Topic: Fine Quality Millefiori Paperweight ID please. ID = Paul Ysart

[stubbsywubsy]

i have this beautiful Millefiori weight i picked up recently,
sadly it has a large internal crack, however i couldnt resist the quality of it.

does anyone perhaps know the maker?
kind regards
Steven

[Nick77]

Hi Steven,
It's a Paul Ysart piece, shame about the crack but apparently not unusual in his pieces.

Nick

[stubbsywubsy]

Hello Nick
thank you so much for the information,

to me the internal crack looks to be from manufacturing, otherwise the piece would literally be in two pieces, its interesting that you say this is not uncommon,

date wise are we looking at c1930s-50's ?

kind regards Steven

[Nick77]

Date wise I'd say you're correct. Apparently i've been told he didn't have an annealing oven, weights were just left in a bucket near the kiln to cool, so weights have been known to crack years later due to stresses this has left in the glass.
I have seen quite a few now cracked just like yours, although none I've had have cracked whilst with me (touch wood).

Nick

[KevinH]

Until now, I have never heard about Paul Ysart not having an annealing oven!

However, general Monart art glass items, as well as many of the pre-war paperweights (mostly made by Paul Ysart), are well known to suffer from internal fractures.

[Nick77]

That's what I was told by another forum member.

[KevinH]

Regarding Paul Ysart and his use of a bucket, I suspect there has been some confusion. He was known to immerse hot weights in his water bucket (effectively destroying them) if somebody entered his working area - just so they could not see what he was doing or how it was done. That behaviour was confirmed by Colin Terris at Caithness Glass.

[tropdevin]

***

Hi Kev.  I was told about Paul using a covered bucket next to the furnace for annealing (in the early days) by one of the Scottish glass makers who knew Paul.  Whether it is fact or apocryphal, it is hard to say - but I see no reason for someone to invent the story (other than to explain the high failure rate or early Ysart paperweights).

Alan