Topic: Okay, what did I just buy?

[tropdevin]

***

Hi.

Thanks for the comments on the glass - it sounds like it might be a lead glass, but of relatively low lead content.

I have been looking at some of my 'oddities', and I have a paperweight with very similar cane structures (and some of the colours), which belongs to the unknown group of antique European paperweights that I refer to as 'starfish' paperweights.  I call them that because many have unusual canes with 5 short straight arms to them.  I am working on an article on these, but will try and post some images of the paperweight I have in mind and the relevant canes in the next day or so.

They are a diverse groups of designs - concentrics, colour grounds, harlequins, scrambles.  They probably date to the late 19th century, and may well be Belgian but not Val St Lambert.  More anon.

Alan

[RescoCCC]

Thanks, Alan, I appreciate it. I'll also keep researching and see if I can come up with anything.

[tropdevin]

***

Hi RescoCCC.

Attached is an image of the paperweight I mentioned, plus a close-up of some canes.  Mine is 3 1/16 inch / 78 mm diameter; it has a white ground.

The first cane image shows the 'starfish' cane: it has a central circular tube, with 5 stubby arms. What makes it distinctive is that it appears to be formed not by moulding, but by adding blocks of white glass to the white tube - quite an unusual technique. The same technique is also used for some six armed canes, but the five armed version appears throughout the family of 'starfish' paperweights, often accompanied by a cane in pink/white/blue made of concentric square tubes.

The second cane image shows three different canes from this paperweight that share a similar design structure: circular tubes or canes grouped around a central core, then surrounded by clear glass, then with a layer of white glass, and finally an outer coloured shell. This is not unknown elsewhere, but is fairly uncommon.  What intrigues me is that the same design occurs in your paperweight, both in the blue canes in the outer ring and the pink inner ones - maybe the red too, but it is hard to see.

Alan

[pooleandpaperweights]

Any chance of a side view Alan?

[tropdevin]

***

Hi.

Here is a profile view. I guess from the scratched top it is probably the original shape, but you can rarely be certain unless it still has blocking marks or collapsed bubbles on the surface.

Alan

[tropdevin]

***

Hi.  Here is an image of another 'starfish cane' paperweight, this time a red ground, courtesy of Ian Cummings of weights-n-things.  The cane on the outside at 5 o'clock looks to be the same as the one at the centre of RescoCCC's paperweight, which I suspect therefore is another example from the starfish cane maker.

Alan

[RescoCCC]

Thanks, Alan. Frankly I like the color theme in yours better. Some very real similarities in the canes, for sure. The dome profile also seems similar. Are the canes in yours thinly sliced? They are very thin in mine.

[RescoCCC]

I've continued digging through Selman's auction archives, and just found a very interesting Clichy with canes very similar to two of the types in mine. The smooth sided blue ones with pink centers in the outer ring, and the inner ring ribbed pink ones with the center holes look nearly identical to the canes in the Clichy.

http://www.selman.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/003616.9.2655952883919036247

Lot #20.

[tropdevin]

***

Hi.  I agree the canes are similar...but why is that a Clichy? I think it is mis-attributed, and is one of the same group as yours.  Remember that Selman make errors from time to time...as we all do.

Alan

[RescoCCC]

You mean Selman isn't infallible?  I'm sure they attributed it as a Clichy because of the rose canes. Of course, a) Clichy wasn't the only one who used rose canes and b) I wish that image was larger so we could see the canes better.