The golden year of R. Lalique car mascot design

In 1928 Lalique was at the peak of his creative and design powers as it related to these luxury car accessories at what might also be considered the peak of the golden age of motoring. Some 13 models were launched early in this year "Tete d'epervier" "Tete de Belier" "Tete de Coq" "Tete de Paon" "Coq Nain" "Hirondelle" "Saint-Christophe" "Levrier" "Tete d'aigle" "Petite Libellule" "Victoire" "Grenouille" "Grande Libellule". The creation date did not always reflect the catalogue numbering of the models but all were created between January 1928 and May 1928. This year corresponded also to the earliest of the Breves catalogues in leaflet form which included all 17 models produced to this date with the exception of the Tete de Belier (for reasons unknown). Intriguingly, a later version of the Breve 1928 model leaflet included a plaster maquette of the Vitesse titled "Lalique's latest Femme Nue" with no pricing details, though Vitesse actually appeared late in 1929 after several other models such as "Perche" "Coq Houdan" "Epsom" "Longchamp". Perhaps Breves felt the Vitesse more commercial especially since Epsom and the Longchamp models never appeared in their leaflets (perhaps due to the difficulty in mounting them in their patented bases).