Glassware

Almost singlehandedly, Sir Laurence Whistler (1912-2000) revived the tradition of British diamond point engraving in the post-war era. His stippled glass goblets were particularly innovative: engraved on both sides of the bowl with views of the English countryside, they create an illusion of perspective.

Lyon & Turnbull’s (26% buyer’s premium) sale marking the centenary of the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes - the event that later gave Art Deco its name - included a Lalique glass vase that was shown at the event. Quatre Figurines Femmes Formant Soutien, standing 6½in (17cm) high and modelled as a quartet of crouching female nudes supporting an ovoid bowl, was made using the cire perdue (or lost wax) technique.

One of the rarest of all of the 31 car mascots made by Lalique from 1925-31 came up for auction at Jeffrey Evans & Associates (25% buyer’s premium) in Mount Crawford, Virginia.

Among the great Beilby discoveries of recent times was the emergence - from two separate sources across 14 years - of six small firing glasses decorated in red, yellow and white enamel with Masonic emblems.

A biannual addition to Sworders’ calendar is The Glass Sale - the first on October 28.

Numerous bidders at a recent Mehlis (24% buyer’s premium) auction in Plauen were not prepared to let a late 19th century vase by Emile Gallé get away for the estimated €350.

The Bohemian glassmaker Leopold Blaschka’s fascination with marine life began in 1853, when the ship in which he was travelling to the US became becalmed off the Azores.

Two pieces of pre-war Orrefors glass were consigned from a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan estate for sale at DuMouchelles (24% buyer’s premium) in Detroit.

Graham Slater’s collection that packed a Cambridge house provided 670 lots over two auctions

Glittering displays of glass will be on show at the upcoming Premier Fairs’ dedicated event at Himley Hall near Dudley in the West Midlands on Sunday, May 18.

Two enticingly estimated, early glasses from a west German private collection were fiercely contested in the online sale held by Wendl (21% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt.

One of perhaps only two known ruby red versions of the Whitefriars Banjo vase sold for £17,200 in Devon on April 9.

A Tiffany Studios favrile glass window depicting a tree-fringed river leading to distant mountains took $450,000 (£347,000) at DuMouchelles (24% buyer’s premium) in Detroit, Michigan.

An early 18th century onion-shaped decanter or carafe offered at Halls (24% buyer’s premium) in Shrewsbury was of particular interest for a point-engraved inscription to the body. It read 'The Kit Kat Club at the Fountain Tavern on the Strand'.

Windows from 1923 by a master of the craft mark the move from Art Nouveau to Art Deco

In a market that waxes and wanes, recent sales suggest collectors are active and pushing up prices

A single-owner collection of Venini glassware led Roseberys’ (26/25/20% buyer’s premium) first Design auction of the year in West Norwood.