What is opalescent glass?

It's glass with a milky blue-white quality that warms up when light passes through it. It's named in 197 of the 503 titles recorded on Sellingantiques, which makes it the defining surface of the category. Several pattern names occur both with and without the word, so the same model exists in plain clear or frosted form as well.

Why are the pieces named in French?

The factory gave every model a name, and the trade has kept them. Coquilles, Ondines, Poissons, Moineau, Anemone, Ceylan and Perruches are model names, not descriptions of shape. Nearly every listing is titled that way. Pattern name, then form, then size number is the usual order.

How old is most of it?

Interwar. Of the dated listings, 274 fall in the 1920s and 172 in the 1930s, so the two decades together account for the overwhelming bulk. The 1910s contribute 23, and the tail past the war is tiny: three in the 1960s, two in the 1950s, one in the 1940s.

What were the car mascots for?

They're moulded glass radiator ornaments for motor cars. Fifty titles carry the term, among them Sanglier, Victoire, Archer, Coq Houdan, Vitesse, Tete d'Aigle, Grande Libellule and Cinq Chevaux. They sit apart from the tableware in price as well as purpose, taking up a large share of the upper range.

Do the model numbers mean anything?

Yes. No1 through No5 are factory size numbers within one pattern, so a Coquilles No1 and a Coquilles No5 are the same design at different diameters. No1 appears in 18 titles and No2 in eight. The larger numbers, along with anything titled charger or largest size, occupy the upper half of the range.

Which colours turn up besides clear and frosted?

Amber leads, named in 15 titles. Green, topaz, olive green, electric blue and amethyst-tinted examples appear only in ones and twos across the whole archive, and one ashtray is recorded in alexandrite glass. Colour lifts a piece above its clear equivalent. Green Formose, deep amber Ormeaux and electric blue Ronces all sit well clear of the plain versions of the same models.

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Antique Lalique Glass

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Press-moulded French glass of the 1920s and 1930s, made as bowls, vases, scent bottles, paperweights and car radiator mascots, and sold then as it is now by the name of the pattern moulded into it.