Topic: Rare Monart Paperweight - Thistle Design

[Regan]

Hi.  I'm new to the forum and thought i'd share this paperweight with you.

My great grandfather, William Aslett, was a director of the Moncrieff Glassworks during the time of the Ysart brothers.  He asked Salvador to make him a paperweight based on his own design.  To my knowledge this is the only one made and sat on my grandfather's desk at the factory for many years.

[chopin-liszt]

Welcome to the board  and thank-you for joining to show us such an unsual and truly rare weight.
There will be a lot of people very interested indeed - all of them glowing green with envy.

[Regan]

I'm just pleased to find some fellow enthusiasts.  I have a few pieces that I've inherited and some that I have bought.  I have some pre-war globe lamps that seem to be rarer than I thought.  Will get some photos of those too.

[KevinH]

Hi Regan, welcome to the Board.

Could you please let us know the size of the weight - diameter and height. I think it is about 3 5/8 inch diameter but it would be good to confirm.

This is an interesting item and as a collector of Ysart weights, I am intrigued.

I will do some checking but for now I can say that I have seen at least one other Ysart Thistle pattern weight with the thistle formed from powdered glass. I was thinking it could have been made by Salvador, but at the time there was no proof of that.

There are several examples of Thistle pattern weights made by Salvador's son, Paul but all the ones I have seen have the thistle made of individual millefiori canes rather than powdered glass. See the example Ref PY1012 at: http://www.ysartglass.com/PaulYsart/PYP1001.htm

Your weight, with the Monart label, is the first I am aware of where the label has been used on a weight made by Salvador. However, there could be a number of reasons for that.

If you could obtain some more information about the dates when your great-grandfather was at Moncrieff's that would be very useful. As yet, the only date I am aware of is 1947 - as stated in the web page: http://www.ysartglass.com/Ysart/YGpeople.htm - and if he was only there during 1947 then that raises a question or two about the link to Salvador Ysart - the Ysart men, except for Paul, moved from Moncreiff's (but still in Perth) to start their own company, Ysart Brothers Glass (Vasart) in 1946. There are a number of plausible theories that could answer the question(s) and the simplest one I can think of is that William Aslett was at Moncrieff's before 1947.

[Regan]

I'll double check with my Nanna to confirm but she is 100 now and gets forgetful. The family moved to Perth in 1919 and as far as I know he worked there from then until he retired in the late 50s/early 60s. I will measure it for you when I'm home but it fits quite snugly in the palm of my hand.

[chopin-liszt]

 
Glad you've found us. Get yourself comfy and settle in.
I'm not really an Ysart collector myself, but I have family who are and I take a lot of interest in it.
Anything colourful and individually artist made, gets me going.

Have you been to Perth Museum to see the collection there since it got done up and some more treasures finally came out from the underground stores?

[Regan]

Some of the glass in Perth museum was donated by my family. I'm originally from Perth but moved to Dundee this year.

[chopin-liszt]

How exciting - which bits? I have some photos of the shelves there.
My favourite is the massive cylinder vase with loads of bubbles and uranium in it.
They won't let me bring it home with me, they're mean.

I'm in Dundee too!

[Regan]

I couldn't name all of the pieces I don't think. My mum took me and pointed some out when I was a child. The only one that really sticks in my memory was a large bowl/plate. Probably shape DF. I don't think the vase was one though.

[Regan]

I spoke to my grandmother again Kevin. She confirmed that her father came to Scotland in 1919 specifically to take the job with Moncrieff. He worked there until the late 50s.