Topic: Old and "strange shaped" paperweight ID help please

[karelm]

Hi,
I have just purchased this weight:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7672
As a "Victorian? dump weight".  It is about 4,5 inches or 12 cm heigh and has an elongated round hexagon shape.  The top is about 3cm or just over one inch in width and the base is about 4,5 cm or almost 2 inches. Weight is about 800g which is heavy for the size. Glass is a smokey yellow colour.
As can be seen from pic above and the one below the top and base are both flat ground and polished.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7674
Inside is a circle of green lampwork stems, the first inch has no decoration and after that the little flowers (appropriately millefiori cuttings) start.  Flowers are orange, lite blue, yellow, dark blue, pink and white. and look like this:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7673 (the long drawn out orange flower on the pic is due to distortion at the thickest point of glass).
When I first saw the pic on the web it shouted "Russian" at me for some reason, but having it in hand I am clueless.
Anybody know what it is?
Thanks and kind regards,
KarelM

[glasstrufflehunter]

I have never seen a weight like that but I have seen those flowers before in those very colours, in old Fratelli Toso weights. They're like little daisies. I've seen them in white and various pale colors but I have also seen a variation where the flowers are those vivid colours.

I would say you unusual dump weight is older modern Murano, specifically Fratelli Toso.

[karelm]

Hi and THANKS!
You mean like the canes in this weight:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7681 this one is from my own collection and has a tattered sticker that you can only read made in italy from. 
It is so similar to another one found here:
http://www.rafa.com/graphics/zl423tosocmb.jpg that I have always thought of it as a Toso.
I have compared the flowers and they are pretty much the same for the light pink ones.
I dont have UV lights and spectrometres and the like but what clinches it for me is the colour of the glass that is almost identical smokey yellow.
Anybody seen a similar weight?
Kind regards,
KarelM

[glasstrufflehunter]

Oh those are nice Fratelli Toso weights! You got one with a sig cane too! *ish jealous*

[karelm]

  no,
read my post again, the second one is NOT mine, it is the one that I have used to attribute mine (the first one).  If I had a sig cane one you would not be able to get my smile on a wide screen!!!!!
Would it help to post the topic weight to the murano list to find out if anyone has seen this type b4? I would love to get an idea of dates...and then I have to do the price thing and then I have to convince SWMBO that we may need to sell both to persue other weights!

[glasstrufflehunter]

Sowwy about misreading your post.

I've posted about paperweights before on the Murano forum and have been told to post them over here.

[m1asmithw8s]

It is a modern Murano weight.