Glassware

It was of early manufacture, looked beautiful and the condition was very good – but auctioneer Ben Rogers Jones admits to still being mystified as to why a paperweight sold for such a hefty price at his Cardiff saleroom.

In ATG No 2354, we previewed Christina and Paul Bishop’s new glass fair launching on Sunday, September 23, at Ickworth House, the Georgian Italianate ‘palace’ near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, now owned by the National Trust. Paul, who runs Specialist Glass Fairs with Christina, updates us on the show.

A classic French René Lalique perfume bottle was on offer at Virginia auction house Jeffrey S Evans on August 24-25 from the collection of the late Joan M Wentz, Germansville, Pennsylvania, which had been amassed over 50 years.

A valuation day find for Kingham & Orme (20% buyer’s premium), this Dutch-engraved East India Company baluster goblet c.1760, took a multi-estimate £7500 in Evesham.

The most desirable of all sealed bottles are those that are both named and dated. It is the possibility for geneaological research that fires many collectors.

An extensive collection of René Lalique ‘mascots’ amassed by a collector and dealer who wrote a book on the subject is coming up at auction in East Sussex.

Organisers launch new fair in Suffolk after long-standing event had to be abandoned.

This Daum cameo and enamel vase decorated with a winter landscape from c.1900 is one of the pieces offered on the stand of Solo Antiques at the next Galloway Antiques Fair, where it is priced at £5950.

While the big-money lots often steal the headlines, much of the antiquities market remains affordable.

In terms of lot numbers, the major single contribution to Sworders’ anniversary sale (see main Auction Reports this edition) on June 19-20 was the estate of the late Annabelle Comery, an inveterate and wealthy collector who had lived on Alderney in the Channel Islands.

Having successfully dispersed the collection of Lalique glass formed by Hans and Gertrud Mueller in March this year, Sotheby’s Australia is now selling the couple’s collection of other European Art Glass.

Glass bricks are a common sight in 21st century building construction, but back in the late 19th century they were cutting-edge industrial technology. They were employed by avant-garde architects such as Art Nouveau specialist Hector Guimard and the modernist Le Corbusier.

Alexia Amato specialises in antique glass and recently appeared at the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair in Battersea, where she exhibits three times a year. She has also stood at the Original Miami Beach Antiques Show.

A look at how specialist events at Knebworth and Solihull are now under the same banner.

The annual celebration of Mother’s Day falls this year on Sunday, March 11. Perfume bottles dating from the Victorian era, in a variety of materials and range of prices are a one-of-a-kind gift option.

The Specialist Glass Fair, founded in 1991 by Patricia Hier and run for 16 years by Paul Bishop, will be held on Sunday, February 25.