An early form of glass brick made from hermetically sealed blown glass was the invention of the Swiss Gustave Falconnier in 1886, and his lightweight and translucent construction element was well received.
But the bricks could not be produced industrially so they fell into oblivion in the early 20th century when Falconnier’s invention was taken over by the Belgian firm Blanpain-Massonet.
Today, however, vintage Falconnier bricks are deemed very desirable and a cache of about 2000 glass bricks discovered on a Belgian farm are to be offered by Ivoire Troyes on June 16.
The cache comprises around 1400 Falconnier bricks, some still wrapped in the original paper, plus about 600 by Blanpain-Massonet. It will be offered in 50 lots, each comprising around 40 units with estimates of €400-600 per lot.
