Lalique opened his first retail salon in Paris in 1905 selling jewelry and decorative pieces, next door to the Coty perfume premises. Coty comissioned perfume bottles from his friend Lalique, and these commissions soon grew into a thriving glass business for Lalique.

At the Paris Exposition des Art Decoratifs et Industriels (source of the name Art Deco) in 1925 Lalque won several medals and had a whole marquee displaying his glass in the "new style".

Early Lalique signature with curleyque script "L." Lalique glass is a collector's dream. It is ALWAYS marked in or on the glass. There is no such thing as "unmarked Lalique". Also, the glass made during Lalique's lifetime can be easily distinguished from later Lalique because it is marked "R. Lalique" as opposed to the post 1945 mark "Lalique". Some early "cire perdue" pieces were marked with Lalique's thumbprint in the glass.

Rene Lalique's opalescent glass was very popular and commercially successful. It has a very subtle blue colour when light is shining onto the piece, but takes on a beautiful "honey" colour when light shines through it (hold it up to the light). See our page on opalescent glass.

You can still buy new Lalique glass made to many of the original designs, using very high quality crystal glass, both in clear and a limited range of translucent colours. It is expensive but you can find it on display in high class glass departments and stores world-wide. When buying glass marked "Lalique", remember that you may be able to buy the same piece new, and check out the prices. Further down this page you will find a list of some prices obtained at auction for Lalique glass.

The Mystique of Lalique
Mike McLeod

Glass aficionados and novices the world over marvel at the artistic grace, beauty, and style of the glass creations of Reneé Lalique. But in addition to his splendid vases and chandeliers, Lalique was also a great creator of innovative jewelry (his first artistic profession), glass clocks, car mascots (hood ornaments), and perfume bottles.

Reneé Lalique was born on April 6, 1860 in Ay, France. Recognizing her son's artistic talent, his mother steered him at the age of 16 to an apprenticeship with the famous Paris jeweler, Louis Aucoc. By the age of 21, Lalique was creating his own original jewelry. In 1885, he opened a workshop where his unique style soon gained great notoriety due to his use of flowing and majestic plant, animal, and human forms. In addition to the great beauty of his work, Lalique's jewelry created a stir because his designs paired semi-precious stones with the unexpected horn, ivory, pearl, coral, enamel, and even plastic or glass. Lalique's jewelry eventually attracted international attention, and the actress Sarah Bernhardt was among his many notable clients.

In 1900, Reneé Lalique exhibited his innovative jewelry at the Paris Exposition Universelle, attracting large crowds and creating a great demand for his work. But after achieving the pinnacle of success in this field, Lalique soon refocused his artistic talents on another medium: glass.

Lalique had already experimented with glass in jewelry making. At age 50, Lalique embarked on a new career as a master glassmaker that would gain him a worldwide fame that continues today. Lalique opened a shop near the business of the famous perfumier Francois Coty. In 1907, he began creating classic perfume bottles for Coty. Eventually, he was engaged to do the same for Worth, Forvil, D'Orsay, Guerlain, Rogeret et Gallet, and many others. In all, Lalique created more than 250 different bottles. Although most today sell for modest prices, in 1990, a Lalique perfume bottled fetched £47,000 at auction. A few years ago, a L'ldylle flacon sold for £34,350 at the Philips Geneva flacon auction, and a Japanese bidder paid $5,100 for a Lalique Bochon Fleurs de Pommiers design at a William Doyle Galleries auction in New York.

Reneé Lalique soon sought to bring art into everyday life by mass producing stemware, tableware, inkwells, clocks, chandeliers, and of course, vases. Some have criticized him as being a "commercial artist" rather than a true artist. Indeed at the height of production, his factories employed up to 600 people to create millions of pieces of glassware. But despite his mechanized approach to production, few if any can criticize the imagination and beauty of his work, which in the end defines a true artist. Rather than creating a few pieces at a time that would only be affordable to a few, Lalique mass produced his work so many could enjoy it.

Lalique also "personalized" much of his work with frosting, polishing, and glazing to give it the look of an individual touch.

Enamored by the new invention of his day the automobile Lalique turned his hand in the 1920s to decorating the hoods of cars. True to his love for the grace of the human and animal form, Lalique created 29 "car mascots" in the shapes of fish, horse head, frog, dragonfly, shooting star, and St. Christopher Carrying the Christ Child. Female nudes were also a favorite design.

Lalique designed all the mascots to be illuminated from within as if his work needed help to attract attention. A 6- or 12-volt bulb was connected to the car's wiring to provide the illumination. Filters were also used to change the color of the light to red, blue, green, amber, or mauve.

Lalique mascots ornamented the hoods of the most stylish cars of the day ­ Bentley, Hispano Suiza, Isotta Fraschini, and Bugatti. Today, these hood ornaments are quite the collector's items.

But nowhere in all his work in glass is Renee Lalique more renowned than in the vase. His true masterful talent shines in the amber, plum, blue, opalescent, gray, green, black, and yellow hues he obtained by meticulously adding measured amounts of pigment to darkened glass. Striking animal figures, mythical beasts, and geometric shapes poured from his fertile mind. Lalique's art deco style of creating jewelry followed through to his work in glass. Geometric designs, smooth, flowing lines, and vibrant colors are all characteristic patterns and qualities of Lalique. Today, museums around the world feature the glasswork of Lalique.

John D. Shearer, a 30-year Lalique collector, says about value: "Prices vary enormously. A small, common colorless glass vase in average condition might sell in the low hundreds, and a large very rare art deco vase can range from £1,000 to a a couple of hundred thousand pounds. Many collectors are happy to collect vases in the £1,000-£1,500 range. These are quite attractive and as available as they were popular in the 1920s and '30s when they were produced in fairly large quantities.

Shearer recommends consulting with reputable dealers and reading specialty books before buying.

"For the new collector, the two most important considerations are condition (chips, repairs such as ground down edges, drill holes from converted vases) and authenticity. The condition can reduce the value in extreme case by up to 90%. As for authenticity, there is very little worry about known Lalique designs being faked. But there is a very big problem with modern Czech glass bearing Lalique signatures. These can be seen on eBay in large volume being sold as Lalique. You can also see less valuable French glass of the 1920s with a Lalique signature."

You might not expect the creations of one of the world's greatest glassmakers to be in the reach of the ordinary collector. However, glass collectors consider Lalique user-friendly because his pieces are not all elaborate works of art, but available decorative items. While Lalique's unique glass pieces and his art nouveau jewelry regularly sell in the six-figure range, the innovative glass designer mass-produced enough glass to make much of it affordable.

Rene Lalique was prolific. Most Lalique glass was made in the factory he used from 1921 to 1945, where it's still made today. It produced tens of thousands of pieces, which means Lalique glass is not a rare commodity.

Lalique's Herculean output also means that less-than-affluent collectors enchanted with his glass can find pieces for under £500. Here are some suggestions for those who are in the market for these not-so-pricey Laliques.

Out-of-Reach Lalique

Le Jour et La Nuit (The Day and the Night) circa 1920, £67,000 (w/o premium). In emerald, £35,000; gray £20,000-£50,000.

It's probably best to begin by listing a few of the Lalique collectibles that most likely would be out of range of most non-wealthy collectors. Before turning to glass, Lalique was a premier Parisian jewelry designer of his day, and his jewelry is hard to find for under £7,000 to £15,000.

Car buffs with fine-art tastes might be intrigued with Lalique's famed glass art deco hood ornaments, but they start at £1,500 and rarely come in under £10,000. Lalique's unique glass creations—such as those made using a lost wax process in which each mold was broken to remove the final product—also sell for serious prices.

Leaner-priced Lalique
In the 1930s, when the Depression squashed demand, Lalique put out many more affordable pieces. His pieces tend to be plainer in the 1930s. Tastes were simpler and he used cleaner lines and less detail than he did in the 1920s.

Lalique glass of the 1930s was simpler than this 1925 vase, "Serpent."

Collectors can also search for overlooked categories of Lalique. Plates, bowls, stemware, ashtrays and sometimes boxes all can be found for under £400, although at these prices they are usually made of clear glass. For under £1,000, collectors can find better examples of the same types of glass, as well as common vases, envelope seals, and perfume bottles in clear glass. "I think people haven't yet latched on to some of these items in the same way they've focused on perfume bottles," Nick Dawes, an antique dealer and Lalique specialis explains.

This Lalique, called Bacchantes, was mass-produced.

More Means Less
Lalique - a master of experimentation - was the first art glassmaker to fully accept the industrial mass production of glass. He embraced standard assembly-line techniques, such as blowing glass into reusable metal molds and shaping molten glass with a stamping press. Even pieces that were manufactured by the thousands bear his elegant water nymphs, insect motifs, and translucent flowers.

Clear and frosted Lalique is not only more plentiful, Nick notes, but it is also less sought after by serious Lalique buyers. "Most Lalique collectors don't pay attention to the more common glass," Nick says. "They'll almost always want a colored piece, for example, rather than a clear one." Greater supply and less demand means lower price tags in the marketplace.

In the case of Lalique, mass-produced material is not synonymous with lesser quality. Unlike other jewelry or glass designers, such as Louis Comfort Tiffany, who employed a stable of other designers to increase productivity, Lalique designed and oversaw the production of every piece of glass that bore his mark. "You could argue that all his pieces have the Lalique style," Nick asserts. "Almost all of his work tends to be of very good quality."

As this chalice shows, there's even more to Lalique collecting than beautiful glass.

Three Generations
Beginning Lalique collectors might also want to collect pieces designed by Rene's son Marc, who took over the business after Rene died in 1945, and now by Marie-Claude, the great designer's grand-daughter who took over after Marc's death in 1977. "Their work is different from Rene's," Nick observes, noting that the descendents of Rene rarely use his old molds. "But it shows his influence." Nick notes that glasswork by Marc and Marie-Claude has appreciated over time, and that many collectors buy them "with that in mind." Three generations of Lalique products can be found on shelves in Lalique specialty stores, antiques shops and auctions the world over.

Nick, however, is quick to add that whatever generation you decide to collect, there's more to Lalique collecting than beautiful glass.

"Collecting Lalique often opens up a whole new world for people," Nick says. "The French culture is a colorful and interesting environment to move around in." Collecting Lalique, a pivotal figure in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods, can also be an entree into those stylistic areas. And there's still one more benefit, Nick says.

For the collector with deeper pockets, Sotheby's sold a 7.5 inch, turquoise blue Lalique frosted vase (Courges, introduced 1914) inscribed "R.Lalique France" for £5,600.

Lalique used mass production techniques to make his work available and affordable to people in most income brackets. Literally millions of pieces have been created since the early 1900s, and Lalique factories continue to produce fine glass and crystal today.

In the 1940s, World War II forced the closure of his factory, and he died in 1945 before it could be reopened. After his death, Lalique's son Marc began the company anew, and in 1948, he instituted a change in the medium from demi-crystal to full lead crystal. Lalique's granddaughter, Marie-Claude, later led the company and implemented her own style with clear crystal accented with colored motifs.

The pre-WWII Lalique pieces are the most highly sought after by collectors. Lalique marked his work even the mass-produced pieces "R. Lalique," however, this is only a general rule of thumb. The signature can be found in molded, script, print, and curved designs. Also, the leading "L" in the earlier cursive "Lalique" signatures has a curleyque on top, making the letter resemble an "S." Lalique used too many signatures in too many ways to give a definitive guideline as to what was made before or after 1945. To find reference books and Lalique experts, call 800-CRISTAL.

The pieces created by Marc Lalique are signed "Lalique France," and "Lalique h France" is the work of Marie-Claude.

Today, Lalique has grown into a "lifestyle brand," offering jewelry, perfume, scarves, and leather accessories... in addition to crystal. Whether modern, vintage, Art Deco, or antique, the enduring beauty of Lalique is its mystique.

Lalique peacock necklace with turquoise stone.

Courges (squash) vase.

Lalique "Archer" car mascot with signature (inset) sold for £580 at Sotheby's. (Photo courtesy DJL Trading Co.)

Exquisite bird motif perfume bottle.
(Photo courtesy John Shearer).

Amiens Vase, circa 1925, £2,300.

Deux Figurines, £5,000-£7,000.

Leurs Ames, perfume bottle, £10,000-£20,000.

Mousse Ambree,
perfume bottle, £2,000-£4,000.

Color counts in Lalique vases: colorless, £300-£1,000; opalescent, £2,000; red, £5,500; amber, £5,000; yellow, £3,500; gray, £2,000; electric blue, £20,000.