Perfume bottle auction April 30 to be highlight of convention

RESTON, Va. – Collectors who cannot attend the 22nd annual convention of the International Perfume Bottle Association can still enjoy the sweet smell of success by participating in the convention auction April 30 beginning at 5 p.m. LiveAuctioneers will facilitate Internet live bidding.

“I’ve tried to gather something for every taste and every pocketbook,” said Ken Leach, a renowned specialist who manages the annual auction held in conjunction with the IPBA national conventions. “We’ve have people who have been collecting for 30 to 40 years and we have those who are just starting to collect. I don’t want those people sitting there and feeling like there’s nothing they can buy.”

Leach said that prices on the 359 lots will range from $25 to $25,000.

He added that the auction has a good representation of three major collector categories: Czech bottles; commercial bottles, which include Rene Lalique and Baccarat; and pre-1900 scent bottles.

This year’s auction will offer a spectacular array of bottles and vanity items spanning 200 years of artistic production, with an emphasis on such 20th-century glassmakers as Rene Lalique and Baccarat, and perfumers such as Rosine, Gabilla, Hudnut, Ybry and Schiaparelli.

Items to be auctioned include property from the estates of a longtime Baccarat collector, a popular vaudeville and radio actress, and from the exotic and provocative 1914 dancer known internationally as Verona.

Nicholas Dawes, who is regularly featured on Antiques Roadshow, will return as the auctioneer.

The IPBA convention will be conducted held April 29-May 2 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Reston, near Washington, D.C.

An auction preview will be held there Friday from 1 p.m. until the start of the auction.

For details, call Leach at 917-881-8747.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.