Topic: paperweight -is it collectable

[boxed]

Hi guys
Hope its ok to ask but this paperweight ive got (see images) looks quite basic and simple in design it is signed
so my question is what makes a paperweight collectable is it the maker the market etc i probably sound stupid if so
wasnt on purpose
regards
B

[paperweights]

Looks like a Mayauel Ward Paperweight.  If so, it is very collectible.  Mayauel is a very talented paperweight maker and there is considerable demand for his paperweights.

[boxed]

Hi allan
Thanks for the info very good to know who and how the makers pieces are recieved, so would i be rightin thinking its the old saying "Quality Counts" if people know the difference which i dont so very grateful to people like yourself and the guys on this site who  always seem happy to help
im starting to find glass collecting enjoyable and intresting
regards
B

[tropdevin]

***

Hi.  This is indeed a Mayauel Ward paperweight - it was a table favour at a recent PCA Convention (that is to say, every one who attended the conference dinner got one of these for free - so me and my wife got one each in different colours). I don't recall quite which convention - maybe Rhode Island?

As for what makes a paperweight 'collectable', it depends what you mean by 'collectable'. There is no fixed definition. If it is some non-specialist magazine article definition of 'collectable', then ask the magazine editor what they meant. If it is a case of what do people like to collect - the answer is that different people like different things...so anything can be 'collectable'. If you mean 'what are people likely to buy in future, and thus what will increase in price', then if anyone can answer that with confidence, I would like to borrow their crystal ball for a short time.

Alan

[boxed]

Hi alan
i probably didnt quite ask the question right
I have been looking on google at sites and images and there seem
to be so many different types and makers
the paperweight i first asked about was made by paul ysart and they seem
very expensive and some others that look the same but are far less money
i suppose i didnt think of a paperweight to be a piece of art before
i think i should buy what i like for the piece not that price
thankyou for your comment
B

[KevinH]

The problem of "is it collectible?" goes back a long way! For glass paperweights, in the 1920s / 30s, it was items such as "old French" weights that commanded the greatest interest among collectors. And the collectors of those times included the likes of King Farouk of Eqypt! So perhaps a certain amount of kudos was attached to being a "paperweight collector" at that time, with a corresponding "colllectibility" being given to certain types of weight.

And to some extent, the same thoughts seem to apply today. At least one author has made a statement along the lines of "air bubbles in weights add nothing to their beauty" - thus creating an impression of a certain "non-collectibility". And that particular idea therefore excludes all of the "Harlequin" design weights made by Paul Ysart ... whose weights we know from price levels at least, to be "very collectible" indeed!

All just my own opinion, of course.