Topic: PP1 Perthshire - poss John Deacons?

[David E]

Paperweights are not my my usual field of collecting, but I recently came across this, which appears to be a John Deacons' Cartwheel.

However, the book I'm using to ID this (Paperweights of the 19th & 20th C, p.39, Anne Mecalfe, Millers) mentions no sig cane, but does allude to a 'thistle' cane, which I can't seem to locate.

Size is 7.5cm diameter. Any ideas?

[daveweight]

Hi David - this doesn't look like a John Deacons paperweight to me and I'd say it was a Perthsire PP1. What makes you think it is Deacons ? Is there any marking on this weight as John either uses his thistle cane on cheaper weights or his JD or JHD signature cane on more expensive pieces so all Deacons weights are signed somehow
Dave

[Leni]

Looks like an early Perthshire to me, too.  The early ones didn't have the P cane in the centre.

[David E]

Thanks Dave and Leni.

I was comparing it to the photo given in the book - looks identical to my untrained eye, even to the number of twists (11) radiating from the centre. I believe the thistle cane is the centre one, but this definitely isn't present on mine.

But I'll cheerfully admit to being uneducated to the finer points of 'weight identification

[Leni]

Since John originally worked at Strathearn, and was one of the founder members of Perthshire, it's hardly surprising that you will have noticed the similarity   

[David E]

I'll direct the honourable lady to my original statement!

[David E]

I see that JD left Perthshire in 1978, so if he did make this, it dates the weight at least prior to this. However, I have found mention of the PP1 as having "13-14 radial spokes" see http://www.paperweight-mall.com/pagepp1.html - would they alter the design at any time?

Edit: Appears the design did alter; "The details of the canes, spokes and colouring vary considerably and it is not easy to find two identical weights."

[Frank]

I show a few variants from different catalogues here:
http://www.scotlandsglass.co.uk/cms/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.view_images&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1074&category_id=186&Itemid=51

Always happy to add more You will notice that there are not significant layout differences for those PP1's shown so far. If you look at the PP63's
http://www.scotlandsglass.co.uk/cms/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=202&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=51

You will see that there are significant variations in the 6 shown. It gets even more confusing as editions, even limited can be offered on different ground colours.

But of course, variation is inevitable in hand made items and even Caithness, where most designs were not as long lived, has significant differences that can be seen in some cases. No doubt once I complete adding the Caithness catalogues and start adding the contributed photographs, the extent of this variation will be much easier to see.

This page will eventually have most of the edition (still waiting) on display and shows a lot of variety.
http://www.scotlandsglass.co.uk/cms/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=219&Itemid=51

So paperweights certainly differ from stamp collecting  where you can only detect the differences with special equipment. Each weight is an individual creation. Possible exceptions to that being the laser decorated weights where you can get totally identical pieces and of course moulded weights.

[David E]

Thanks for the update. The ground on this, if I'm not mistaken, appears amethyst.

Always happy to add more

You know you don't need to ask, Frank

Royalty charge, to you, 0.00000000000000000001p per photo 

Do you want the original photos? I was experimenting with lighting, so will try to remove that slight reflection.

[KevinH]

Just to add to this, here is one that is the same pattern as David's (having a 1-1-2-2 set up of canes between the radial twists). It confused me for a long time. I decided it might be Strathearn rather than Perthshire PP1. Recently I changed my mind, but have not yet updated the web page to say so!

A weight similar to mine was mentioned to me by another collector, and it had a Perthshire Paperweights label. General style, overall appearance, detailed pattern form ... all matched and so, with a PP label, it was settled.

For most of us, these unsigned PP1s (and same, but smaller, PP2s) from Perthshire are one of the more difficult weights to attribute. As Frank shows, there are many variations on a similar theme.

The book The Complete Guide to Perthshire Paperweights states, "thirteen or fourteen radial twists" but also adds, "Some very early PP1s have considerably fewer radial twists and weights with larger numbers of radials also exist".

So, David, your weight may have been made by JD - at Perthshire Paperwerweights (1969 to 1978), but not in his own studio (1978 to present). The info in Anne Metcalfe's wonderful little guide is correct and any weight by John from in his own studio will have some form of identifying cane.