Photo credit: www.collectissim.com
The vase was valued at £25,000 on the programme, according to the same report. The vase was identified as a 1929 ‘Feuilles Fougères’ piece by Lalique. It stood approximately 12.5 cm high. The vase was sold at Christie’s in South Kensington, London, on November 12, 2008. Auction records list the final price at £32,450, against an estimate of £20,000-£30,000. The Guardian mentioned the sale in a June 2009 article on running a car-boot stall, while the Evening Standard revisited it in 2015 in a guide to finding valuable second-hand goods.
Because it looked nice in the bowl and we paid a pound, we bought it for the plant. Because the owner had bought the vase for its appearance rather than its designer or potential resale value, the story attracted attention.
The owner recalled: “We were clearing out the loft and it’s been in there, according to a report from the Daily Mirror. The object was a cire perdue vase with green staining, bearing a wheel-engraved Lalique mark, according to auction records. The woman bought the vase at a car-boot sale in Dumfries and initially used it for a plant. She did not realise its value when she brought it home. The vase was later brought to the BBC programme ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ where experts identified it as a work by René Lalique, the French designer known for his glassware and jewellery. Its name refers to fern leaves, a motif associated with the design.