How to Collect Lalique

Learn to recognize R Lalique by developing a sense of the Lalique look. Study book plates, museum pieces, and visit websites that feature high resolution photos of his work. It is unlikely that you will find a piece of authentic, pre-1945 R Lalique on display in a store. It is simply too valuable.

Look for distinguishing features. His glass object d'art were usually pressed or mold-blown, and sometimes they were embellished with enameling. He used lead-based glass, which is weighty compared to other glass. You can look for his signature; his works were signed with the embedded impression R Lalique until he died in 1945. After that, though his son, Marc, continued to design and manufacture. He dropped the R in the R Lalique signature in order to distinguish the works that were created when his father was alive. He also renamed the company Lalique Cristal Company.

Rene Lalique's Art Nouveau jewelry often rendered birds, dragonflies, female faces, and serpents, and it was not unusual for him to include ivory in his designs.

His Art Deco and Art Nouveau glass work, perfume bottles, inkwells, boxes, bowls, bookends, stemware, clocks, and car mascots (hood ornaments) is often made from frosted, clear, opalescent, or colored glass, with colored glass being rarer, especially black glass. Art Deco motifs included birds, botanicals and geometric designs.

Begin your search. To find R Lalique, you can subscribe to the in-house publication of Sotheby's, which features upcoming auction items. It is published 10 times a year. Also, you can purchase catalogs of upcoming auction items from Christies New York. Other fine-art auction houses will have similar publications. Additionally, they offer buying services.

Because most R Lalique is sold privately and at fine arts auctions, you may want to consider running an ad in prominent publications such as Le Monde, the New York Times, and important collectors' publications.

The website RLalique.com maintains a list of upcoming auctions with photos of the pieces that will be sold. They also have a "Wanted to Buy" page and are a treasure trove of information on all things R Lalique.

Be very wary. Knock-offs, mistaken representations, and outright fraudulent representations abound, especially on online auction sites. If you see a piece and want to know more, you can contact Rlalique.com. Currently, they do free evaluations. They also list reported suspicious representations with accompanying photos.