Dear Readers, this will be a slow growing post beginning with the creation of a list of auction house names. Explanations will be added for each auction house stating why we included them on this list.
And when we say “Typical R. Lalique Collectors” we are excluding sophisticated and knowledgeable collectors with many years of collecting experience who may have already amassed large collections or been involved with R. Lalique for decades. Most R. Lalique collectors have a few to a few dozen pieces. They have bought things they liked, and are looking for opportunities to acquire more R. Lalique items that appeal to them. They don’t have the expertise of long time collectors because they don’t have the same level of experience in the collecting field. From our experience, many or most typical collectors are hoping that the items they buy will appreciate in value over time, and provide some kind of return on their investment while they enjoy their items as decorative objects.
For now, there are 3 things that can get an auction house listed in this article. 1st is if they sell fakes. 2nd is if we cannot confidently identify their business model (see discussion below about various “auction house” business models). 3rd of course is if we can identify their business model and we believe it creates unnecesary risks for buyers.
Why is it so important to know which auction houses will sell a fake, even after being given the evidence that their item is fake? In the modern world consumed by the internet, just about every time an auction house sells something at auction, it creates a near permanent record of the sale. When collectors are doing research, they come across these records, and use them to make decisions about purchases and sales. But those same records are used by unscrupulous sellers as reference points to con unsuspecting buyers both as to the value and the identification of the item. Unscrupulous sellers hunt down added examples of the fake that properly identified costs them only pennies on the dollar, because they now have a record to show a buyer from a “credible” auction house with the false I.D. and the crazy price. It’s no coincidence that after the first fake Ecailles Vase was sold at auction for good money, that a handful of others of the same fake appeared (and continue to appear) all over the world, dutifully altered to match the previous fakes in the auction records.
Also, many of the places that we will refer to as auction houses, are just retail stores running online auctions as part of their marketing strategy. Some are just people in an office so there is no store, AND no live events. So it’s not just places that have a live auction that you can attend. For many of these “auction houses”, the only way to bid is online as they don’t conduct live in-person auctions. Finally, we will not list auctions on our main auction page that are being conducted by any of the “auction houses” on this list. And as is always our policy, if anyone has a problem with any information contained in the following list, we will cheerfully and promptly make any necessary corrections.
So enough with the chitchat, the first entry is a no brainer.
1. HERITAGE AUCTIONS – DALLAS TEXAS. Heritage is one of the largest auction houses in the world by total sales, and they may be one of the top five auction houses in the world when ranked by sales. Heritage is generally well respected. Unfortunately, Heritage has a history of offering fake non-R. Lalique items as R. Lalique. They claim their expert in the works of René Lalique is the leading U.S. authority! Here it is from their website: “He has held an annual exhibition and sale of Lalique glass hood ornaments at the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance since 1993, and is considered this country’s leading authority on the work of Rene Lalique.” So out the window go the ignorance and mistake excuses:). We’ve written several blog posts about the goings on at Heritage in regard to fake offerings, one of which got nearly $12,000 at one of their sales, and another of which is the bizarre Square Plate with the phony signature that is still on the Heritage website as we write this (July 2024) looking for a sale, being re-offered apparently by the lucky winning bidder through some kind of re-offer program (pass the trash?) that Heritage has in place for those fortunate winning bidders.
2. GOLDFIELD AUCTIONS – WEISWAMPTACH LUXEMBOURG
They had a blue fake Ecailles Vase coming up in their September 2023 auction. We notified them with all appropriate information and evidence that it was a fake. They went ahead and sold it anyway. They got €1980 for it according to their own report of the sale.
Also on June 22nd, 2024 they had an obviously fake Longchamp Car Mascot as Lot 481. We notified them with all appropriate information including a link to an identical fake in the fakes section of the website and they sold it anyway getting an all-in price of €594 according to their own website where you can see the fake and judge for yourself.
Here is our message to Goldfield about the fake Longchamp:
Lot 0481: Rene LALIQUE (1860-1945) Mascotte radiator cap model “Longchamp” 1929.
Jun 08, 2024 4:10 PM MST
Hello. This is Greg from RLalique.com. I am writing to tell you that the horse head in your Lot 481 on June 21 is later copy, a fake. We urge you not to sell that fake as R. Lalique. You can check the model page for the actual R. Lalique model on the website. That model page has a lot of examples of what the actual Longchamp looks like, including all known signatures that appear on the Longchamp. and it also includes a link to examples of fakes, where you will see your horse head. Here is that model page link: https://rlalique.com/rene-lalique-longchamp-b-car-mascot.
Best Regards,
And if you have any questions, we would be happy to try and answer them. Greg
Greg
3. ACTIVITY AUCTIONS – DOVER DELEWARE
Activity auctions has a business model that if potential bidders knew what they were up to, they would have no bidders!
We aren’t sure what to call this place. Their business model appears to be as follows: Find Ebay auctions with brand name items. Take info from the Ebay listings including photos, and list it in their own online auction elsewhere at a higher price than the Ebay listing without of course mentioning that they do not have possession or ownership of the item they are “auctioning” off, or that it is available for less money on Ebay, or that they have no authority to sell the item. It seems you can just look at any item in any of their online auctions that appear in LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, and Bidsquare, and just go to Ebay and pay less.
Assumedly if someone bids at their auction on LiveAuctioneers/Invaluable etc. and the bid is higher than the Ebay fixed price, they will then buy it from the Ebay seller if they can, and deliver it at the higher price to their winning bidder. What could go wrong 🙂
Basically it appears they are auctioning off things they do not have possession of, that they are not in control of, that they do not have on consigment in any way, and that they have no authority to sell because they do not own or have the item in their possession. Based on their apparent business model as described above, no one should ever buy anything from Activity Auctions as it seems it will always be cheaper going to the current owner and possessor of the item on Ebay. Obviously the bidders in their online auctions are not aware of the this information. And thinking about their business model, who would want to involve themselves with these people if they were aware of what they were doing? Nobody.
4. NCM AUCTIONS – UK
NCM auctions has a statement in their auction listings: Multiple Site – Delivery Arranged. That raises questions about what their business model looks like, so we sent them the following email just asking some simple questions:
Hello. We were considering listing your upcoming sale on our website but wanted to confirm a couple of things based on information in the lot listings. Our questions:
Are you currently in possession of the items to be auctioned? If so what is their current physical location? What does the statement “Multiple Site – Delivery Arranged” indicate?
Please let us know,
Thanks,
Greg
After waiting over a month for a reply, we sent another email as follows:
Hello. Hoping to get a response from the below email (that was just a copy of the previous email). Please let us know.
Thanks
Greg
NCM never responded to our emails including not responding to the question if they are in possession of the items they are auctioning (seems like an easy yes/no answer). As a result we recommend you avoid this auction house until such time as they decide to give more details about their business model so that collectors bidding at their auctions can assess what risks there may or may not be when bidding with NCM.
5. IM KINSKY Vienna, Austria
They sold a fake Ecailles Vase that did not match any documentation (well, except the documented fakes) including a photo from the Percy Book of an actual Ecailles Vase that they used as a reference notwithstanding the photo not matching their fake. You can read the sordid details HERE!
All Articles on These Topics: Articles of Interest to R Lalique Collectors
