Topic: 2 really nice paperweights - but where do they come from?

[josordoni]

Another couple of  my "Where do they come from" and "what do the bases mean"  collection - one of them (the spiral) has a lovely fire polished concave base - do I assume all with this base are Scottish, or is this a common base for elsewhere too?

The other controlled bubble is lovely with the fountain effect of strands, and the solid dark block at the bottom covered with little frothy bubbles.  But is it Venetian or Bohemian, or what?

any help, as always, gratefully received.

The weights are here:

http://www.clarkagency.co.uk/paperweights%20july.htm

[josordoni]

Okey dokey.  found the first one  :oops: Would you believe I went through Google on all the Scottish paperweight sites, and couldn't find it?  And then, here it is sitting pretty in Frank's Strathearn listings that I check nearly every week!!!  How did I miss it!!  

So thank you Frank.  

Time I went to Specsavers...

But I am still having problems with the dump shaped one......

[KevinH]

The second is also very likely from Strathearn, but one of the "experimental" weights made in the final period of their paperweight making. At least, I don't recongnise it as one of the known designs.

The colours of the "fountain" are essentially the same as in the first weight (the "Whirpool" design).

The more I look at it, the more I convince myself I have seen it before - or one very much like it.

[josordoni]

The base is so flat, not at all rounded like all other Strathearn ones I have ever seen.... did they grind some bases flat?  Just around the very edge of the flat ground base, you can see tiny pleat marks, and there are some light swirl marks on the rounded part of the weight, so it has not been polished much.  

I don't know, it just seems so different in feel to any Scottish weights.

[KevinH]

If I am right in saying it's one of the "experimentals", then many of the features may not tie in with the more regular, known items. As I understand it, most of the experimentals really were one-offs tried out by a few of the workers when they had the opportuntiy for free expression rather than stick to the management-approved designs.

Or it could have been a frigger made made one of workers at some earlier time, but again such an item would not necessarily comply with standard techniques used for the production pieces.

[josordoni]

Thanks very much, it is all very interesting.  So much to learn!