Recent Auction of Antique Radio

A few months I wrote about radios and collecting vintage radios in both the Newsletter and on my NOVA-Antiques Blog.  It is really easy to fall in love with old vintage radios because of their beauty and also their nostalgia.  So it was no surprise to me when I saw on the news recently about an old antique radio that brought in more than $34,000 at auction.

This wasn’t just any antique radio though; this was a very rare Sparton Nocturne radio that was made in 1936 in the art deco style of the time.  These were originally made by the Sparks-Withington Company and they only made about 500 of them.  The radio that sold this past month did not even work; had it been in working condition, the radio could have brought in more than $75,000.

Rene Lalique - The Best Designer of the 20th Century

Yesterday, in the UK Mirror, there was a story of older woman who was in need of an operation and was trying to find money to finance the procedure. According to the story, the woman went into her attic and started rummaging around for things to sell when she came upon a brooch. At first, she dismissed her find because she thought it had no value, but after more searching, gave up hope and decided to have it's worth determined.

To her surprise, the brooch, which was in the Art Nouveau style, turned out to have been made by Rene Lalique and was worth close to $14,000 in pre-auction estimates. At auction, Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury, Wilts, it sold for more than $100,000. What is interesting is that I have always associated the name Lalique with glass design and never thought about him as a jewelry designer.

As it turns out, the celebrated designer, Rene Lalique, did indeed produce and design some of the most spectacular glass creations of his time but he also designed jewelry, chandeliers, clocks and even hood ornaments. Born in France in 1860, Lalique was an apprentice to Louis Aucoc by the age of 16 and later worked for the prestigious jewelry house, Cartier. In 1886, he opened his own shop and is renowned as one the top Art Nouveau jewelry designers and later for the Art Deco style.

I have never seen a piece of Lalique jewelry and if I did I would probably not know it from any other jeweler or designer in the world. However, I am most familiar with his amazing glass creations and can say that Lalique designed some of the most creative and inspired pieces that I have ever seen. If Lalique put as much enthusiasm and imagination into his jewelry design as he did in his glass creations, I can understand why people are fanatic about the result. Rene Lalique, who was the best designer of the 20th Century, died in 1945.

Ronson Art Deco Style Vintage Lighters

Recently while attending an old estate sale in Mclean, Virginia we came across a couple of old cigarette lighters that we thought were not only well designed, but pretty cool looking too. The price was right, so we purchased them and as usual started to do some research on old lighters.

We stumbled upon a website by a man named Kevin in Portland, Oregon. He has accumulated over 200 different cigarette lighters of different makes and models. His favorites, not to our surprise, seem to be the Art Deco style lighters from the mid-1930’s, like the one pictured. This Ronson lighter features a Rondelight Babyball lighter being held by a Ballerina dancer in chrome.

NOVA-Antiques Newsletter Archive – December 22, 2005 . . . .

Clarice Cliff Pottery Designer

Many of you who love Art Deco will know a piece of Clarice Cliff ceramic from a mile away. The Artist was born in 1899 in Staffordshire and started in meager beginnings as a painter of pottery, as many women of that time, in that area of the world. However, that is where the similarities with other women of the time ended.

Clarice had much ambition to become a designer and in 1928 launched the Bizarre line of pottery. The pottery resembled its name, with its bold and exuberant designs, but they were stamped with her name and quickly became popular. Now collectors clamor to discover one of her works. One of her decorative platters recently sold at auction $72,000. The Designer, Clarice Cliff, passed away in 1972.

NOVA-Antiques Newsletter Archives - September 1, 2005 . . . .