in the art world, more publicity, better prices: Everyone benefits!
And think about joining the growing list of Collectors and Enthusiasts of the great Lalique that help keep us informed, emailing in auction information, information on fakes news, pricing and results, even condition information if you think it’s important. Pick any email address on the site if you think something will be helpful to the growing worldwide collector community and send it in. You’ll be helping a lot of R. Lalique enthusiasts by getting involved, and you’ll be helping yourself by contributing to the improvement of the collecting and enthusiasts’ field which you have in common with a lot of people you know, and lot more that you don’t.
R. Lalique is setting records. So are we. Spread the word.
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November 29th, 2010
Rene Lalique glass continues to make new record high prices as it appears at auction around the world. Sunday November 28th was one of those record price days.
First spotted by an alert staff member here at World Headquarters in early November (staff members do all the work but remain totally nameless and anonymous, getting no credit and even less pay!), the nondescript auction listing in an obscure place read as follows:
“Lalique Rose Console Bowl”!
The automatic follow up email headed to the Douglassville Pennsylvania office of Ron Rhoads Auction House (and inquiring minds ask, why isn’t it Ron AND Eileen Rhoads Auction House, or Rhoads and Rhoads, that has a nice ring to it) that simply said:
“Hello. We saw in your listing for Nov 27th that you had some Lalique. If any of it is signed R. Lalique, can you email us a photo or point us to a photo on the web? Thanks” Note: the sale was a two day sale on the 27th and 28th.
Turns out Eileen Rhoads is no slouch and she replied the same day with the above photo of the red piece that was not signed R. Lalique.
Definitely red wouldn’t you say? And signed R. Lalique or not, it’s what the two Hatfields were overheard to say just before the shooting started: “That’s a real McCoy”! ****
Well, after further inquiries and information gathering, we posted this Great Lalique Red Glass Vase not just in our R. Lalique Auctions listings, but we also did a News & Blog article about the appearance in rural Pennsylvania of this Classic Red Lalique Vase, that sported the timeless 1919 impressed LALIQUE signature. We thought at the time that it needed all the exposure we could give it, in order to ensure that everyone around the world was aware of this great colored vase and that all interested parties would have a chance at it. Also, the discovery of great things in quiet places makes for a pretty good story too!
 Fast forwarding a bit to November 28th, 9 (that’s nine) phone bidders from the U.S. and several countries around the world, as well as several different bidders that made the trip to the Rhoads’ auction venue in Spring City Pennsylvania (many of whom volunteered “I saw it on RLalique.com”, the rest must have just been tight lipped), competed to take the vase to a hammer price of $115,000, which this writer believes is a record hammer price for any R. Lalique Colored Glass production vase at auction anywhere in the world. All-in, with the modest 15% buyer’s premium, the total cost to the winning bidder before any sales tax, was $132,250! This all-in price falls just short of the all-in record for a Lalique colored glass vase, which is believed to have been made at Sotheby’s in New York City on December 14th, 2007 for a cased yellow amber opalescent Oranges Vase (optimistically but incorrectly referred to as the “Orange Oranges”), which hammered out for less than the Hirondelles, at $110,000, but had a bigger buyer’s premium of $23,000, for a total sale price of $133,000. This writer happened to stumble into the room at Sothebys in New York just before the bidding began on the Oranges Vase back in 2007, and after a modest amount, by memory well under $50,000, it was just two bidders to the roof.
For the great red vase, the auction house reported that there were several bidders still in the bidding at $100,000, and several others just below that. A stunning display of the depth of interest in great R. Lalique colored glass vases from places all around the globe. Not only did the vase set a sales record, but also the Rhoads’ have a heck of an up to date list of serious R. Lalique buyers for anyone looking to auction off some great R. Lalique items!
In the end, the vase sold in the United States, to a Southwestern U.S. collector! Hmmm…
In the audience at the auction were two of the heirs to the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Baker. Mr. Baker was a railroad collecting legend and author, and Mrs. Baker was known as the “Queen of Glass”, having written a featured column for 19 years in a major antiques publication. The Baker Estate was selling the vase thru Rhoads (and Rhoads). Neither the heirs nor the regulars in attendance had any warning that this was going to be the high selling piece or that it would sell so highly. After the great vase crossed the block, there was applause throughout and tears among many of the interested parties that were involved with the estate and the auction. Another great day for the great Rene Lalique!
**** The Hatfields and the McCoys carried out the most famous and legendary family feud in American history. The Hatfields (shown above in the great family photo) lived mostly on the West Virginia side of the Tug Fork River (which is a small tributary to the Big Sandy River), and the McCoys lived mainly across the stream on the Kentucky side. The feud lasted from 1865 to 1891 and many members of both families were killed and various family members taken to trial for crimes committed during the feud. This feud has become folklore and is referenced regularly to describe bitter long running disputes in the U.S. The phrase “the real McCoy” is a phrase that denotes the genuine, real, or authentic thing. There are many theories about how the phrase came to be, one of which actually involves the feud! But likely the phrase has nothing to do with the Hatfield-McCoy drama, we just thought it worked in nicely since the red glass vase IS the real McCoy 🙂
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November 25th, 2010
Rene Lalique Glass was represented in Bonham’s November 17th London “Design from 1860” Sale by 25 lots near the end of the morning sale session. As is typical, just over half, or 13 of the lots were the famous Lalique Vases, including two lots which had two vases in each lot.
 High selling vase and high seller for all the Lalique was the great looking 1937 Art Deco and figural oblong Lalique Vase Terpsichore in opalescent glass. It made £27,500 hammer price, or £33,000. And at 1.68 to the dollar (used for all computations in this article), about $55,400 including buyers premium. A standout result and an indicator that high-end opalescent vases are participating in the price gains seen the past several years by Lalique’s colored glass vases. For more information about this lot, check out the original Lalique Terpischore Vase auction listing in the Auctions Past section of the website.
 Next high seller, at £21,600/$36,300 all-in, was the Lalique Coffret Figurines. Selling as Lot 264, the wood box with glass panel inserts, sported only 2 glass panels, and did not match the 5-panel model shown in the catalogue raisonne. It also may be the same box that has been offered at auction in two other countries without success in the last year or so. Nonetheless, to Bonham’s credit, the attractive box went off at a great price, and a well-earned 2nd place in the Lalique Sales sweepstakes.
 Prices dropped off pretty quickly from there, with the next several high sellers making roughly a quarter or less of the 2nd place price. Lot 254, a good looking Lalique Piriac Vase in blue glass, came 3rd at £5,760/$9,700. 4th/5th slot was a tie between Lot 252, a yellow amber and cased opalescent Lalique Chardons vase, and Lot 249, a Lalique Grande Libellule Dragonfly Car Mascot. Each was all-in for £4,800/$8,100.
Of the initial 25 offerings, 24 found new owners, for a nearly perfect take-up rate of 96% for the works of the great Lalique. In all the Lalique sales totaled £107,340/$180,300 with the two top lots representing roughly 50% of the 24 lot total.
For more information about the great Lalique’s vases, check out the Rene Lalique Vases section of Lalique Biography at RLalique.com, where you’ll find links to all the Lalique vase information and resources on the website.
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November 22nd, 2010
The great Lalique has made another strong auction showing, this time on November 17th at Christies in Geneva Switzerland.
On offer in “Jewels: The Geneva Sale”, was a single piece of Rene Lalique unique jewelry described as “An Art Nouveau Fringe Necklace by Rene Lalique”. This wonderful artistic creation was sold along with its “beige fabric Lalique case”. And the entire lot was highlighted in the Worldwide Lalique Auctions Section at RLalique.com for several weeks. Here is the original Lalique Necklace listing.
The elegant Lalique collier is referenced in the seminal work by Sigrid Barten, “Rene Lalique Schmuck und Objects d’art 1890-1910“. Composed of pearls, brown glass, white enamel and gold, it is a striking showpiece measuring 40 centimeters and being circa approximately 1900.
Against a pre-sale estimate of $61,000 – $81,000, the necklace made over 5 times the low estimate and over 4 times the high, ending at a resounding CHF 327,000 or $333,661 including the buyer’s premium.
Described in the sale catalogue as “The Property of a Lady”, the winning bidder secured what can only be described, notwithstanding its lack of precious stones, as a real gem of a necklace and an outstanding piece of Lalique Art Nouveau artwork.
For links to all of the jewellery resources at RLalique.com, check out the Lalique Jewellery Section of the Rene Lalique Bio.
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November 18th, 2010
A rare and attractive red glass R. Lalique Hirondelles Vase circa 1919 has appeared at Ron Rhoads Auction House of Spring City, Pennsylvania. Spring City is in Chester County, just southeast of Pottstown near the Benjamin Franklin Highway (which is US-422). It’s less than an hour drive northwest of Philadelphia. The sale date is November 28th.
 If you’re making the trip, this entire area is rich in American history, with everything from the Liberty Bell to Independence Hall open to the public in Philadelphia. There are cheesesteaks too, but that is another (tasteful) story. Heading out of Philadelphia to Spring City, US-422 passes right by Valley Forge, the infamous winter camp of the Continental Army during 1777-1778.
 The wonderful vase, with the molded 1919 impressed LALIQUE signature, is one of the great early colored Rene Lalique Vases. Hirondelles is the French word for Swallows, which adorn the vase in a red and frosted band around the midsection, and which contrast with the highly polished finish of the red glass on the un-decorated parts the vase. The auction house says the vase is in amazing nearly new condition.
You can read more about this great find in the Lalique Auctions section of RLalique.com. And you’ll find links to all the vase information at RLalique.com in the Rene Lalique Bio Lalique Vase section.
This vase is in the estate of Mr. And Mrs. Stanley Baker of Minneapolis Minnesota. Mr. Baker had a very interesting life. Among other things, he was a longtime and well known Railroadiana collector and a noted author. His wife wrote for the Antique Trader.
The contact at Ron Rhoads is Eileen. The phone number there is 610-385-4818.
Update: Read the RLalique.com report about the sale of the great R. Lalique Red Vase!
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