Glassware

Lalique glass is one of those areas that has an international appeal with the best pieces selling strongly wherever they crop up.

FOUR centuries of social, commercial and military history dictate that South Africa is just occasionally the source of rare European antiques and works of art.

The single-owner sale of English and Dutch drinking glasses collected by A.C. Hubbard offered over 500 lots to tempt enthusiasts into the saleroom.

ONE pointer to the buoyancy of a particular collecting field is whether or not it merits its own dedicated sale.

RÉNÉ Lalique is most widely known today for his inter-War glass vases, a field that he moved into after his Art Nouveau jewellery. But he also used glass to create a smaller number of furnishings and interior decors for specific clients.

THE history of France’s famous Sleeper Car Company was commemorated in a single-owner sale at Christie’s in Paris last month.

INTACT English ‘shaft and globe’ bottles from the 17th century are among the trophies of early bottle and glass collecting.

Bought at a car boot sale in the Portsmouth area earlier this year for just 40p each, these three opaque twist wine glasses decorated by the Beilby workshop of Newcastle upon Tyne c.1765 sold for £16,000 at the latest sale held by Stride and Son of Chichester.

BACK in the 1980s, on the back of the Lalique boom, there used to be fairly regular offerings of scent bottles at auction in London.

CHURCHILL impersonator Derek Herbert was in Towcester on March 16 to aid Northamptonshire auctioneer Jonathan Humbert in the sale of a pair of acetate tortoiseshell-effect reading glasses that belonged to Sir Winston.

TOP lot at Bonhams’ latest sale of English and Continental glass was this impressive 15in (40cm) high, early lidded punchbowl from c.1685.

ESTIMATED at £3000-4000, this 18th century mahogany decanter box retaining a pair of profusely cut double-magnum sized decanters c.1780, attracted multiple bidders at Suffolk saleroom Neal Sons & Fletcher of Woodbridge.

THE famous Amen series of diamond point engraved Jacobite goblets, made c.1745-50, have long been emblems of Scottish nationalism. Yet it is widely assumed that the engraver of many of them was English.

THIS 20in (50cm) high gilt and clear glass vase of Islamic inspiration is the central element of the three-piece garniture discovered by Rayleigh, Essex auctioneers Staceys in a home near Southend-on-Sea.

IT may be a specialised collecting area, but antique bottles have plenty of enthusiasts at all levels. In the sub-sector of antique wine bottles, this 7in (18cm) high example ticked many of the boxes when it came up for sale in Exeter at Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood last week.

FROM perfume bottles and menu holders to vases and car mascots, the glass creations of René Lalique remain consistently appealing to a varied gamut of buyers.

THE classical horse head with powerful Art Deco styling is among the best known of all the 28 different René Lalique glass car mascots.

Traditionally a glass sale is always one of the last pre-Christmas auctions in the London rooms.

DUDLEY Council are to scrap plans to close the Broadfield House Glass Museum and relocate the renowned glass collections to the nearby Cone site.

ATG columnist Richard Falkiner has hailed the Roman cameo glass vase which has been unveiled by Bonhams as “the greatest classical find since the Portland Vase”.