Posts Tagged ‘Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots’
A Hibou Car Mascot Appears At Auction: Buckle-Up!
October 19th, 2013
October 20th at Artcurial in Paris will see the first appearance at a major auction of a Hibou (Owl) Car Mascot in many years.
The general storyline amongst many dealers and collectors is that the Renard (Fox) Car Mascot is the rarest of the commercial models. But there have been several foxes appear in the last decade, and only a couple of owls (not including for either model any that have appeared as part of an entire R. Lalique Car Mascot collection). It is easily possible and even likely, that the rarest of the commercial mascots is not the fox, but is the owl.
How will this translate into price for the rare Hibou? We will all know soon enough. There are many variables but there are also many collectors missing the owl from their mascot collections. And times have changed in the bidding scene at auctions.
In the past, only a bidding ring of dealers might know about a particular piece at auction and possibly a small number of collectors or others that could be co-opted, cajoled, or threatened into not competing against them **. But this has changed dramatically with the appearance of this website and the attendant individual collector bidding on major pieces triggered by the Worldwide Auction Listings at RLalique.com. Now all interested parties can find out about most items that appear at auction, and individual collectors and others can compete worldwide with dealers, museums and other collectors for rare pieces. And notwithstanding reports of continuing efforts to suppress bidding at auction by certain notorious persons, now there are often just too many outside bidders for conspirators to even know about in advance, let alone “get to” ***.
 Also, other techniques such as trash talking a piece, claiming it’s fake, or claiming it’s fatally damaged in order to put potential bidders off the item are also common techniques for some. We even received on email from one regular dealer in R. Lalique claiming this owl was cracked. Hmmmmmm. We’ve seen this barking before with a great opalescent Vitesse and a Renard at auction as just two examples), but of course, the pool of potential bidders is now so large, it’s just difficult to put them all off with wisecracks **** about likely fairy tale condition issues. And of course, most serious bidders will confirm condition directly with the auction house, and/or engage an independent consultant on major purchases.
The auction house has placed an extremely conservative estimate on the owl. In 1987 for example, before the peak of prices around 1990, a Hibou appeared at auction and sold for over 378,000 French Francs including the buyer’s premium. At the time, 26 years ago, this was the equivalent of over $66,000.
We are aware of reports of Hibou sales made privately in the past several years including at least one sold through this website, for prices that are multiples of the previous record auction price discussed above. These sales range into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. To put this in perspective, we are aware of a sale of an owl mascot to a dealer in the last decade for a reported $150,000.
With the Fox Car Mascot making successive auction price records at its two most recent auction appearances (Fox Record Price 1, Fox Record Price 2), we would expect no less from what may be an even rarer chance to obtain this elusive prize.
 Should be a wild ride ending a bit above the estimate :).
** See a series of articles published at RLalique.com discussing bid rigging at auctions.
*** “Get to” in this usage means influence.
**** A “wisecrack” is a clever remark.
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results | No Comments »
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
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results, R Lalique Ramblings | No Comments »
R. Lalique Renard Car Mascot Sets New World Record Price For A Rene Lalique Mascot At Auction
August 19th, 2012
It was just 9 months ago, that an unsigned Lalique Renard Hood Ornament appeared in the Pennsylvania countryside and made a world record price for any Rene Lalique Car Mascot at auction of $204,750. High prices and hounds are apparently the two things that can flush out a fox, and a signed example in apparent good order dutifully appeared in the sale announcement for the annual sale of automobiles and related items that Bonhams holds in Carmel California, timed around the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Car Show held each year.
Bonhams usually offers up a good supply of R. Lalique Mascots at this auction, and accompanying the Renard for the August 16th sale were about 20 other Rene Lalique Mascots as well as two brass copies of Rene Lalique Paperweights and Person Majestic copies of the Longchamp and Victoire Car Mascots.
 High seller was the great Renard as Lot 230 making $338,500 including the buyers premium, and topping the previous record by just about 65%. This example had the block letter signature on the side of the base, a little bit of scuffing, and was said by Bonhams to have great mold definition.
Note that we are reliably informed that this price fell just short of the highest price ever paid at auction for ANY car mascot of any manufacture. That record is said to be held by a Bugatti Royale silver plated standing Elephant mascot that made £205,000 in 2010.
Selling just before the Renard and making a likely World Record price of its own was Lot 228 the horse head Epsom Car Mascot which made $68,500 all-in against a conservative pre-sale estimate. Third place in price department went to a striking blue peacock head Tete De Paon Mascot, one of a pair that surfaced several months back, the first one of which was also sold by Bonhams earlier this year. This example made $43,750 all-in, outselling the first of the pair which had made a premium inclusive $40,000 in April.
Looking at price strength across the board, you might skip over the good all-in prices paid for the small dragonfly Petite Libellule Mascot ($17,500), the greyhound Levrier Mascot ($8,750), the guinea fowl La Pintade ($15,000), the frog Grenouille Mascot ($23,750) and even the ram’s head Tete De Belier ($12,500) and go straight to the usually more price restrained Lot 223 swallow Hirondelle Car Mascot, which made a strong $9,375 affixed to a custom base.
 Overall, a pretty good run of results for the great Lalique Hood Ornaments ranging form the somewhat common to the extremely rare.
One more general comment about the Renard. It has become commonplace for folks to talk about there being only 5 or 6 or a “a small handful” of these fox hood ornaments in existence. And Bonhams had a catalogue note concerning the Renard to this effect. However, this writer would steer you to double digits, and whether that’s likely 20 or 30 or whatever is a discussion that will have to be left for another day. But take note that 3 have appeared at auction in the past nine months alone, the third being part of the complete Lalique Car Mascot Collection sold in Florida in March 2012.
In the meantime, check our Rene Lalique Car Mascots page here at RLalique.com. It has photos of each mascot in a catalogue format, and links to individual pages of photos and information for each Lalique mascot model.
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots
Posted in R Lalique Ramblings | No Comments »
R.Lalique Car Mascot Collection Sells: Lalique Mascots Are Highest Priced Rene Lalique Auction Lot Year To Date!
March 15th, 2012
 A complete collection of the 30 Lalique Mascots *** sold at RM Auctions on March 10th for $700,000 plus a buyer’s premium of 15% or $105,000 for a total sale price for the great Lalique Glass Collection of $805,000. In addition to the mascots, Lot 111 at the auction also included two custom made cabinets specially configured to display the collection. The lot was offered without reserve as part of the regular Amelia Island Florida collector cars auction put on by RM Auctions.
The appearance at auction and the history of this particular Lalique Collection are discussed in a previous news article at Lalique Mascots!
 At an auction of over 100 high end collector cars, Rene Lalique managed to outsell all but 8 of the other lots in the auction, including squeaking by the 10th highest seller, Lot 168, a great looking Duesenberg Model J Convertible Berline by LeBaron with a storied and detailed provenance dating back to its original owner. It was truly a “Doozie” **** and it made just $2000 less than the Lalique, coming all-in at $803,000.
The stunning wrap up: What Rene Lalique created in glass as artful accessories, have now become more valuable than many of the very autos that his mascots were intended to accessorize! 🙂
You can find links to all of the mascot resources here at THE Worldwide Gathering Place for R.Lalique Enthusiasts by visiting the Lalique Car Mascots section of the Rene Lalique Biography.
*** 30 mascots is considered a complete collection. See the linked article above, as well as the linked Mascot section of the Rene Lalique Bio for details.
**** “It’s a doozie!” is a roughly 100 year old expression of debated origin. However, after the appearance of the Duesenberg Automobiles, it’s use and meaning to designate anything remarkable, one of kind, or the unusual, was cemented into the American lexicon as the phrase became associated with the great motorcars. Today it’s sometimes spelled Duesy, Doosy and Doozy in addition to the spelling we use here.
Photos: Michael Furman courtesy of RM Auctions
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results | No Comments »
Lalique Car Mascots: Complete R. Lalique Mascot Collection At Auction March 10th!
February 23rd, 2012
Rene Lalique Car Mascots are among the glass maker’s most sought after artful objects.
 It all started in 1925 with several mascots including the R. Lalique Cinq Chevaux Car Mascot, a mascot you can read a little bit about in the linked Blog article, and it ended just 6 years later as the spreading global depression changed the buying habits of both decorative glass and automobile buyers.
Lalique mascot collectors today that are attempting to assemble a complete collection, generally try to acquire 30 items, to include the Naiade paperweight along with the 29 objects that were marketed as car mascots. Note that some of those 29 objects were dual marketed as paperweights.
 And there actually is a 31st Lalique Car Mascot, the mascot Levrier-1, believed to have been made as a non-commercial model for Prince George, the younger brother to Prince Edward (later King Edward VIII, and Prince Albert (later King George VI). This mascot is extremely hard to find.
In French, Lalique was selling Bouchons De Radiateur; radiator caps. Today they are referred to not just as Car Mascots, Bouchons De Radiateur, and Radiator Caps, but also Mascots, Mascottes, Hood Ornaments, and Figureheads.
A brief history of R. Lalique Car Mascots appears in the Biography of Rene Lalique here at RLalique.com, where you’ll also find useful links to all the Car Mascot resources and information on the website.
 The R. Lalique collector market is only a part of the demand for these great art glass mascots. Car collectors comprise a huge part of the market, car mascot collectors are also a big part of the demand, and to a lesser extent there is museum interest as well.
As is true in several other collecting areas (such as perfume bottles and opalescent art glass to name a couple), if you are a collector of Hood Ornaments, the most sought after are the ones from the great Rene Lalique.
 Complete R. Lalique Mascot collections rarely appear at auction.
There are only two in recent memory, one of which was part of the amazing Gerald Pulver R. Lalique collection. Before he passed away. Gerry lived in Key Biscayne Florida and at one time may have had the greatest collection of R. Lalique in the world. He was also a great guy and did a couple of great (unsung) things for the whole collecting field. A complete set picked from Gerry’s mascots was offered by Bonhams on May 1st, 2004 at their sale in Brookline Massachusetts along with additional lots of individual mascots from his deep collection. The catalog from that auction is available in the Lalique Library. It can be found in the Library section on modern auction catalogues that partially contain R. Lalique. It has photographs of the entire collection as well as all of the individual lots and the sales results. The catalog stock number is 657 and we only have two left to sell.
The other complete collection, and the one we are most interested in, appeared at RM Auctions in September 2000.
It was said to be one of two complete collections owned by Marvin Tamaroff, and it sold at that auction for $550,000.
 We are reliably informed that the collection coming up for auction on March 10th at RM Auctions in Florida is that same collection.
The pre-sale estimate is $800,000 – $1,200,000 but the collection is offered with NO RESERVE!
The collection on offer is currently owned by Ele Chesny.
She is known throughout the antique auto world as one of the great car collectors, and she may be the foremost female collector in the field.
Without reserve and therefore definitely selling, it should be an interesting and exciting sale day for the works of Rene Lalique.
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results | 1 Comment »
R. Lalique Fox Mascot Appears in Hunt Country And Lalique Buyers Chase It To A Rene Lalique Car Mascot Record Price!
November 28th, 2011
Likely a world record price for any Lalique Car Mascot at auction was achieved on Saturday November 26th in Chester Springs Pennsylvania, smack in the middle of old Hunt Country west of Philadelphia. The unsigned R. Lalique Renard Hood Ornament appeared at Wiederseim Associates Inc. Auction House, run by Ted And Jill Wiederseim, just a stone’s throw *** from Rhoads Auction House which sold the great Red Hirondelles Vase in November 2010.
Because the rare mascot was not signed and was amongst hundreds of porcelain and other decorative foxes all out of the same house, it was understandably not catalogued as a period R. Lalique glass mascot. It was sold as part of Lot 515 shown above, with four other decorative foxes all for the single estimate of $100-$150. An alert staffer here at RLalique.com spotted the above photo amongst the thousands of auction reports that pour into World Headquarters on a daily basis, and recognized the rare R.Lalique Renard (the French word for fox), likely the rarest and most valuable of all commercial Rene Lalique Car Mascot models. We promptly informed the auction house of the likely amazing treasure they had hidden in plain sight, and placed the great fox in the Worldwide Auction Listings here on the website. This triggered immediate inquiries into Wiederseim from all over the world.
Much was made in certain circles about the lack of signature on the great fox. But as readers of this website are aware, R. Lalique pieces are not authenticated by their signatures. They speak for themselves.
The certain circles we refer to are a couple of R Lalique dealers one of which has disparaged the mascot in what we consider outrageous circumstances, while the other dealer was apparently just completely making stuff up. Both circulated information to the effect that this great item was possibly a “factory reject” (how many of you have seen an R Lalique “factory reject”, or heard that term used in reference to R. Lalique?), and both have also inferred at times that it might not be a genuine R. Lalique car mascot.
Strangely, while knocking down the piece (and maybe by happenstance knocking down the number of bidders and the price the remaining bidders might be willing to pay :), both dealers reserved phone lines for phone bidding!!!! You cannot make this stuff up.
One of these dealers, let’s call this person “Hound Dog”, went so far as to post commentary on the internet even the day after the sale, questioning if the piece was even genuine, disparaging the condition and the price paid, and suggesting it might be a modern copy of some sort. This again, was after reserving a phone bid line and being on the phone with the auction house during the bidding.
The second dealer, let’s call this person “Humpty Dumpty” has seemingly made up the fact that the mascot was broken apart in a significant way in at least a couple of places and glued back together! And he sent emails out to this effect prior to the auction, along with a scandalous theory of a Lalique factory worker picking the parts of the rejected piece out of a trash bin at the factory and taking them home to put them back together again as best he could! Friends, it’s story time in Fantasy Land.
 Oh, Humpty Dumpty also stated as fact in his emails that all R. Lalique pieces were signed before leaving the factory. This is obviously incorrect, and we would refer Mr. Dumpty and all readers to the article here at RLalique.com discussing Authentic Rene Lalique Signatures and to the page on Authentic R Lalique Signatures as well for more information on this point.
So while the yelping from the sideshow was a bit of a distraction leading up to the sale, it did nothing to curb the enthusiasm of bidders from all over the world as many collectors lined up to try and acquire this seldom seen mascot.
The auction house, having only two international capable phones, had to acquire additional phones for the worldwide bidding scramble that ensued upon our listing the fox here! U.S. phone bidders were also heard from, as were a couple of bidders in the room during the sale, including one well known long time dealer who personally inspected the fox before wading into the bidding.
In the end, with the price starting at $25,000 and moving up quickly from there, two phone bidders both from the UK, left the competition behind, reportedly at around $140,000 to $150,000, and took it up to $175,000 ($204,750 with the buyers premium) before the hammer came down on this historic sale of the unassuming, unsigned, but no longer unsung Lalique Hood Ornament.
If you are wondering how the Renard Mascot came to Wiederseim, here is the short version:
 Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours came from France to the United States in 1800 with his two sons Victor Marie du Pont and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. Eleuthère started up a little company called E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (most people today just say DuPont). At the start, they made gunpowder. No need to discuss the entire history of the duPont Family in America, but several generations removed from the auspicious start as gunpowder makers, a descendant, John Eleuthère duPont was born in 1938 in Philadelphia. He was the son of William duPont Jr., who among other things, imported from England the famous racehorse The Satrap, winner of the Chesham Stakes at Ascot, the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood, and at Newmarket both the Chesterfield Stakes and the July Stakes. In 1996, John tragically shot and killed (yes, using gunpowder) a U.S. Olympic Gold Medal Wrestler named Dave Shultz who was living on his Foxcatcher Farm estate, a property John had taken over after the death of his mother and which he had named Foxcatcher after his father’s famous horse racing stable. John was found guilty of murder in 1997 and died in prison in 2010.
John collected decorative foxes, lots of them. And after his death, and after the house had been swept through by a major New York City based auction house to have their pick of the most valuable items (oops, they missed something), a slew of decorative foxes along with a ton of other stuff were turned over to Wiederseim for auction. Among the relatively low value foxes was the great R. Lalique Renard Car Mascot about which we write today; missed once but not twice, now with the duPont provenance, and headed off to the UK with a world record price tag.
For more information about Lalique’s car mascots including links to all mascot resources on the website, visit the Rene Lalique Biography Car Mascots section here at THE address on the web for everything R. Lalique.
***Stone’s Throw – slang for a short distance (heck, how far can you throw a stone?)
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results | 1 Comment »
Rene Lalique Victoire Hood Ornament: The Stolen (Borrowed?) Lalique Photo Auction? Lalique Buyers Beware!
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.
Tags: R Lalique and Rene Lalique Fakes-Copies-Frauds, R Lalique and Rene Lalique on Ebay, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Fakes-Copies-Frauds | 1 Comment »
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
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results | No Comments »
R Lalique World Record Prices: Rene Lalique Glass Sales Prices At Auction Reach New Highs
October 15th, 2010
 R Lalique Glass has set several world record prices at auction in 2010, as strong auction sales become the norm for the works of Rene Lalique around the world. With some great sales still to come before year end, we thought we’d bring four of these auction prices to the forefront for a variety of reasons, including that as a group, these pieces sit squarely in the mainstay of R Lalique collecting.
In May in London at Christies South Kensington’s traditional semi-annual sale of R Lalique, three Perruches Vases by the great Lalique, sold for top dollar (well, top pound :). A green Perruches made £30,000 all-in, and a Blue Perruches made £32,500 as did an Amber Perruches as well.
 With some research, we were unable to find these three colored Perruches Vases ever making these prices previously at auction!
These sales prices were a bit of a jump from current trends, but they were not unexpected considering the increasing demand for quality colored vases and the short supply, as well as generally strong auction pricing throughout the last several years across nearly the entire spectrum for R Lalique works.
Then at Bonham’s usual sale of Automobilia at Quail Lodge, held this year over two days on August 12th and 13th, where they offered roughly a dozen R Lalique Car Mascots, another world record price was set!
 The high selling Lalique mascot, beating out Victoire (at $14,640 all-in), two different Vitesse (at $10,980 and $8,540 all-in), as well as a Cinq Cheveaux ($9,272), La Grenouille ($9,150), and a good selection of lesser priced mascots, was Lot 507, a dark topaz with red center Coq Nain Car Mascot. The R Lalique Coq Nain made $20,740 all-in! We are unable to find any example of this model and color that has even come close to this price at auction.
Again, not some esoteric one-off piece, but another mainstay R Lalique collectible, a colored version of a somewhat common Lalique Car Mascot. For more information on Lalique Mascots, check-out the R Lalique Car Mascots Section of the Rene Lalique Biography at RLalique.com, where you’ll find links to all the information on the website about the car mascots of Rene Lalique.
Quietly, but consistently, R Lalique has been making firm prices across the board. And in the prime and most popular areas of the collecting field, price are pushing into record territory in many instances.
 With over 60 R Lalique Auctions listed in our Worldwide Auction Section as we write this, a record of our own for auction listings in mid-October, over 1000 R Lalique Auctions listed so far this year, and likely at least a couple hundred more to come before we close out 2010, it’s shaping up to be the strongest year yet in a string of strong R Lalique Sales years that were in place before the economic crisis of the past couple of years, that continued unabated during the downturn, and that appear to be getting even stronger as the world slowly tries to put its economic house in order. And no, we are not proud that we have strung together over 100 words in one run-on sentence.
And if you run across a great R Lalique auction price as you pursue your R Lalique interests, please email and tell us about it. We’ll include great auction prices in our auction wrap-ups that we publish from time to time.
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, R Lalique Vases and Rene Lalique Vases, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results, R Lalique Ramblings | No Comments »
Renaissance Antiques: Naim Bouchareb – Dounial The Ebay Seller And R Lalique Dealer
September 5th, 2010
Renaissance Antiques of Davenport Iowa, in the person of owner Naim Bouchareb, a regular seller on Ebay under the Ebay screen name Dounial, sells a lot of R Lalique items online. Some of these listings raise serious questions. We have been motivated to write about this R Lalique Seller for a variety of reasons including complaints and negative comments that have come in thru and because of the website, and also a recent couple of listings that squarely highlight the questions.
We have previously written in these pages, that if you are going to purchase from a dealer, that it is extremely important that your dealer be honest and competent. It’s also important that you are armed with the most information possible, which is the best defense against regrets and the various dark arts practiced throughout any collecting field.
Here we have what in our opinion is as fake a signature as can be found. The signature resides on a piece sold on Ebay by Renaissance Antiques. The piece in the cached version**** of the Dounial Ebay Listing sports the signature on the underside of the base as shown above. This item has graced the pages of the R Lalique Police Report Section for some time.
 Stranger than the signature, is its location on the underside of the base. Note in the photo the dark little pads under the piece and a signature that appears in the photo to be raised out of the glass. Of course, if you put a raised signature on the underside of a piece that has a flat bottom:
A – The signature will touch the surface of whatever it’s sitting on!
B – The piece will not sit level due to the signature being elevated from the rest of the base!
C – And the signature itself will be scraped up and maybe even off, and worn totally over time.
And there you have the little green pads, apparently to protect the signature and level the piece.
How many pieces do you have of authentic R Lalique, where the signature is raised on the flat part of the underside; an underside that by design comes in direct contact with the surface the piece is sitting on? Seriously, whoever put the signature on this piece wasn’t thinking it through, wasn’t familiar with R Lalique, or just didn’t care. Or there is a fourth possibility!
Many buyers of glass assume that a molded signature is a mark of authenticity. We have repeatedly stressed on RLalique.com that you should never buy a signature; that the signature does not authenticate the piece. In fact, the piece must authenticate the signature. In the example at hand, whether this piece is a post war Cristal Lalique reproduction or a Czech copy, the addition of the molded signature would typically be intended to give an assurance of authenticity of the piece being an original work of Rene Lalique.
But these “molded” signatures can be faked; with not too much more work than scratching in a phony signature with a sharp object. In simple terms, the forger protects with a stencil of some kind, the outline of the desired signature, and then using acid, cuts back everything else on the underside of the base a millimeter or two, leaving a raised “molded” signature that was not cut away with the acid. See Fake Lalique Signatures for other examples similar to the signature on this Coq Nain.
So here we have a regular seller of R Lalique pieces selling a piece that does not even appear right at first glance. What does the R Lalique Dealer, this regular seller of R Lalique, this Antiques Dealer, this Specialist have to say about this piece in his ad?
“AMAZING! R. LALIQUE FRANCE “COQ NAIN” CLEAR/FROSTED” and “Condition: very good condition, small chip on the base rim”
Who is the likely buyer of this piece? A beginning or novice collector that doesn’t know. Someone from the very group of collectors from which long term serious collectors emerge, assuming they don’t have the kinds of regrets to sour them on the entire collecting field that might be caused by a signature like the one on this piece.
The time spent to read up a little on Faked Lalique works and the related subjects covered by that link, may save you many regrets. And of course a little independent Lalique Consulting can go a long way toward avoiding bad experiences.
 And if you liked the Coq Nain, you’ll like this cached version**** of a second Renaissance Antiques Ebay listing just as well. A bit of a play on an old Wendy’s**** advertising slogan “Where’s the Beef?”, we are inclined to ask Renaissance Antiques, Where’s the Rim? Oh yea …. “Excellent condition” so says the seller.
Compare the Dounial Ebay Domremy Vase pictured here with the photo of the Rene Lalique Domremy Vase below that came up for auction last year.
Renaissance Antiques thru their Ebay screen name Dounial is also featured on the website TiffanyFakes.com! Hardly surprising.
Is Dounial, Mr. Naim Bouchareb, Renaissance Antiques, guilty of nothing more than ignorance? Is it omission or commission? Responsibility or irresponsibility? Regardless, the result is the same for a buyer that relies on “Amazing!” and “very good condition” and bizarre “molded” signatures blazoned across the bottom of car mascots or paperweights.
 And this is why, if you are buying from a dealer, that having a competent and honest dealer (along with getting independent advice concerning your purchases) is so important. If you know a fair amount about R Lalique, and if you are careful, and if you purchase from many sources at auctions, online, thru individuals, etc., you may make a few mistakes and have a couple of regrets. But if you are buying regularly from the same dealer, a dealer that is not competent and honest, you may end up with many, many regrets. It is for this reason that we emphasized previously (see Lalique Bacchantes article) and reiterate here the great importance to you as a buyer, that if you are buying from a dealer, you should ensure that the dealer is honest and competent.
And how much did Renaissance Antiques make on the Coq Nain sale? They sold the piece for $399, a lot less even than the few pieces of silver you hear tell about.
UPDATE October 30, 2010:
 New Dounial Ebay LIsting: R. LALIQUE FRANCE “ROSES EN RELIEF” DRESSER BOX W/ LID
Here is a link to a cached version**** of another listing from Renaissance Antiques selling as Dounial on Ebay. The actual name of the listed box, shown here on the right in a photo from the Ebay listing, is Coppelia. It is a modern post war crystal box made by Cristal Lalique. The Cristal Lalique model number is 10578, which is documented along with the name of the box in the below photo from the book Lalique Par Marie-Claude Lalique on Page 251.
A nice modern crystal item. Certainly not an R. Lalique France “Roses in Relief” Box as described in the title to the Renaissance Antiques Ebay ad. Curiously, we cannot see the signature on the Ebay box in the photos that Renaissance Antiques has used in the ad. Curioser, the ad does not state what the signature says!
UPDATE July 18, 2011: Get Your R. Lalique Perfume Bottle – It is Signed!!
 In July of 2011, Ebay Dounial put up for auction Item No. 370527285412, a modern crystal Clairefontane Perfume Bottle described by Renaissance Antiques in the Auction Title as Circa 1945 R. Lalique. Here is a link to the Cached Image Version**** of the Dounial Ebay Perfume Bottle. At least they show a (very dark) photo of the signature at the bottom of the ad; a signature that indicates it is a post war crystal reproduction Perfume Bottle by Cristal Lalique. What makes that so great is in the auction description they again say it’s an R. Lalique Perfume Bottle and add some gravitas by stating “… it is signed.” Taken by itself, that last quote is true, it’s just too bad it isn’t signed R. Lalique. We can already see the next ad: “Get your signed Picasso Painting?” And you look and see the painting is signed “Renaissance Antiques”.
UPDATE August 14, 2011: Get Your R. Lalique Drinking Glasses oops Vases!!
 In August of 2011 Dounial put up at auction two different listings for Marienthal drinking glasses but advertised them as vases! Hmmmm, wonder what the motive was for that. Get your “MAGNIFICENT 1927 R LALIQUE AMBER MARIENTHAL VASE”, and don’t worry if you have a strange urge to use it for a soda or even a mixed drink!! Here are the cached versions **** of the two listings: Dounial Ebay Vase 1 and Ebay Dounial Vase 2! What will he think of next?
Oh yea, don’t drink the flowers.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
UPDATE September 24, 2011
Get Your R. Lalique damaged perfume bottle oops Bud Vase!!
 
“SPECTACULAR R. LALIQUE BUD VASE WITH NUDES”
The Ebay item, the “BUD VASE” which is shown above and to the left, appears to be an Ambre Antique Perfume Bottle that is missing the stopper, the entire rim, the neck, and more. Compare that to the Ambre Antique Rene Lalique Perfume Bottle made for Coty on the right! Pity the unsuspecting vase buyer. Get your one of a kind, newly discovered R. Lalique Bud Vase, so rare, it’s not documented as a vase, but it is signed 🙂
UPDATE December 17, 2011
The Buffalo Bill Cody Perfume Bottle!
“MAGNIFICENT C.1920 R. LALIQUE PERFUME BOTTLE MADE FOR THE CODY COMPANY”
 Yes friends, who knew Buffalo Bill Cody was in the perfume business?
Yet another exciting discovery brought to you by Dunial of Renaissnce Antiques on Ebay! And as usual, the best thing about this bottle; the mark of authenticity is ” …… it is also signed.” Now that’s comforting. Too bad it’s not signed R. Lalique of course, but rest assured ” …… it is also signed.”
Here’s a link to the cached version of an Ebay Listing where you’ll see someone bought the thing for $199!
If anyone has any documentation that the Buffalo Bill Bottle is an authentic R. Lalique Perfume Bottle as represented in the advertisement, please forward it to us. Or if anyone has an old photo of Buffalo Bill holding this bottle, please send that to us also. 🙂
UPDATE April 28, 2012: Get Your Lalique Studios Penguin Paperweight!!
 Just when you thought you’d seen everything, here’s a link to the cached version**** of a great Naim Bouchareb listing for a penguin paperweight made by Zellique Studios. If you take a look at the listing, you’ll see it’s signed Zellique Studios! But Dounial decided to sell it as Lalique Studios! You cannot make this stuff up. We also include a link to an Ebay listing from someone that properly identified the paperweight (by reading the clear signature on the piece), sold it as Zellique, and got more money with a truthful advertisement than Mr. Bouchareb did passing the thing off as Lalique. You can draw your own conclusions about what pays and what does not pay.
And the band plays on.
*** Wendy’s was founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1969 by one of the great (and regretfully late) American Entrepreneurs, Dave Thomas. There is a persistent and widespread story going around that he named the restaurant chain after his daughter Wendy. But he didn’t have a daughter named Wendy! His daughter’s name was Melinda Lou. Of course at a young age she couldn’t pronounce her own name, and got the nickname Wendy, a name she could pronounce, which makes the whole story true enough. To think we’ve really been eating at Melinda Lou’s all this time.
****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.
October 23rd, 2010 Update: Switched Item Link To Cached Image Version
January 10, 2011 Update: Switched Roses Box Link to Cached Image Version
July 18, 2011 Update: Added paragraph to discuss current offering of a modern crystal perfume bottles as R. Lalique Circa 1945.
August 14, 2011 Update: Added paragraph to discuss offering Marienthal drinking glasses as vases.
August 15, 2011 Update: Updated links. Switched Marienthal drinking glass listings to Cached Image Versions. Both sold listings strangely disappeared from Ebay already. Dounial had also re-listed what appeared to be the same yellow amber Marienthal Glass (the “vase” that had just sold?) and that re-listing also disappeared. We also updated the Clairefontaine Perfume link to the Cached Image Version from our July update, as this listing also disappeared from Ebay along with the aforementioned other listings.
December 23, 2011 Update: Switched Bud Vase / Damaged Perfume Bottle link to Cached Image Version
April 28, 2012 Update: Added modern Zelique Studios Penguin Dounial sold as R.Lalique and switched the Wild Bill Cody Perfume Bottle link to the cached version.
Tags: R Lalique and Rene Lalique Fakes-Copies-Frauds, R Lalique and Rene Lalique Sellers, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots, Rene Lalique Paperweights - Lalique Paperweights, Suspicious RLalique-R Lalique-Rene Lalique Auctions
Posted in R Lalique - Rene Lalique Authentication Identification, R Lalique and Rene Lalique Fakes-Copies-Frauds | 1 Comment »
Lalique Sales at Christies: Rene Lalique Makes Very Strong Prices for Scarce and Colored Pieces At Semi Annual Lalique Sale
May 30th, 2010
Rene Lalique fared quite well at the semi-annual Lalique Sale at Christies South Kensington on May 26th.
 The sale for RLalique items totaled (all prices include buyers premium, dollar conversions are approximate) £540,850 Brit Pounds, or about $782,000, with 151 RLalique lots of the 192 total RLalique lots selling, for a take up rate of approximately 79%.
The main strength was in the better items, especially colored vases and rarer pieces, with 18 lots selling for over $10,000. 7 of those 18 sales were the iconic Lalique vases, including Archers in opalescent at $14,500, three Perruches vases two of which, dark amber and blue, tied for top lot in the entire sale at $46,600 each, while the third made $43,000, a Blue Farandole that looked quite worn making $18,000, and the wonderful model Camees at $14,500, which seemed quite cheap if the condition was decent. The 7th vase over the mark was a black enameled Lagmar which made $12,600.
 The rare car mascot Epsom made $18,000 with some issues, purchased by Geoffrey Weiner and the mascot Grande Libellule made $10,800. A nice looking pair of Oiseaux Et Spirales Panels made $12,500, while four statues made it over $10,000 including a frosted Thais at $10,800, an opalescent Suzanne at $14,400, a Grande Nue Socle Lierre at $18,000, and Source De La Fontaine Echo statue at $18,000.
 Rounding out the top lots were the opalescent half bowl Plafonnier lighting fixture Lausanne at $11,700, the frosted Madagascar Monkey Bowl making $19,800, and two different Hirondelles Appliques, one of which made $17,000 while the other sent for $10,800.
These top 18 lots accounted for $358,000, or about 46% of the sale in dollars for RLalique.
Other notable prices included a smoky colored Archers vase and a clear and frosted Sauterelles Vase, each at $9900, $8000 for a frosted Poissons Vase, $5400 for an opalescent Violettes Vase, $7600 for an opalescent Prunes Vase, $6300 for the Dandy Perfume Bottle for D’orsay, $4000 for an Amber Bresse Vase.
It seemed that more common pieces continued to go for steady prices, with most of the better results (strong relative to the market) concentrated in harder to find lots and colored vases.
This sale represented another change of direction for Christies, including substantially more lots than recent Lalique sales. Much of the additional merchandise was accounted for by lower to mid range value items, but the sheer number of these lots added substantially to the sale total.
 The most striking results centered around the colored Perruches Vases, with all three making very good prices relative to recent auction sales. This undoubtedly represents both a lack of large and popular colored vases in the marketplace, and the continued appearance of new collectors for these classic Rene Lalique colored vase designs.
Buyers looking for a good selection of colored vases will find them in the Lalique Sales Section of RLalique.com. And if you are interested in more information on upcoming auction sales, we recommend you check the Lalique Auction Section of the Rene Lalique Biography on RLalique.com, where you will find links to all the auction related information on the website.
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, R Lalique Vases and Rene Lalique Vases, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots, Rene Lalique Statues Figurines: R Lalique Statues
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results | No Comments »
Rene Lalique Auctions: R Lalique Results of Note From Recent Auctions Show Solid Prices for Quality Items
April 29th, 2010
Rene Lalique Auction Results have continued to show strength across the board in recent weeks, and we thought we’d point out several of the notable Lalique sales both online and at auction houses.
 First, there have been a raft* of quality offerings on Ebay as of late, with good examples of both rare and more common Lalique glass pieces selling quite well.
A Connecticut seller had a small trove of fresh to the market pieces rumored to be the property of a rather famous New York socialite. Two notable examples of the results were:
Item No. 330424969295, the rare Lalique Perfume Bottle Bouchon Fleurs De Pommier. The winning bidder for this bottle on April 22nd was an overseas dealer at a final price of $8000!
 Also of note, the opalescent Lalique Vase Bouchardon in apparently excellent condition. It sold on April 24th for a strong $7601, also selling to a dealer. There were six different bidders above $4300 on this good-looking vase. Here is a link to a saved/cached image version of the original 330425577983 Bouchardon listing online. See cache instructions below. If the cache copy does not open fully, usually you just have to click on the small copy in your browser window and it will expand.
It’s good to see dealers jumping into the auction fray at these levels, as they presumably are buying to re-sell at a profit, which further confirms the strong prices made by these great R Lalique items.
On April 14th, a clear Tete De Paon Peacock Head Lalique Car Mascot sold for $5988 after spirited bidding. Here is a link to a saved/cached image version of the original 400114083624 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..
 On April 27th, a very solid looking Rene Lalique Ceylon Vase in opalescent glass and selling as Item No. 360255568526, it went for a solid $6300, having been pushed the last $2200 of the way by two apparently eager suitors.
Finally for Ebay, two different Lalique Paquerettes Perfume Bottles appeared in April, both from the UK. The first one, Item No. 270565826158 linked just above, was sold on April 26th for £1550, and the second, Item No. 150436432905 sold for £2561.11 on April 29th, the day this article was published!
April 9th in Paris at Coutau-Begarie saw the rare appearance of an original Rene Lalique handbag / purse as Lot 111. This great Lalique Purse featured an incorporated hunting scene and black leather. It sold for €42,000!
On April 29th, Woolley & Wallis got £47,800 all-in for a nice looking piece of Lalique Jewelry, the central element to a Lalique Dog Collar! This continues a string of great results for Lalique jewelry items at the Salisbury England auction house.
 Firm results were the rule of day throughout the month, with the £2300 (not including premium) paid for a Rene Lalique Beliers Opalescent Vase at TW Gaze on April 23rd in Norfolk U.K. being a good example of the solid pricing prevalent throughout all the various collecting categories of RLalique.
You can research past sales of RLalique in the new Rene Lalique Auctions Past section of RLalique.com. And you can navigate to all the auction resources at RLalique.com from the Lalique Auctions section of the website’s Rene Lalique Biography.
* raft – according to Webster a “raft” is a large collection or number
Updated: June 26, 2010 to change Ebay link to cached copy
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, R Lalique Vases and Rene Lalique Vases, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots, Rene Lalique Perfume Bottles - R Lalique Perfumes
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results | No Comments »
Rene Lalique Auction Results for R Lalique Glass at Heritage Auction In New York Are Strong
December 11th, 2009
Rene Lalique Auction results were strong once again, this time at Heritage Auctions In New York City on November 10th.
 The Rene Lalique lots in the Heritage Sale (which also included some modern Lalique Crystal pieces) totaled 108 items, of which 90 sold, for a take-up rate of 83%. Total sales for R Lalique including the 19.5% buyer’s premium were $487,410, making the average sold lot price $5,416. This total includes two lots of R Lalique and related books and other publications, which bring the average down slightly.
As is typical, the great Rene Lalique Vases led the way both for high prices and for total dollar sales. High seller by nearly a 50% margin over the 2nd place lot(s), was the stunning Rene Lalique Deco Vase Serpent in Amber Glass, which brought a premium inclusive price of $47,800.
 Four other vases tied for 2nd place at $31,070 all-in: Borromee in Blue Glass, the large Palestre Vase in clear and frosted glass covered with gray patina, and the deco black enameled vases Tourbillons and Oranges, both in clear and frosted glass. 6th place in the money department went to the Rene Lalique Car Mascot Victoire that made $26,290 including the premium.
Things dropped off a bit after that, with the next 5 high sellers making between $13,000 and $15,000 all-in. This group was a mixed bunch consisting of the vases Milan in Green Glass and Aigrettes in Olive Green Glass, the car mascot Longchamps A, the luminaire Tulipes (a lighted plaque on a metal stand), and the statue Grand Nue Longue Cheveux Socle Lierre (Grand Nue).
 All told and all-in there were 12 lots above $10,000 accounting for $278,435 or about 56 percent of the total dollars for the 92 sold lots, with the 12th high seller being Lot No. 1, the rare Lezards Perfume bottle, which made $11,950.
The sale total for Rene Lalique at this Heritage Sale would place this auction third in the year 2009 for total R Lalique sales at a single auction. First place goes to the Lalique Jewelry (and Lalique Chalice) sold at Christies New York on October 21st where just six lots made about $1,778,000. Second place would be the November 11th Lalique Auction at Christies South Kensington in London where 120 lots (of which 11 did not sell) made a sale total for R Lalique of about $750,000.
All-in-all a great result and another in a long string of strong Rene Lalique Auction results showing the depth of popularity for the works of Rene Lalique as they continue to perform well worldwide at auction.
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, R Lalique Vases and Rene Lalique Vases, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots, Rene Lalique Statues Figurines: R Lalique Statues
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results | No Comments »
Rene Lalique Mascots: Bonhams Results For R Lalique Car Mascots Are Outstanding
August 15th, 2009
 Rene Lalique Car Mascots sold extremely well at the Bonhams Sale on August 14th at Quail Lodge, that was scheduled to coincide with activities surrounding the great Concours d’Elegance taking place this weekend at Pebble Beach. We previously did a detailed pre-sale report on this Rene Lalique Car Mascot Sale.
Top seller was the amethyst tinted Rene Lalique Mascot Cinq Chevaux, the great five horses mascot that Lalique designed and made for Citroën, with a price including the 22% buyer’s premium of $33,550. Introduced August 1925, this was either the first René Lalique Mascot or one of the first three. It was commissioned by André Citroën, the famous French car manufacturer, especially for the Citroën 5CV model which in a strange and amazing coincidence had 5 “Chevaux Vapeur”, that is to say, 5 French Horsepower (though chevaux vapeur actually translates into “steam horses”)! Interestingly, one French Horsepower (CV) is equal to more than one British Horsepower (BHP) but we will leave this fact to the respective countrymen involved to discern or not, any special meaning. Note that Bonhams also was adding 7.2% (in the catalogue they say 7.2% of the “import value”) to the final price. Assuming this would be computed on the all-in sale price, in this case there is in extra couple thousand dollars added to the buyer’s cost, edging the actual price close to $36,000!
 Next high seller was the good looking Opalescent Rene Lalique Mascot Vitesse, with an all-in price of $31,720. This price, including the added 7.2% import surcharge was near five thousand dollars ahead of the price achieved last week and reported on in these pages for another Rene Lalique Mascot Vitesse in opalescent glass that appeared at auction.
The Rene Lalique Mascot Chrysis in frosted glass was the next in the price line, making $7,930 all-in, followed by the St. Christopher at $4,575 (a big price for this mascot) and the Hirondelle at $3,660.
Failing to sell were the Rene Lalique Mascots Tete de Belier, and Tete d’Aigle.
 Strong prices for some fabulous Rene Lalique hood ornaments and yet another indication of the strength of the market for the works of the great Rene Lalique.
Tags: R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots
Posted in R Lalique and Rene Lalique Auction News and Results | No Comments »
|
