How amazing the beginning of the 20th century was! Time of jazz and flourishing of all kinds of art. Time when a skilled artisan was equal to an artist, and painting gurus drew posters, advertisements and packaging for common goods. Time when recently elite art objects were replicated on an industrial scale and became available to middle class. Time of luxury cars, speeding on the streets of European capitals, roaring engines, fun horn sounds and black smoke from their guts. Famous phrase by Ostap Bender: "Car is not a luxury, but means of transportation". I would paraphrase it — car is luxurious means of transportation. Look at the first Bugatti or Bentley and you will understand it yourself! Well, a luxury car should have luxurious details!

Mascot is a decoration, located on the front of the bonnet, it can be a human figure, an animal or an object. God knows who was the first to come up with these things, they appeared somehow by themselves with the first cars.

Rene Lalique became interested in both cars and mascots, starting to cooperate with the most famous car makers — Hispano Suiza, Isotta Fraschini, Bugatti, Bentley. He developed and made 30 magnificent figurines.

Mascots were made from proprietary transparent glass with mat finish a la Lalique and toned in different colours to look more expressive. Amethyst pink, brown topaz, purple, blue, amber, grey shades. Moreover, they had lighting inside to change their colour during the trip, it was considered incredibly chic!

The first glass mascot Five Horses was made by Lalique in 1925 for Citroen company.

The most "glowing" and spectacular design is considered to be Big Dragonfly.

The most famous and largest is Wind Spirit, presented at Minerva Paris motor show in 1928.

Fox is a very rare mascot, only a few copies of it were preserved.

Eagle's head is the most notorious mascot. It has been a favorite one among Nazi officers.

The rarest Lalique`s mascot is Greyhound. There are only two known figures, and one of them is severely damaged. Originally, this mascot was made for Charles, Prince of Wales.

Other mascots are good too, but not as rare as these six :)