Posts Tagged ‘Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes’
Myosotis Garniture De Toilette Dresser Set: Background And Appraisal Video
April 20th, 2014
Rene Lalique created several different Garnitures De Toilette (dresser, dressing table, or bathroom sets). The earliest set was created in 1909, with the most prevalent models following in 1919 and 1920 when Fleurettes and Epines were introduced just in time for the roaring 20’s. In the mid 1920’s Perles would make its appearance, and in 1931 Dahlia, Duncan and Enfants would appear in swift succession. Finally during the war years, Helene’s two bottles and one box debuted in 1942.
But the most visually stunning, the set with the largest bottles, and the only one of all the Garnitures to feature nude figures would come in 1928! Just three bottles and one covered box. Their name derives from the Greek word for “mouse ear”, the name given to a plant genus with over 200 varieties; so named because of the shape of the leafs which surround the small, usually less than a centimeter wide typically five lobed flowers. The flowering plant exists in Europe and in places as far away as New Zealand and Alaska (where one variety is the state flower).
 The plant is the stuff of legends in Germany, where one legend has it that when God named all the plants, a small genus cried out, Forget-me-not, O Lord! And God replied by naming the plant just that. A bit closer to our time, in the 1400’s in Germany, it was commonly held that if someone wore the flower from this plant, their lovers would not forget them! In 1926 it was adopted as an emblem by the German Freemasons as a message not to forget the needy (Das Vergissmeinnicht), and was likewise adopted by other charitable groups in Germany and elsewhere. It’s also rumored that the Freemasons used it during the Nazi era in Germany in substitution for their typical square and compass symbol as a secret outward means of identification when the Nazis began confiscating Freemason property.
 Thoreau (“the mouse ear forget me not…”) and other writers of the 19th and 20th centuries incorporated it into the classic literature of our upbringing. And in 1928, Rene Lalique adopted it as the design motif for the Garniture he named after that same flowering plant: Myosotis. It’s French for “forget-me-not”!
The three different sized flask style bottles are each trimmed on the sides in Myosotis, as is the base and cover of the matching box. All four pieces have a different figure on top **; the bottles as the stopper decoration, and the box incorporated into the center of the top of the lid for easy handling.
The bottles range in height from 23 to 29 centimeters, and the box is 16 cm tall.*** All four models are hard to find in good condition today. The reasons for this include the relative high cost of the bottles when originally marketed in the late 20’s and throughout much of the 1930’s, so huge numbers were not sold; the fact that they were introduced just before the depression which had an obvious negative effect on sales all the way up to the start of World War II; and the fact that the large size and narrow flask shape of the bottles made it easy to knock them over, and made it likely that just one fall would do great and irreparable damage.
 Finally, as with other large nude stoppered pieces such as the vases Douze Figurines Avec Bouchon Figurine (the barrel), and Sirenes Avec Bouchon Figurine (the flask), leaving the stopper in the bottles for long periods of time (decades in many instances) gave rise to glass sickness in the bottles, an unsightly interior cloudiness that is now a common trait of a great percentage of these bottles when they do appear. **** / *****
Single bottles come up at auction a few times a year somewhere in the world. Complete sets of all four items are very seldom seen, and even sets of just the three bottles are very hard to find as well.
A three piece set with two bottles and the box as shown here did appear at Sotheby’s Paris in November 2009 where it sold for a premium inclusive total of €16,250 for the three pieces, over double the high estimate of €6000 – €8000.
A set of the three bottles sans box also shown here was offered in March of this year at the Drouot in Paris by Coutau-Bégarie with an estimate of €16,000 – €18,000. The auction house chose a close-up of the these three bottles as the cover illustration for their catalogue as shown at the top of this article. The bottles appeared to have glass sickness as seen in the lot photo above, and did not sell.
Finally of course, below is the three bottle set that walked into the U.S. Antiques Roadshow in Corpus Christi Texas. Credit goes to the family cat for the absence of the matching box (didn’t these come with a house pets warning label?), and each surviving bottle in the set had damage, or the sickness that can be seen in the photo, or both. Yet with all those complications, we judge the appraiser came inside the wide range of right with her valuation. The picture is linked to the roadshow page where you can watch the video.
** The stopper design for the largest of the perfume bottles was also used for the Floreal Paperweight mounted on a square black base. This model is extremely rare to find in the authentic R. Lalique version shown in the preceding link. However it has been mightily reproduced in crystal by the modern Cristal Lalique company.
*** Additional information can be found in the Rene Lalique Catalogue here at RLalique.com in the Perfume Bottles category for the bottles, and in the Box category for the box.
**** Glass sickness, or the clouding of the interior of the glass, can usually be removed, but this will have to wait for another article down the road. However we can say for sure now, that the contributing factor of the stopper has nothing to do with its nude (or not) decoration! 🙂
***** You might wonder why the Myosotis bottles are referred to as perfume bottles, flacons, cologne bottles, or Eau De Toilette bottles, while the two Sirenes stoppered bottles mentioned here are called vases. It’s a one-word answer: marketing.
Tags: R Lalique Vases and Rene Lalique Vases, R Lalique Videos and Rene Lalique Videos, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes, Rene Lalique Perfume Bottles - R Lalique Perfumes
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Rene Lalique’s Perruches Vases Fly High: New Records At South Kensington
November 25th, 2013
 R. Lalique once again made a strong showing at the Christie’s South Kensington semi-annual Lalique sale on November 21st.
Vases led the way with several world record prices, yielding a sale total including buyer’s premium of £596,875 (all results are reported to include the premium), or about $960,000 at an exchange rate used throughout this article of about 1.61 U.S. dollars per British pound.
Of the total 157 lots in the sale, approximately 37 were modern crystal reproductions or just modern crystal designs, leaving 120 original R. Lalique pieces on offer. Of those 120 works of Rene Lalique, 20 failed to sell, for a take-up rate of about 83% on the original works. The 100 sold R. Lalique items added up to £484,724 or an average price of about £4850 ($7800) per lot.
 Top sellers were led by a Perruches Vase in blue glass that made a surprisingly strong £55,000, or about $88,500. Next was a tie between two lots: an amber glass Perruches Vase and a pair of Lausanne Light Fixtures. Each of these lots made £32,500 or about $52,500. Fourth place went to a frosted Serpent Vase making £30,000 ($48,500) followed by another Perruches Vase, this one in opalescent glass, which sold for £27,500 ($44,500).
The top five lots accounted for £177,500 or over 1/3 of the R. Lalique total. 4 of the top 5 prices were for vases, and 3 of those vases were Perruches Vases.
 Some other notable prices include an opalescent Ceylan vase for £13,750 ($22,000), a Dinard Box at £11,250 ($18,000), and a Quatre Cigalas Perfume Bottle at £4,375 ($7,000).
The price of the blue Perruches Vase, the last lot of the sale, represents a world record price at auction for a blue Perruches Vase, and for any Perruches Vase, exceeding the price of approximately $75,500 set in these same salerooms just 6 months ago. The price on the Ceylan is also a world record price for any Ceylan Vase at auction, as is the price for the frosted Serpent Vase, though colored glass Serpents have sold higher. Finally, the Dinard Box total also is a likely world record.
 Here is a link to all the results (including the lot descriptions).
As usual, the staff at Christie’s South Kensington, led by the experienced Joy McCall, did a great job of assembling a diverse group of attractive and desirable items, and working with all potential bidders in a pleasant and professional manner.
Another successful sale for Christie’s South Kensington and another great day for the great Rene Lalique.
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, R Lalique Vases and Rene Lalique Vases, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes, Rene Lalique Lighting: R Lalique Lighting Fixtures
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Rene Lalique Blue Perruches Vase & Comete Car Mascot Make R. Lalique World Records
May 24th, 2013
The works of Rene Lalique, with some modern crystal pieces mixed-in, have been a longtime semi-annual attraction at Christie’s South Kensington in London. The first of this year’s Lalique sales had a total of 185 lots of which roughly 150 were R. Lalique. As usual most areas of the collecting field were on offer including everything from vases, perfume bottles, car mascots, and plates and bowls, to perfume burners, seals, architectural items, clocks, decanters, and lighting.
 The sale started and ended with a run of vases, but the high seller was found among the car mascots, where Lot 99, a good looking Comete Car Mascot made £79,875 all-in, or about $121,000 at 1.51 Brit pounds per US Dollar**. This was against a pre-sale estimate of £35,000 to £45,000. The final price is thought to be a world record auction price for the Comete. Undoubtedly the overall good condition influenced the final price, and overcame the fact that this rare model has appeared at auction at least once a year on average for the last 5 years. The runner-up bidder, a well known member of the local trade, was apparently somewhat disappointed in failing to secure the lot. It was reported that as the runner-up (to be) bid was topped, the runner-up bidder turned and walked out of the salesroom without waiting for the hammer to fall.
Next high seller was a good looking Red Hirondelles Vase, which made £73,875/$112,000 selling as the sale’s final Lot 185 against a pre-sale estimate of £40,000 – £50,000. The final total was about $20,000 below the record setting*** Hirondelles Vase which made over $132,000 in November of 2010.
 This is a good time to note that for higher end items (a recent extremely rare car mascot a bit of an exception of course), the trend at Christie’s South Ken for R.Lalique under the direction of the knowledgeable and experienced Joy McCall, has been to go with conservative estimates and reserves. This policy appears to have paid off with generally strong to high prices from the resulting bidding interest. The Hirondelles and the Comete were no exception, a trend followed by all 15 of the high selling items, every one of which exceeded their high estimate on an all-in basis.
Tied for third high seller was a green glass Gros Scarabees Vase (Beetles Vase) which sold as Lot 181 for £49,875/$75,500 against an estimate of £25,000 – £35,000.
 A pre-sale run through of the sale lots would have left most astute observers figuring that these three pieces in one order or the other would be the three high sellers.
But the other lot that tied for third high seller was a total surprise. The Blue Perruches Vase selling as Lot 182 in the final run of large colored glass vases. It more than tripled the pre-sale estimate for a world record price at auction for a Blue Perruches and a world record price at auction for any Perruches Vase making £49,875/$75,500, the same price as the Beetles Vase, against a pre-sale estimate of £15,000 – £20,000.
Reportedly, there was determined interest on the colored Perruches Vases in the sale from a Russian bidder. So it would only take one other competitor with a lot of money and not a lot of concern to make a show stopping price. For this model, in this color, this price is a show stopper no doubt. The previous alignment of R. Lalique planets would have the green Gros Scarabees making around 3 (or more) times a Blue Perruches. But here they made identical final prices.
 If the consignor of the Blue Perruches and the Gros Scarabees was the same, then considering the reported OK level of quality and condition of the two pieces, the two vase total strikes us as in the range of reasonable for the current market, but who would have guessed how they’d get to that total!
Rounding out the top 5 was a 42.5 cm by 52 cm rectangular panel originally designed for the Cote D’Azur Pullman-Express. The panel Merles Et Raisins (Blackbirds and Grapes) more than tripled the low end of the £10,000 – £15,000 estimate for an all-in final price of £35,000/$53,000.
After the top 5 high sellers, the next 10 high sellers were all vases! And they all were outsold by the Blue Perruches! This group of 10 included an amber glass Gros Scarabees Vase at £33,750/$51,000 that sold to the Musee Lalique (which purchased around a half dozen R.Lalique items), an amber glass Serpent Vase which was about 12% below the world record for that model at £32,500/$49,000, a red Poissons Vase at the same price as the Serpent, a green Poissons Vase and a cased green Perruches Vase both at £31,250/$47,000, a green Perruches Vase at £21,250/$32,000, and a short looking but rare blue glass Milan Vase at £17,500/$26,500.
 Reasonably common perfume bottles were very strong throughout the sale (Ambre Antique £2500/$3800 or Le Lys for D’Orsay at £2375/$3600 for example), and one added price of note was the very strong world record auction price of £5250/$8000 paid for a Dinard Box !
On the flip side**** of the preceding, Seals (cachets) and Paperweights were notably so-so to soft, with the very rare Pelican Seal selling as Lot 85 for only £1063/$1600. Of course these are much more narrow collecting fields and it takes two to tango to the top, as American watchers of Dancing With The Stars might know.
 In the end, we saw the usual worldwide smattering of bidders from the United States to Russia, Luthuania to France, and plenty of places in between that is the hallmark of demand for the works of the great Rene Lalique. The sale totaled £799,812/$1,210,000 or roughly $9,200 per sold lot with the modern crystal pieces bringing the average down of course. If you take out the 20 modern crystal lots which made £36,313/$54,800 for an average of about $2750, then you have 111 Rene Lalique lots making £763,499/$1,152,000 or an average of about $10,400. The 131 sold lots out of the 185 offered made the take-up rate a somewhat disappointing but respectable 70% (that rate would be higher if you ignore all the modern stuff). Christie’s noted that by value, the take-up was about 90%, so the majority of the unsold lots were the relatively lower value items.
The last 7 lots of the sale, all colored vases, accounted for £292,375/$441,500 or about 36% of the entire sale total. Not too far from that, the 7 high sellers made £354,250/$535,700 or about 44% of the sale. The vast majority of the sale in value was for the great vases. Here’s a link to the Results In Lot Order
All-in-all, another great day for the great Lalique!
** Unless mentioned otherwise, all prices in this article are on an all-in basis and at roughly a 1.51 pounds to dollars ratio. In practice of course, some buyers have the added expense of local VAT, while others may have their local import duties and shipping, and some buyers may pay several percentage points more for currency conversions based on their payment method and other factors.
*** The red glass Hirondelles which sold in November 2010 set the record for the highest price ever bid for an R. Lalique colored glass vase at auction. On an all-in basis, it was the 2nd highest priced colored vase ever sold at auction. And of course, it was the record at auction both bid and all-in for any Hirondelles Vase.
**** Flip Side for those of you into oldies but goodies, originated with 45’s; that is 45 rpm records. The hit song (the advertised song) would be on the A side. The B side, containing some other song you probably didn’t want to listen to, was called the flip side as you had to flip the record over to play it. Now it’s used almost in the same way as “the other side of the coin” (makes sense doesn’t it?), or the opposite side, such as the opposite point of view, or just oppositely (which is our use here).
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, R Lalique Vases and Rene Lalique Vases, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots
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Rene Lalique Replacement Parts: R. Lalique Boxes, Decanters and Perfume Bottles
May 16th, 2013
The bottom of the great and early R. Lalique Box was knocked off the counter and is gone forever. The R. Lalique Decanter bottom is krizzled, glass sick, or just cracked. The stopper to that great R. Lalique Perfume Bottle was dropped on the tile floor and is no more (that rhyme was not on-purpose). Many a collector, owner, or dealer has faced just these circumstances and many of these tales of woe find their way to the inbox here at World Headquarters!
One email on this subject, a non-woeful one at that, caused us to reflect a bit on these common occurrences and we thought we’d write a little about the whole subject of replaced parts because it comes up surprisingly often.
For starters we want to limit what we are talking about. We are only talking about pieces that have common parts originally made just that way by Rene Lalique Et Cie prior to the end of World War II in France.
So modern reproduced parts are not within the scope, including anything made by the modern Lalique company in crystal after the death of Rene Lalique. Also, a part made new after the war to look like an authentic part is also not within the scope (see the Faked Cluny or Senlis Vase story).
 And this includes parts made from actual R. Lalique glass. So for example, if a dealer gets a glass guy to make a new stopper out of the thick base of a broken vase; to literally hand carve the thing from authentic Rene Lalique glass to the point where virtually no one would know the difference, this is not what this article is about.
And of course, the instance where a dealer takes the entire bottom off of a broken vase, and has it virtually seamlessly installed (better to say “unseemly” installed?) to replace the cracked bottom on another vase is definitely not for this discussion either.
We singled out boxes, decanters and perfume bottles because virtually every one of these items has at least two parts, and each of those parts was made in some volume. And that volume in many instances does not even have to be for the same model piece. For example many decanters share the same bottom; the same “blank”, and the only difference is the stopper (ignoring the addition of a signature, model number, and the scratched matching numbers on the stopper stem and decanter bottom to keep the pieces together during the finishing process). Ignoring the manufacturing differences in the mold blown decanter bottoms and the hand fitting and polishing of the stoppers, the decanter bottoms are meant to be identical in maybe a dozen or so original R. Lalique stemware sets. The bottom to a Colmar decanter is the same model as the bottom to a Obernai Decanter.
So in the spirit of the great American inventor Eli Whitney ***, the parts would be, in a perfect world, interchangeable. So if you break your decanter bottom, you can patiently wait on Ebay for the bottom to your model to come up. Or if you happen to have a model that has the bottom shared by others, for any one of them to come up. Or you can cruise the Paris flea market. Or you can contact RLalique.com and tell us about your “Want”. Of course, we don’t live in a perfect world but it’s close enough that many seemingly hopeless situations can be addressed.
 Sometimes a complete decanter, perfume bottle, or box may come up for sale, but because of the model, or damage to one of the pieces, or just luck of timing, it may go for a low enough price that it pays to buy the whole thing just to get the undamaged part you want (and hope it fits of course).
Well, we thought about all of this when the following email arrived which references the 1st photo above. And note that the names have been removed to protect the innocent of course:):
Dear Info@rlalique,
I have a query that needs your help!
My name is XXX and I work for a YYY based auction house in ZZZ. We have recently had a group of Lalique items consigned to us from a vendor who was left them. Amongst them is a Genevieve powder box. On your website the box is listed as Model Number 57, the one we have has an etched mark but is numbered 65. I cannot find any record of a model 65, can you help me? I have attached a photo of the mark if that helps. Kind regards,
XXX
The good news is the auction house is on the ball. Let’s face it. You got ghosts, where do you go? Actually, does Ghostbusters even have a website? Ok, let’s just move on.
So right away you know the auction house wants to get it right because they got the goods and went straight to RLalique.com and the new Rene Lalique Catalogue here at World Headquarters to make the identification! And they were on the ball enough to know because of the markings on the base (shown in the photo of the signature near the top of this article) that something was amiss. The catalogue says it’s box number 57, the base says it’s number 65. Hmmmm.
Our reply (again with identifying stuff blanked out and some minor grammar fixes to make us sound like we were paying attention in 5th grade English the day they mentioned dangling participle and other unknowable grammar stuff :):
Hi XXX. Thanks for contacting us. We are familiar with your auction house as we list R. Lalique items that come up in your sales in our Worldwide Auction section of the site. The last time was QQQQ.
About your question, it’s not unusual for the bottoms of boxes to be switched as many boxes use a common bottom. This can happen where the same owner has several boxes of the same size that use the same common box bottom. Or if the bottom is broken or lost and a dealer or an owner obtains a good bottom that appears on Ebay or elsewhere (Paris flea market) that has had the top to it break or disappear. Even today, since most of the blank common box bottoms have a signature on them, they can be identified as R. Lalique. And a couple of times a year a blank box bottom appears on Ebay for sale.
With R. Lalique, the same thing can occur with say some of the tableware set decanters, where the same blank was used for the bottom (the container) on maybe a dozen models, and the only difference is the stopper. Bottoms to these decanters do show up on the market from time to time, just like box bottoms, and if your decanter bottom gets glass sickness or gets broken, if you have a model that shares a common bottom, you can find a replacement that may or may not have a different model number written on it. Of course the stopper fitting properly is a bit more problematic with the mold blown decanter bottoms and hand fitted stoppers, than for the much more standard press mold boxes.
Box No. 65 is a box called Gui and it’s a 10 centimeter box just like the Genevieve. These two models actually appear next to each other in the 1932 Catalogue. So what you have is the bottom to a Gui box under a Genevieve box top. The bottoms would be identical other than the signature with that number (assuming the bottom you have is clear glass and not opalescent glass), and for most people it would be a distinction without a difference.
https://rlalique.com/rene-lalique-gui-box (where you can see part of the bottom in one of the photos)
There is also a slim chance that the mistake was made at the factory as very, extremely rarely, we see a mis-numbered piece. But we’d bet on it being a switch or replacement as described above.
And it might pay to talk to the consignor (assuming it’s a private and not a dealer) on the chance the Gui box is with a different family member or can be located and the original mates restored.
If you have any further questions, let us know.
KOL
Of course, now that we let the “yes there are repair guys that can make a stopper from a chunk of glass” fact out of the bag, it goes without saying that a good glass guy could clean up the inscribed number on the bottom of a box :).
And of course, even with mold pressed smaller pieces, due to the manufacturing techniques of the day, as well as possible later polishing to either or both the top and bottom, there might be some minor “fitting” involved even when switching what should be the same basic bases among boxes. A hair taller, a hair thicker would not be out of the question. In that regards consider the following:
We contacted two different owners of incredible box collections. Each checked their Genevieve Box and Gui Box bottoms for us and sent us photos and descriptions. In both photos the Genevieve Box bottom is on the left and the Gui Box bottom is on the right.
Collector 1 sent a photo (just above) showing their Gui box bottom to be shorter than the Genevieve bottom. And noted that the Gui top could not fit properly on the Genevieve bottom unless that bottom was lowered (polished down) slightly.
Collector 2 sent a photo (just above) showing their Gui box bottom to be taller than his Genevieve bottom! And this collector noted that the Genevieve box top would not fit over the Gui box bottom unless the Gui bottom was lowered slightly! This is exactly the reverse of Collector 1.
So, either it’s fit and finish at the factory owing to less than exact sizes coming out of the molds at the factory, or later polishing to either the top and/or bottom, or both. But again, the fact remains; the bottoms are basically interchangeable, possibly with some minor glass guy adjusting.
Here is another example of a different replacement part “Want” that was satisfied just last month:
 The request (again, ID’s hidden and minor grammar corrections to make everyone look better):
good day to you from AAA, I am looking for the glass stopper for the COTYS AMBRE ANTIQUE perfume bottle. If anyone can help, many thanks BBB
Our reply:
Hi BBB.
Thanks for visiting the website and for contacting us.
BBB, the following Ebay listing appeared yesterday. The bottle is cracked and may sell very cheaply. The listing does not mention any issues with the stopper, though we’d suggest you confirm that with the seller before bidding. And also note that there is no assurance the stopper from one bottle will fit another. But it may be worth a chance.
RENE-LALIQUE-FLACON-FOR-COTY-AMBER-ANTIQUE-CIRCA-1910 Item: 121087944635.
Good luck if you decide to pursue it, and if you don’t get it, let us know and we’ll post your stopper in the wanted section.
Best Regards,
KOL
Their reply:
KOL, thank you so much for spotting this.I will give it a try and let you know. This is the first sniff of a stopper that I have had for a year, so fingers crossed. Best Regards BBB
Our further reply:
Hi BBB. We listed another one of these today that’s at a small house in PA. The pic looks rough, but the stopper may be in good order and it seems a reasonable chance for a bargain if it is.
KOL
 And the last we heard:
Hi KOL, with the help from an American buddy here I managed to get that bottle. It has not arrived in the AAA yet but so pleased I have it. All thanks to you and your diligence, so again many thanks for your help. ( think I’ll look for a nice Perruches bowl next. ) BBB
And of course the big question, is there anything wrong here in replacing a missing or broken part with a supposedly or nearly identical original R. Lalique part? Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts in the comments.
*** Eli Whitney was born in 1765 in Massachusetts. He invented the Cotton Gin in 1793. It’s an easily made machine that removes seeds from cotton much faster than the previous hand removal method of picking them out one by one. He later manufactured weapons such as muskets and was an aggressive advocate of manufacturing using interchangeable parts. Whitney had a major impact on the entire United States in the antebellum period. Counterintuitively, though the Cotton Gin was a labor saving device, it made slavery a stronger institution in the South and enriched the South by making previously unprofitable cotton types and fields profitable by lowering the cost of production. Cotton production skyrocketed after the introduction of the cotton gin, slave labor became highly profitable, and a declining slave industry was re-invigorated. In the 17 years after the appearance of the Cotton Gin, U.S. cotton exports grew by nearly 200 times! Not 200 percent, but 200 times! As a result, in the decades before the Civil War, cotton accounted for over one-half of all U.S. exports.
 On the other hand, while the South was engaged in a vast agricultural based commercial and wealth expansion because of the cotton gin, his push to manufacture with interchangeable parts strengthened the North’s existing industrial advantage over the South, and thereby contributed significantly to the North’s victory in the Civil War.
Tags: R Lalique Decanters and Rene Lalique Decanters, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes, Rene Lalique Perfume Bottles - R Lalique Perfumes
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Lalique Vases Lead Firm R. Lalique Sales Results at Bonhams London New Bond Street
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.
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, R Lalique Vases and Rene Lalique Vases, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots
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Rene Lalique Glass at Sotheby’s London May Sale: Lalique Pricing Continues Strong
June 6th, 2010
Rene Lalique glass made another strong showing at Sotheby’s London on May 19th in their sale of “Fine 20th Century Design …”
 Sotheby’s put together a strong group of rare and hard to find items that brought consistently good prices. There were a total of 8 Lalique glass items offered, and every lot exceeded its estimate, sometimes spectacularly.
The most interesting item was Lot 77, described as “A Rare and Early Anemones Coffret with an estimate of £15,000 to £20,000. This 22 centimeter long box has not been previously documented in the Catalogue Raisonne, though it is pictured in the book by Victor Arwas “Art Nouveau to Art Deco, The Art of Glass”, which is a 1990’s slimmed down version of his seminal work of similar title. But Sotheby’s included a catalogue note that they had talked with Felix Marcilhac and that the box would be included in the next Catalogue Raisonne edition. This information surely gave confidence to at least a couple of bidders, which pushed the price of the box just over the high estimate, ending at £26,250 all-in.
 The high seller for the great Lalique was Lot 78, the Camaret table lamp. Estimated at an apparently strong £10,000 to £15,000, the lamp made an all-in total of £61,250, which is surely by far a record price for this model. Interesting was the signature on the bottom of the vase turned lamp of the number 1010, which is the Model No. for the vase. This lamp model has also appeared previously with the correct Model No. 2167 signed on the base of the “vase”. Likely not an issue, but of interest.
The results for the 8 lots totaled £245,625 including the buyers premium, or an average price of nearly £31,000 per lot. These results more than doubled the total high estimates of £116,500, or an average of approximately £14,500 per lot.
 These great results are yet another in an increasingly long line of very firm pricing for rarer and hard to find works of Rene Lalique demonstrated not just by the Christies Lalique Sale which followed these offerings by a week in London, but reaching back to the year end 2009 sales such as the $48,000 price achieved for the Lalique Amber Serpent Vase at the Heritage Sale in New York. These results also comport with a significant amount of private sales activity we have seen at RLalique.com and elsewhere. It appears that the demand for the more sought after items continues to increase while the supply remains thin. Especially for rare and attractive items (such as cire perdue, unique jewelry, the coffret referenced above), attractive architectural items, quality early vases, and colored vases, there is not much on offer to meet the enthusiastic demand of a growing number of international buyers.
Complete results of this sale are reported in the Lalique Auctions Past Section of RLalique.com on the Sotheby’s Lalique Auction Results Page for this auction. They are also listed at the end of this article. Additional auction information and links to everything on RLalique.com about Lalique Auctions (upcoming, results, catalogues, articles etc.) can be found in the Lalique Auctions Section of the RLalique.com biography of Rene Lalique.
Lot 74 ‘FEUILLES DE VIGNE’: AN ICE BUCKET EST: £4,000 – £6,000 £8,125
LOT 76 ‘MADRID’: A CHANDELIER EST: £12,000 – £18,000 £39,650
LOT 77 A RARE AND EARLY ‘ANÉMONES’ COFFRET EST: £15,000 – £20,000 £26,250
LOT 78 ‘CAMARET (QUATRE RANGÉES DE POISSONS)’: A TABLE LAMP EST: £10,000 – £15,000 £61,250
LOT 79 ‘OISEAU DE FEU’: AN ILLUMINATING GLASS PANEL EST: £20,000 – £30,000 £46,850
LOT 82 ‘GRAND DEPÔT’: A PAIR OF TABLE LAMPS EST: £7,000 – £10,000 £18,125
LOT 83 ‘PROVENCE’: A LARGE PLAFONNIER EST: £1,500 – £2,500 £8,125
LOT 85 ‘JET D’EAU’: A PAIR OF WALL APPLIQUES EST: £10,000 – £15,000 £37,250
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes, Rene Lalique Lighting: R Lalique Lighting Fixtures
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Rene Lalique Boxes: R Lalique Box Auctions Online
January 20th, 2010
Rene Lalique Box models in great original condition are hard find at auction. Three great Lalique Glass Box auctions online have appeared at opposite ends of the “original condition” spectrum.
 A clean fresh to market Rene Lalique Box Perles from the Perles Garniture De Toilette Set is at auction on Ebay thru January 24th. The seller states, “Excellent overall condition with no chips, cracks or dings”. The Catalogue Raisonne model number is 603 and it’s circa 1926. The Dallas Texas seller has a reasonable shipping cost in the U.S. of less than $10, and will ship worldwide. The UK rate is $31.50.
This great Lalique box started out at $9.99 with no reserve, and has worked it’s way up to around $200 as of this writing. Still not all the money by our thinking.
Here is a link to a saved/cached image version of the original 200421594614 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 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.
 The other box item online of interest is just the top to the Rene Lalique Box Fontainebleau, model number 59 and circa 1924. The top by looks and description appears to be in good order. With a starting price of $9.99, it currently is around $45.00 and the auction also goes until January 24th. Typically, it’s the top that gets broken when it slips out of your hand after being removed from the bottom, and we know there are collectors out there with topless bottoms, if you know what we mean. The bottom for the Fontainebleau is a standard bottom that can go with many of the R Lalique boxes and this seems to represent a good opportunity to pair up an orphan bottom.
In addition the molded signature on the side of the cover, the inscription #59 is engraved in tiny numerals on the bottom of the rim of the cover. The Ebay Item Number (cached version) is 330396557189.
 There is also a clean looking Coquilles Box Model No. 71 circa 1920 coming up at Harlowe-Powell Auction House in Charlottesville, Virginia on January 23rd. You can bid online for this box at their website. A link and auction details are listed in the Lalique Auctions Worldwide Section where you will find information on all three of these Lalique boxes.
You can also read all the R Lalique box related articles we’ve written at Lalique Boxes.
Tags: R Lalique and Rene Lalique on Ebay, R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes
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Rene Lalique Box Rambouillet: A Classic Lalique Design at Auction
January 14th, 2010
Rene Lalique Box Rambouillet At Auction
 A nice looking Rambouillet covered box popped up online late yesterday at auction. This circa 1924 Lalique box features a Lalique design of two herons on the cover. Both the box top and bottom sport molded R. Lalique signatures. It’s model No. 60 in the R.Lalique Catalogue Raisonne appearing on page 233 of the 2004 Edition.
The seller states the box is “damage free” and there are a dozen photos in the listing for your detailed inspection. The starting price is $199 and there is no reserve. And more good news: in the U.S. it’s only $7.50 to ship from the Escondido California seller. The seller added information to the listing that they will accept bids and ship overseas except for mainland China. See the listing for details.
 Seems like a good Lalique auction opportunity on a fresh to market Rene Lalique box in apparently good condition. The auction goes to January 20th. Here is a link to a saved/cached image version of the original 370320212283 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 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.
You can see this box in the Rene Lalique Auction Section on RLalique.com, and you can see other News and Blog box articles at this link for Rene Lalique Boxes.
 Finally, if you are looking for the out-of-print and hard to find 2004 Catalogue Raisonne, check the modern Rene Lalique Books category of the Lalique Books and Library Section at RLalique.com where you’ll find the 2004 Catalogue Raisonne in stock as well as nearly 1000 other titles throughout the Library related to the great Rene Lalique.
Tags: R Lalique and Rene Lalique on Ebay, R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes
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Rene Lalique Boxes: Lalique Box Deux Sirenes – A Large Opalescent Lalique Glass Box at Auction
October 26th, 2009
 A nice looking Lalique Box, the large Rene Lalique Deux Sirenes Covered Box in Opalescent Glass has appeared online at a starting price of only $24.99 and no reserve. This is the 10 inch large round box with a glass base.
The highly rated San Diego seller states: “CONDITION: In excellent condition with no chips, cracks or nicks of any kind. See photos for details of glass. I would be happy to email additional, larger photos.” There are lots of large detailed photos in the ad, and reasonable US shipping of $35.
This is a classic Lalique design with Lalique’s signature opalescent glass, in the always popular all glass large R Lalique box model. Seems it might be worth a look!
The auction ends November 1st. Here is a link to a saved/cached image version of the original 120484545658 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 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.
You can also find this box on our R Lalique Auctions page, or in the Auctions Past section after it’s over, along with lots of other great R Lalique auction items from across the globe.
Tags: R Lalique and Rene Lalique on Ebay, R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes
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Rene Lalique Boxes: Saint-Nectaire Covered R Lalique Box at Auction
August 12th, 2009
The Rene Lalique Box Saint-Nectaire has appeared in apparent great condition at auction online with a starting price of $9.99 and no reserve!
 A nice looking circa 1925 Lalique Box Saint-Nectaire showed up on Ebay this morning, from a high volume seller (a consignment store) with good feedback, starting at just under $10 and no reserve! The seller states:
“This is a No Reserve Auction! Measures approx. 3″ Diameter x 2” High. Marked on the bottom “R. LALIQUE, FRANCE”. Excellent displayed condition with no chips, cracks or signs of repair.”
The shipping charges seem reasonable ($8 and change to Arizona), but the seller says they will not ship international. Of course, most anyone has a friend in the US that can take delivery and forward the box if you live in a far flung place and just have to have this box!
 Of particular note (or vague esoteric interest if you are not into the details) is that the Lalique Box Saint-Nectaire is the only production Maison Lalique box in the shape of a hexagon! That’s six sides for anyone that skipped geometry class in high school. To top it off, it appears from the photos to be a ‘regular hexagon”; six equal sides of course! Hmmmmmmm. No, we aren’t moving on to the Pythagorean theorem (Pythagoras’ theorem across the pond) … enough geometry for now.
Geometric considerations aside, it looks like a good opportunity for you Lalique box collectors that haven’t yet added this box to your collection.
The auction runs through August 18th. Here is a link to a saved/cached image version of the original 200372693037 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 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.
You can also find this Lalique Saint-Nectaire Box, along with R Lalique Auction items from around the globe, in our R Lalique Auctions Sales Worldwide Section.
October 20th, 2009 Update: Switched Item Link To Cached Image Version
Tags: R Lalique and Rene Lalique on Ebay, R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes
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R Lalique Alterations – Not All Bad
January 23rd, 2009
 At Bonhams in Honiton (UK) later this month, appears an item described as follows:
Lot No: 399 A René Lalique lidded preserve bowl of oval form, decorated with frosted and polished glass flower heads, the base marked ‘R Lalique’, 12cm long.
Here is a direct link to the Lot 399 Item Page at the Bonhams Website!
And what we see when we get there is a Dinard (Rose) Covered Box, that likely sustained some damage in its day to the cover, and which has apparently (the photo angle is not good) been cleverly polished to create an object with a purpose! A nice demonstration that all alterations aren’t bad; the point is to know what you’re getting and make your purchase and price decision accordingly. This is a positive example of a great looking R Lalique design item made useful again. Of some disappointment is the fact that they don’t address in the listing if you get to keep the spoon if you buy the box! Of course, the way we heard it, it was not the box, but the dish that ran away with the spoon. In any event, we have a side by side photo on our R Lalique Tailor Shop Missing Material – Alterations Page where you can see this box pictured next to one without a spoon.
Tags: R Lalique and Rene Lalique Alterations, R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes
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The Godfather Box Appears
November 15th, 2008
 For those Marlon Brando fans out there, the appearance of the seldom seen R. Lalique Du Barry box coming up at auction on November 19th, and which is referred to in certain esoteric circles as “The Godfather Box”, brings back fond memories of what was perhaps Brando’s greatest modern movie role. The box appeared in the original Godfather Movie released in 1972 (was it that long ago – 48 years as of 2020?) in a bit of a cameo appearance. A Du Barry is coming up for sale at Kodner Galleries in Florida. Most times you see this box with the cover missing (go figure!), but this one is apparently complete. Next time you see the original movie, watch for it! And when you contact Kodner Galleries, don’t forget to tell them you saw this great R Lalique box here, at RLalique.com. And for all the information we have about the Du Barry Box including many sale examples plus a link to the movie clip showing the box with Brando, see the Du Barry Box Model Page in the Rene Lalique Catalogue.
Original Date: 11-2008.
Updated: 11-2020.
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique and Brando, R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Boxes and R Lalique Covered Boxes
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