Glassware

“He stored everything like Russian dolls, everything packed away into something else."

Are you a ‘big light’ fan or foe? According to various social media posts and newspaper articles last year, there is a move away from the ‘big light’ (in part due to Tik Tok influencers decreeing so) to lamps.

The vendor of an early 19th century glass offered as part of the February 21-24 sale at Wendl (21% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt will have been astonished by the result.

In 1903, only one year before his death, Emile Gallé was commissioned by the Belgian company Solvay et Cie with the creation of a bowl to mark the 30th anniversary of its factory in Dombasle.

Lalique, the epitome of inter-war glamour, took centre stage at the Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) Design sale.

A small 8in cast bronze relief or architectural element c.1900 designed by Art Nouveau and Art Deco master René Lalique was offered in Florida.

The Durrington Collection of Glass, a select 60-lot auction which Bonhams (28/27/21/14.4% buyer’s premium) offered for sale last year, featured some of the best examples of 18th century British glassmaking across a number of collectable categories.

Explorer and naval captain George Vancouver set sail from King’s Lynn in April 1791 aboard HMS Discovery to survey the Pacific Northwest coastline of North America.

Geoffrey Walton has a collection of 18th century cider and perry glasses. He has used his considerable knowledge of the items and the social background at the time they were made and used to write a book on the subject.

Two exceptional pieces of Venini glass surfaced at auction in the final days of 2023 on different sides of the Atlantic.

For René Lalique, glass making represented a second career.

Figural novelty silver-mounted glass claret jugs are a favourite collectable and some of the most popular examples are fashioned as animals.

Very much the highest price in a recent sale held by Beaussant Lefèvre (28% buyer’s premium) at Drouot was the €95,000 (£82,610) paid for a rare Gallé glass vase.

Our selection of lots from nine upcoming auctions.

A design for a swan-shaped pendant suspended by a gracefully curved neck and bearing a scene of two more swans is among the highlights at an exhibition on the drawings and sketches of René Lalique (1860-1945).

On December 8 Beaussant-Lefèvre is holding a sale that will feature a number of examples of Gallé glass including this early piece.

A royal armorial goblet by William Beilby – among the most celebrated pieces of glass ever produced in Britain – sold for a record £140,000 at Bonhams.

Lyon & Turnbull’s (26/25/20% buyer's premium) Lalique sale in London included six of the rare pieces made using the cire perdue technique.

Charity donation from the collection of the man who brought Woolworths to the UK includes rare Tiffany vases.

Hot on the heels of just over 20 lots of 18th century Jacobite drinking glasses offered at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on August 16 (see ATG No 2607), more of these desirable items appeared at two other salerooms.