Lalique Hood Ornaments - A Short History

May/June 2019 edition
Issue #5 AutoMobilia Resource Magazine
Geoffrey George Weiner

Photo by Michael Furman

René Jules Lalique was a French designer known for his creations of glass in the form of perfume bottles, vases, jewelry, chandeliers, clocks, desk ornaments, book-ends, etc... and his automobile mascots, the first of which was the Falcon. He started experimenting with glass in 1890, and around the turn of the Century started supplying glass bottles for some of the perfume houses of the day.

His mascots were produced during the inter-war period... somewhat by accident! You see, Lalique was approached by his friend André-Gustave Citroën, who asked if he could produce an appropriate “mascot” for his forthcoming car, the 5 CV to be shown in 1925. 

First, in sketch form, and then a proper drawing to scale, Lalique came up with a staggered row of five galloping horses named Cinq Chevaux that he cast from a re-usable metal mould, and produced in a special hardened glass. This was then finished, and the mould lines polished out. This was the first commercial Lalique mascot specifically produced for a make of car. Citroën was delighted, and from then on Lalique decided to carry on making these adornments for wealthy clients cars’ radiator caps known as Bouchons de Radiateurs or Mascottes par Automobiles. These designs were produced only for a short time from 1925 until 1931, although Lalique being a canny entrepreneur re-introduced two previous Mermaid designs of 1920 into the mascot range.

​With the wartime occupation of France by the Germans, production ceased in 1940 at the factory at Wingen-sur-moder, (although it’s thought that some items were still produced for a short while during that period). After  the war, and with the death of René Lalique in 1945, his son Marc took over, and continued to produce the mascots until 1947. At that point in time, they entered into the range of producing desk ornaments and paperweights made of crystal, the company henceforth was known as Cristal Lalique SA Fr. 

Photo by Michael Furman

In 2008 they were acquired by the Swiss owned company, Art et Fragence, who re-organized Lalique, and proceeded to discontinue the range of desk ornaments and paperweights. Only very few of the old designs are still produced today. In 2016, Art et Fragrance was renamed Lalique Group, as the Lalique name was deemed to be more valuable.

Today you can obtain original period Lalique pieces of all types through private sales and well publicized auctions. Some pieces may be quite difficult to find, and costly. Choices run the gamut. There is of course the car mascot range of 28 actual hood ornaments, along with the two large and small Mermaids making a round figure of 30 different designs in all. 

​If your budget does not stretch into thousands of Dollars... look for the signature “R. Lalique France”, or just go for the aforementioned few designs chosen for the crystal desk ornaments, and paperweight range. The signature changes and is easily identified on post-war to modern pieces as “Lalique France” with a small circled “r” for registered, which is engraved in scrolling script. If you go for the latter, these earlier ones came in grey boxes, and if you’re lucky along with a factory inspection certificate. The later examples (and current pieces) come in black boxes and should still have the certificate intact.

As to values, the old adage of “How long is a piece of string?” comes to mind!
Lalique items continue to have a strong appeal, though values & prices have dropped considerably since the heyday of the late 1980s to 1990s. The exceptions to that are for the rarest pieces, which remain very high and quite stable. 

​We will start from the most common inter-war period car mascots that you come across mainly on auction sites and live auctions, etc. 
​

Photo by Michael Furman

*The Roundels of St. Christopher, the Archer, small Mermaid, the Perch, the Wild Boer, and the Eagles head should be had for a ball park figure of around $150 - $350. Then going up a notch, the female nude of Chrysis, the large Cockerel, large Mermaid, the Cockerels Head, the Falcon, the Horse head (Longchamp ‘B’) should be around the $500 - $1,500 mark. The Five Horses, the Horse head (Longchamp ‘A’), Vitesse, Victoire, Guinea hen, Rams head, Greyhound, large Dragonfly, Swallow, and Hawks head would be around the $3,000 - $10,000 mark.

​Going higher.... The Epsom horses head, the Peacocks head, Frog, and small Dragonfly would be around $8,000 to $15,000. Then the rarest really rocket. the Comet, the Fox, and Owl from $50,000 to $300,000. These are ball park figures, and if those are not high enough for you, then consider the super rare opalescent and full colored examples, which run even more! 

Photo by Michael Furman

Back to the easily affordable.... Most of the post-war to modern pieces are in the $100 to $500 range, add another $50 if boxed. The exceptions being the modern opalescent pieces of the same design, which would range from about $500 to $1,500. All prices are of course based on condition & rarity.

​I must mention that from 1925 until 1939, The Breves Galleries in London produced metal radiator lighting bases consisting of a hollow base with a bulb inside with colored filters that could be changed to produce a lighting effect when connected to the vehicles battery.

 The Lalique factory did in fact produce some crude bases, around 1925, but Breves bases were superior, and Lalique gave Breves the European License to market them. These bases are extremely rare and desirable, and depending on their completeness, and condition would be worth between $500 to $1,500 a piece. A warning here... There are unlicensed knock-offs being produced and fraudulently represented as “real” which they most certainly are not. They are of quite high quality complete with the Breves impressed address and patent number, but they are fakes, so seek expert advice before you buy! One of the best places for advice and information is the “The Lalique Mascot Collectors’ Club”: Brmmbrmm.com/lbcc.bb

*I’ve used the English terms for describing them here, the actual true French names are easy to find searching on Google or you can go direct to “The Lalique Mascot Collectors’ Club” website for a mine of information.

Geoffrey George Weiner

To read more great columns like this one about Lalique Mascots from expert Geoffrey George Weiner...
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