Baccarat Glass Maker Marks and Information. In 1764 King Louis XV of France gave permission to found a glassworks in the town of Baccarat in the Lorraine region in eastern France to Prince Bishop Cardinal Louis-Joseph de Laval-Montmorency (1710-1802). Production consisted of window panes, mirrors and stemware until 1816 when the first crystal oven went into operation. By that time over 3000 workers were employed at the site.
Baccarat received its first royal commission in 1823. This began a lengthy line of commissions for royalty and heads of state throughout the world. In 1855 Baccarat won its first gold medal at the Worlds Fair in Paris. Baccarat first began marking its work with a registered mark in 1860. The mark was a label affixed to the bottom of the work. In the period 1846-1849 Baccarat signed some of their high quality glass millefiori paperweights with the letter B and the year date in a composite cane. A special paperweight dated 1853 was found under the cornerstone of a bomb damaged church in Baccarat when construction recommenced after World War 2. The crystal production expanded its scope throughout this period, and Baccarat built a worldwide reputation for making quality stemware, chandeliers, barware, and perfume bottles. Reference: Wikipedia
A FRENCH GILT-BRONZE, CRYSTAL AND CUT GLASS ‘ELEPHANT’ TANTALUS
BY BACCARAT, MODERN
The frosted glass elephant surmounted by a draped cupola with a hinged compartment fitted with gilt-embossed glass stoppered bottles marked ‘BACCARAT FRANCE’ in a removeable stand, the elephant in full headdress, the saddle hung with ropes and hooks holding twelve gilt-embossed glass cups marked ‘BACCARAT FRANCE’, on a chamfered ‘diamond’ cut plinth etched ‘Baccarat’, on a gadrooned moulded base on bracket feet and applied at the sides with Ganesh elephant mask handles
24¾ in. (63 cm.) high; 22½ in. (57 cm.) wide; 9¼ in. (29.5 cm.) deep.
Sold for GBP 82,850 at Christie’s in 2012
Baccarat Glass Cordial Set
Comprising a removable carrying and storage device fitted with four gilt decorated decanters with balloon-form stoppers and fourteen glasses, signed, in a gilt-bronze mounted casket-form case flanked by spiral twist columns with foliate capitals, raised on bracket feet. Height 12 3/4 inches, width 14 3/4 inches, depth 10 3/4 inches.
Sold for $7,200 (includes buyer’s premium) at Doyle New York in 2005
ORMOLU MOUNTED BACCARAT GLASS BOX
Measures 5″ H x 5-1/2″ W x 4-1/4″ D. Excellent condition.
Sold For: $700 at Louvre Antique Auction in 2017
A GILT-BRONZE-MOUNTED MOULDED AND BLOWN FROSTED AND PEARLISED CUT CRYSTAL “ELEPHANT” `CAVE À LIQUEUR’ (LIQUEUR SET) BY THE BACCARAT MANUFACTORY, MADE FOR OR AFTER THE L’EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE DE PARIS OF 1878,
CIRCA 1880
the body of the elephant in frosted and pearlised crystal with a harness, draped and ornamented with gilt-bronze, supporting a palanquin in the form of an Indian temple carved with the god Ganesh in low relief, the palanquin in the form of a liqueur set containing a removable stand containing six decanters in engraved and gilded crystal with a harness for two rows of six goblets with handles, standing on a bevelled and diamond cut crystal tray with a gilt-bronze border and handles forming the trunk and heads of the elephant (the tail, decanters and the glasses remade by the Baccarat manufactory)
65cm. high, 60cm. wide, 25cm. deep; 2ft. 1½in., 1ft. 11½in., 9¾in.
Sold for 485,000 GBP at Sothebys in 2015
Baccarat cameo cut glass dresser box with sterling lid, 2.5″ x 5″ diameter, textured body with red color scrolls, 4 tiny flakes to cameo shoulder (shown), signed with early acid etched mark.
Sold For: $275 at A-1 Auction in 2017
