Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/856465
such as falcons, horses, dragonflies, roosters and rams, plus human figures of various types. Hood ornaments began as practical devices, engine thermometers set on radiators within eyeshot of the driver. When in-dash gauges became common, the interest in ornaments on the hood survived and became design elements in their own right. The Mercedes Three-Pointed Star, Packard's Goddess of Speed, Bentley's Flying B, the Jaguar Leaper and the Dodge Ram all come to mind. The first time he saw a Lalique, Smith was smitten and knew he'd found his new passion. "I saw them at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance," he relates. "That set me on a path. I read books on Lalique and found that there were 28 mascot designs and two additional paperweights used as mascots." In February of 2015, he purchased two examples, "Tete d'Aigle" and "Coq Nain" (Eagle Head and Small Rooster). Once Smith learned about the existence of Royal Blue, he was deter- mined to find the mascot. "In 1931, Royal Blue simply disappeared," Smith says. "No one knew what became of it." The piece finally surfaced at a London Christie's auction in 2012 with an estimated value of more than $500,000. It was in nearly original condition except for some small chips on the base and was complete with the custom-crafted metal Breves mounting base and unique blue light lens that gives the mascot its signa- ture color (the mascots are lit from beneath and wired in such a way that the light bright- (right) Cinq Cheveaux (Five Horses); (below, left to right) Coq Nain (Bantam Cockerel), Grenouille (Frog) and Tête d'Aigle (Eagle's Head) are examples in Smith's collection. "Some (Laliques) exist in numbers estimated at fewer than a dozen."