Rene Lalique Bowl Tournon circa 1928 has appeared online at auction in apparent great condition with a low starting price of $99 with no reserve.
The tournon bowl coupe is a reasonably rare and large R Lalique bowl model. The Monument Colorado seller states:
“It is in GREAT condition with NO: chips, fleabites or damage. The interior shows a couple of light scratches. This piece has the rare raised (not etched) “R. LALIQUE FRANCE” hallmark circa 1928.”
This great R Lalique bowl coupe, if you get it, is definitely on the “pick it up in person” list. Here’s why.
Monument Colorado is a small town just north of the U.S. Air Force Academy, a place, including the Chapel in the photo below, not unfamiliar to this writer. It’s between Colorado Springs (also NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain, Pikes Peak) and Denver. History and scenery are all over this great area in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. For example, in 1893, the 33 year old college professor Katherine Lee Bates headed to Colorado Springs to teach a summer course at Colorado College. While there, she went to the top of Pikes Peak; no easy feat traveling most of the way up the mountain in a horse drawn wagon and then riding a mule and walking to get to the top. She was so inspired when she reached the summit (over 14,000 feet above sea level), she wrote a poem upon returning to her hotel, entitled America.
Bates would later recount, “….. I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse.” Her poem America was first published on July 4th 1895 in a church publication called The Congregationalist. By 1910, the words of the poem were combined with a tune written by a church organist and choir director, Samuel A. Ward. The combination quickly caught on with the public and the song is as popular today in the United States as it ever has been.
And if this history of the area isn’t enough to entice you, it is also rumored that this Tournon Bowl Coupe is the very bowl coupe that then candidate Barack Obama was talking about when he made his infamous remarks about his embarrassment of fellow Americans and their language skills!
This bowl coupe has it all! And by the way, if you go to the top of Pikes Peak, you’ll know why Ms. Bates was so inspired. The name we know for the poem turned song, written by the impressionable traveling college professor over 100 years ago? America The Beautiful! And here is the man, the late great Ray Charles bringing home America The Beautiful as only he could.
A big bowl with a great Rene Lalique design at a great starting price. Check the bowl coupe out thoroughly as usual But if you get it, maybe plan a few days to go get it!
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.
And you’ll also find it listed in our Rene Lalique Auctions Section here at RLalique.com.
And if anyone in the U.S. wants to augment their single phrase foreign language skills with a second expression that might come in handy when traveling, the caption on the President Obama video “Zut Alors” is French! It roughly translates into a very mild expletive like “darn” or “what the heck!”. Hmmmmmmm.
November 5th, 2009 Update: Switched Item Link To Cached Image Version
February 23, 2012 Update: Ray Charles Video Link To Different Video. The old video was gone.
All Articles on These Topics: R Lalique and Rene Lalique on Ebay, R Lalique Rene Lalique Auctions News and Results, Rene Lalique Bowls and R Lalique Bowls
