Rene Lalique glass continues to make new record high prices as it appears at auction around the world. Sunday November 28th was one of those record price days.
First spotted by an alert staff member here at World Headquarters in early November (staff members do all the work but remain totally nameless and anonymous, getting no credit and even less pay!), the nondescript auction listing in an obscure place read as follows:
“Lalique Rose Console Bowl”!
The automatic follow up email headed to the Douglassville Pennsylvania office of Ron Rhoads Auction House (and inquiring minds ask, why isn’t it Ron AND Eileen Rhoads Auction House, or Rhoads and Rhoads, that has a nice ring to it) that simply said:
“Hello. We saw in your listing for Nov 27th that you had some Lalique. If any of it is signed R. Lalique, can you email us a photo or point us to a photo on the web? Thanks” Note: the sale was a two day sale on the 27th and 28th.
Turns out Eileen Rhoads is no slouch and she replied the same day with the above photo of the red piece that was not signed R. Lalique.
Definitely red wouldn’t you say? And signed R. Lalique or not, it’s what the two Hatfields were overheard to say just before the shooting started: “That’s a real McCoy”! ****
Well, after further inquiries and information gathering, we posted this Great Lalique Red Glass Vase not just in our R. Lalique Auctions listings, but we also did a News & Blog article about the appearance in rural Pennsylvania of this Classic Red Lalique Vase, that sported the timeless 1919 impressed LALIQUE signature. We thought at the time that it needed all the exposure we could give it, in order to ensure that everyone around the world was aware of this great colored vase and that all interested parties would have a chance at it. Also, the discovery of great things in quiet places makes for a pretty good story too!
Fast forwarding a bit to November 28th, 9 (that’s nine) phone bidders from the U.S. and several countries around the world, as well as several different bidders that made the trip to the Rhoads’ auction venue in Spring City Pennsylvania (many of whom volunteered “I saw it on RLalique.com”, the rest must have just been tight lipped), competed to take the vase to a hammer price of $115,000, which this writer believes is a record hammer price for any R. Lalique Colored Glass production vase at auction anywhere in the world. All-in, with the modest 15% buyer’s premium, the total cost to the winning bidder before any sales tax, was $132,250! This all-in price falls just short of the all-in record for a Lalique colored glass vase, which is believed to have been made at Sotheby’s in New York City on December 14th, 2007 for a cased yellow amber opalescent Oranges Vase (optimistically but incorrectly referred to as the “Orange Oranges”), which hammered out for less than the Hirondelles, at $110,000, but had a bigger buyer’s premium of $23,000, for a total sale price of $133,000. This writer happened to stumble into the room at Sothebys in New York just before the bidding began on the Oranges Vase back in 2007, and after a modest amount, by memory well under $50,000, it was just two bidders to the roof.
For the great red vase, the auction house reported that there were several bidders still in the bidding at $100,000, and several others just below that. A stunning display of the depth of interest in great R. Lalique colored glass vases from places all around the globe. Not only did the vase set a sales record, but also the Rhoads’ have a heck of an up to date list of serious R. Lalique buyers for anyone looking to auction off some great R. Lalique items!
In the end, the vase sold in the United States, to a Southwestern U.S. collector! Hmmm…
In the audience at the auction were two of the heirs to the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Baker. Mr. Baker was a railroad collecting legend and author, and Mrs. Baker was known as the “Queen of Glass”, having written a featured column for 19 years in a major antiques publication. The Baker Estate was selling the vase thru Rhoads (and Rhoads). Neither the heirs nor the regulars in attendance had any warning that this was going to be the high selling piece or that it would sell so highly. After the great vase crossed the block, there was applause throughout and tears among many of the interested parties that were involved with the estate and the auction. Another great day for the great Rene Lalique!
**** The Hatfields and the McCoys carried out the most famous and legendary family feud in American history. The Hatfields (shown above in the great family photo) lived mostly on the West Virginia side of the Tug Fork River (which is a small tributary to the Big Sandy River), and the McCoys lived mainly across the stream on the Kentucky side. The feud lasted from 1865 to 1891 and many members of both families were killed and various family members taken to trial for crimes committed during the feud. This feud has become folklore and is referenced regularly to describe bitter long running disputes in the U.S. The phrase “the real McCoy” is a phrase that denotes the genuine, real, or authentic thing. There are many theories about how the phrase came to be, one of which actually involves the feud! But likely the phrase has nothing to do with the Hatfield-McCoy drama, we just thought it worked in nicely since the red glass vase IS the real McCoy 🙂
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