Topic: Is this Ysart?

[pooleandpaperweights]

Hope so, because if not I've made an error at £200 hammer!

http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/nick-mellors/catalogue-id-2909453/lot-24052841

Can't see who else it would be though.  Did I get a bargain?

Also, lot 513 same sale, such a shame the butterfly has a 3 way annealing crack in it!

Ian

[tropdevin]

***

Hi.  I planned to bid on it too, but it went way past my limit of £100.  In my view it is a Caithness era piece by Paul, but I could be wrong.  I got the impression that Lot 513 was someone clearing out their junk: a badly cracked Ysart butterfly, and two very poor examples of Clichy miniatures.

Alan

[orangeglass]

Hi,
I was watching that too along with the fish weight - I believe Alan is correct! (not that I know, but was kindly given the same info)
Such a shame about the damage to the buttterfly weight - still would have gone for a lot more if perfect - still, I was quite surprised at the hammer!

[SophieB]

Hi there,

Good for you, Ian.

I could not watch the auction because I had to work but I was not planning to bid anyway. How much did the cracked butterfly go for?

SophieB

[orangeglass]

£210 plus commission - and I didn't think much of the other two paperweights!

[SophieB]

Many thanks Roberta.

I do not know enough about the market value of the Clichy weights to make an proper assessment but £210 seems rather high for this lot (it will go to £250 or so with commission).

SophieB

[KevinH]

I think Alan was correct with the "Caithness period PY" attribution for Lot 511. And I believe Lot 510 was probably from the same era. But a check with shortwave uv is the only way I know to prove it.

Lots 510 & 511, being unsigned PY,  may originally have had a Caithness Glass label.

Lot 510 is interesting to some collectors because of the left-facing fish, which is (so far) less common that right-facing ones.

The Lot 513 Butterfly is of interest because of the two "PY" canes (which tend to push prices quite high when the weight is not damaged). But also of interest to me is that, of the few PY Butterfly weights with two "PY" canes I have seen, at least three have been very similar in appearance ... Mottled pale blue ground with butterfly mainly formed from yellowish coloured canes and the butterfly having red aventurine body with white antennae tipped in red.

[tropdevin]

Hi Kev

Does your 'few' include the one below that I used to own?

Alan

[KevinH]

That one may be a new one for me!

At first glance, it seems identical to the one we illustarted on page 6 (Fgure 004) of the 2013 Ysart Exhibition Catalogue.

But both have different canes forming the wings, although the colours of the canes are close. Also the "py" canes are set in the upper wings in one and the upper part of the lower wings in the other.

Other than that, on a quick inspection there could be two people saying to each other, "Hey you've stolen my weight". 

[SophieB]

Hi Kevin,
Hi Alan,

My turn to show off - see below a butterfly bought at auction fairly recently. Yes, Kevin - this one is also very similar to the weight posted by Alan and the one in the Ysart exhibition catalogue. I am about to write a short piece about this unusual 'coincidence' (and another series of coincidences) for the PCA newsletter.

SophieB

PS: thanks to Alan for the picture - his are always much better than mine...