Model No: 1122 Cinq Chevaux. Created August 1925
In 1922, André Citroën released the Citroën 5CV, nicknamed the "Little Citroën” heralding the birth of the Cabriolet which became the darling of the elegant set. It only remained for André Citroën to symbolise the dazzling success of this car by asking the greatest glassmaker of the beginning of the century, René LALIQUE, to adorn it with a radiator mascot.
Rearing up, the five horses came to personalise the creation of the CITROËN firm in 1925.
The design seems an interpretation by Lalique of Greek and Roman classics depicting chariot racing and animals in perfect unison (though with four horses in profile in the historical case).
But at this time René LALIQUE does not yet know that he has just created the first piece, and today one of the rarest, of what will become the most prestigious collection of mascots in the world.
Height: 15cm
Clear (white) glass press molded
Price (1932 Lalique et Cie Catalogue): 280FF
Breves of Knightsbridge, London UK titled this model ’The Horses’ and listed a price of £3/3/0 'unilluminated' or £4/4/0 ‘for light’ using the patented Breves illuminated mount. A bulb was 3/s and Duty was 10/6.
Nil Melior, a prominent auto accessories company whose showrooms were located at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, listed the Cinq Chevaux in their marketing brochure as simply 'Chevaux' for $35 with an illuminated base available on request at $10 additional.
Other names for this mascot - Cinq Cheveaux, 5 Chevaux, Chevaux, 5CV, Five Horses, 5 Horses, Horses, The Horses. Mascotte, Hood Ornament, Car Mascot, Bouchon de Radiateur, Radiator Cap.
Appeared in 1928 and 1932 Lalique Catalogue. Removed from 1937 Catalogue.
No known reissue in crystal post 1947, not marketed today.
Other Links: