Rene Lalique Paperweights - Lalique Paperweights

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 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 second 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.

*** 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.

Rene Lalique created a “traumhafter hummer”, which in German means “fantastic lobster”, and rarely do these hummers come up for sale. Not quite as big as the traumhafter Hummers that wheel thru the streets around World Headquarters, and surely not as noisy, this particular lobster had some minor damages but was basically intact. Considering the rarity, the chipping would have likely not been any impediment to a dozen different collectors putting in a bid if they had the chance.

But it was not to be as on July 1st, two nice paperweights appeared on Ebay from the same German seller, both with Buy-It-Now prices of €650, or around $825. Needless to say, the Lobster (Lalique called it a Langoustine which is Crayfish but which also refers to a Spiny or Rock Lobster*) was a bit more of a opportunity than the Bull, Taureau Model No. 1194, which the German seller rightfully calls a “Stier”. There’s likely a story about the Ebay cruiser coming upon the Lobster auction with the low Buy-It-Now and muttering “that ain’t no bull”, but time and inclination do not permit us to digress that far afield. Nonetheless, it was reported by one of our alert readers (with regrets for not being the buyer) that over 10 people viewed the Lobster auction before someone clicked on the Buy-It-Now button. Apparently one man’s opportunity was just an ugly beat-up old glass lobster to a handful of prior lookers! Here is a Lobster Link to the online auction where you can judge for yourself.

Most collectors of Rene Lalique glass will go a lifetime without ever seeing one of these Lobsters in person. And similarly, the vast majority of collectors (the ones that didn’t spring for a Cat Res) will not even see a photo of one, except of course at RLalique.com. We’d observe it’s quite a rare bird**, this Lobster is, except that observation wouldn’t seem on its face to make a lot of sense (though it really does).

Apparently there is something to checking out new Ebay listings several times a day, as many active collectors and dealers have a habit of doing, because you never know when the rare bird, or the under-priced Buy-It-Now piece will appear.

Rumor has it that this rare AND cool Lalique Lobster flew (there goes the bird thing again, let’s say crawled?) to the UK where it will live out its life at ease, and will not be cooked.

Here’s our auction page for this great Lalique Paperweight (whatever you call it), and of course, you can access this and all other auctions we’ve ever listed, in the Past Lalique Auctions section at RLalique.com.

And to all you Ebay addicts that check the listings a dozen times a day, we say Happy Hunting (or … er… hmm …. Happy Fishing?, or maybe Happy Crustating??)!

* A “rare bird” is an exceptional or unique person or thing. It became somewhat commonplace as a phrase in the mid to late 1800’s. It’s a direct translation of the Latin phrase “rara avis” which itself was in use from around 1600 and is sometimes still used in certain circles to this day, circles we read about, but don’t run in:)

** Crayfish and Spiny Lobsters are a bit different to be having one word to describe both of them but what they heck, they are related, though Crayfish live in freshwater and Spiny Lobsters in saltwater. And if any American (or anyone else) is wondering what’s the difference between a Crayfish and a Crawfish, the answer is none, except the spelling and pronunciation (though knowledgeable jingoists insist Crawfish came first!). Of course they aren’t actually fish at all, they’re crustaceans! Whatever you think, keep in mind that all this information comes from a non-seafood eating writer, so if any Cajun Crawfish lovers (love to eat, not lovers in the sense like loving your kids or your dog or your girlfriend — let’s say they “love them to death”) …. if any Cajun Crawfish lovers from Louisiana beg to differ about the no-difference thing, no offense will be taken.